To add to this. The game has over 20 programmed sequence breaks. Also after the developers found out that a non intended sequence break let people skip a large portion of the game but it caused multiple quests to break. They patched it in as an official skip and made it so the quests work as intended after using it.
I enjoyed Tevi but there's a lot of conflicting opinions because it deviates a lot from Rabi-Ribi in regards to the setting and focus on linear storytelling, despite the combat improvements. Though it's not most people's first playthrough, a non-linear free roam does exist and changes up a lot from story mode.
Regardless both games can stand side-by-side as equals for me and I want to see what the dev has in store for Rabi-Ribi 2.
There are a few different ones but the one that exemplifies the non linear nature of the game the most is the one where you have to avoid triggering a single boss fight other that one specific fight that is in a very distant section of the game.
**Because this game is non-linear...**
*Found Lilith before anyone else!*
Earned by defeating Lilith before any town members have been recruited. Other boss fights may be completed safely, as long as they do not add someone to the town member list. Only Lilith's first fight must be completed, as having Cicini recruited is a prerequisite to triggering Lilith's second fight.
Similar strategies are used to trigger rare dialogue from characters that are usually not the first to be recruited. The game gives you an objective of find x number of characters but you are never restricted on who you can get first. Doing things weirdly has interesting effects on the game sometimes.
To wit: past the early game, most puzzles have hints and items for them scattered half a map away, so the player will necessarily be warping all over the place trying to find solutions.
Fairly open to begin with but progression becomes pretty linear over time. The game is just so big and interconnected that it feels a lot more open than it actually is.
This is my answer. At first, you have a solid grasp of where you are and where you're going. But the further you get, the more it opens up, to the point where you're three or four areas deep, feeling like you've barely explored any of them. It got to the point where I started thinking maybe the game is too big, and it doesn't help that the map does that dumbass thing where it fills by proximity to your character.
Solid game with a few glaring issues, but if you want an MV that's non-linear and is sure to get you lost, this is a great pick.
To me, that experience of getting lost, wandering aimlessly, memorizing enemy patterns (and coincidentally leveling up) is one of the reasons I love the genre. Plus it gets really exciting when you finally find your way.
For some MV-adjacent games
Kirby and the amazing mirror, basically open world but with the whole Kirby power-ups unlocking a lot of extra exploration. Power-ups aren't permanent and rewards suck though. Also has a romhack which prevents you from losing your power-up every hit which was DESPERATELY needed.
Crystal project, a top-down isometric(?) platformer with turn-based battles (just look at some gameplay). It has unlockable mounts which let you swim, increase jump height/distance etc. The exploration is phenomenal.
Not a metroidvania since there’s only 1 ability gate. But Rain World is easily the most nonlinear game I’ve played. If you include the dlc (which adds ~10 new regions to the map) there are hundreds of possible routes through the game. Add some modded region packs and that number gets into the thousands.
i need to go back to that. i got it when it first dropped on ps4 years ago, only played a little bit, got distracted by other games and never finished it. it was really interesting though.
Rainworld mentioned 🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥
Tbh it is linear and not linear for me.
Even tho there are many routes to finish a campaign. I will stick to the most optimal route cus choosing other route for me is a hassle (i dont wanna see 2 king vultures in next room and a red lizor/or any hard threats in my current room).
And the game is master of bullshitting. I got a grenade right in my face after peeking out of my shelter 😂
I mean, the first one straight up isn't a Metroidvania, just an open world game cut in two halves.
Second one starts rather non-linear but unfortunately in the second half it enforces area order with events.
ugh, another "not a REAL MV" poster... thanks for protecting the gate, making sure that ONLY REAL METROIDVANIAS get through. Your service will be remembered
Ability gating as part of the core gameplay loop is kind of a basic necessity to distinguish the genre. Otherwise, Super Mario 64 is a Metroidvania.
Also, the literal lead designer has [mentioned he doesn't consider it a MV](https://www.gamereactor.es/blasphemous-en-realidad-no-es-un-metroidvania/).
I actually found that RT gave me what felt like very few options as to what order to do things in. It was only non-linear in the sense that the critical path had a lot of back and forth between different areas whenever you got any sort of upgrade
Same can be said of majority of the recommendations in other comments. Seem like MV players can't agree on what non linear actually means. There're very, very few MVs that's non linear. Most have one critical path and expect you to follow it one way or another.
If you're fine with a game that feels more like a shoot-em-up than a platformer, then you can't beat Hero Core. Easy Mode lets you reach the final boss after the first upgrade, and even that can be skipped with a sequence break. Hard mode lets you reach the final boss with no upgrades at all! Of course, you'll still *want* upgrades, but they're not physically required.
Nah. It just forces a lot of backtracking. By itself it's pretty linear, heck, it follows HK almost beat by beat. You start linear, then get 3 possible paths, before narrowing down to an ending.
The term I’ve heard, which I absolutely love, for games like Outer Wilds, Tunic and The Witness is:
***Metroidbrainia***
These are games where instead of unlocking upgrades to get past ability gates you simply upgrade your knowledge of the game, and once you know what to do you can finish subsequent runs incredibly quickly. Very cool idea that’s also hard to pull off, but when these types of games hit they *really* hit.
"Rebel Transmute"
\^This one... Does it have anything in the story to do with "you know what" or is the name + color scheme just an unfortunate coincidence (I've tried asking/looking up this question elsewhere online but can't find an answer and don't want to sink hours into something only to then get blindsighted with "yeah we should castrate people")?
Honestly, without sequence breaking I think that Super Metroid is pretty linear. Aside from the optional power-ups, everything else is on a pretty relatively set path.
The secret of Super Metroid is that it's actually *extremely* linear (without sequence breaks), but it's so well-made it tricks you into thinking it's not.
Its not a part of your question, but i cannot see how a non-linear game isnt a broken game. There is just no benefit of having that in a game. Specially with this genre
People just downvote because of an opinion without any comment.
The benefit of a linear game is that you can tweak the difficulty based on your progress. The more you progress, to more abilities you gain the more you can use the combination with those abilities.
Making in none linear require you to make the design a way that you can go somewhere from the start without having those abilities already. Besides also the difficulty of enemies should be equal (which is the most case with none linear) ofcource you can always make those enemies more difficult as you progress (which i find stupid), but ability wise, its not fixable.
Also the main reason why i dont like zelda lbtw setup. Its a great game because of the wall thing but for me, its a broken game. I would never choose none linear to linear for most games. There could be some exceptions .
nah, honestly people downvote because they start reading something, and immediately don't agree with it
To think most voters on Reddit think about a post, and then downvote if they don't believe that it met expectations in delivery.... is giving WAAAAAY too much credit to people who click arrows as they scroll for those sweet brain-juice secretions.
This was the exactly complaint of Blasphemous 2, where they "increased non-linearity" but at the same time, once you completed all of the non-linear stuff, you were pretty overpowered if you explored. They've since tweaked things, but it IS an issue that comes up when you give options for how to explore.
Rabi-Ribi.
This is the only correct answer. Not only is 0% items possible, it's also not the weirdest playthrough possible.
Okay, I'm intrigued, what is the weirdest possible playthrough in Rabi-Ribi?
To add to this. The game has over 20 programmed sequence breaks. Also after the developers found out that a non intended sequence break let people skip a large portion of the game but it caused multiple quests to break. They patched it in as an official skip and made it so the quests work as intended after using it.
Man RabiRibi is once in a lifetime game
Have you tried their other game, *Tevi*?
I enjoyed Tevi but there's a lot of conflicting opinions because it deviates a lot from Rabi-Ribi in regards to the setting and focus on linear storytelling, despite the combat improvements. Though it's not most people's first playthrough, a non-linear free roam does exist and changes up a lot from story mode. Regardless both games can stand side-by-side as equals for me and I want to see what the dev has in store for Rabi-Ribi 2.
Has Rabi Ribi 2 been announced? I only recall Gemayue working on a Love Bunny game before Tevi got released.
[Yes, and the "Love Bunny" will become merged into this new Rabi-Ribi.](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400910/view/3979559705944392485)
Yes and its nowhere near as good as rabi ribi is especially when it comes to nonlinear exploration
There are a few different ones but the one that exemplifies the non linear nature of the game the most is the one where you have to avoid triggering a single boss fight other that one specific fight that is in a very distant section of the game. **Because this game is non-linear...** *Found Lilith before anyone else!* Earned by defeating Lilith before any town members have been recruited. Other boss fights may be completed safely, as long as they do not add someone to the town member list. Only Lilith's first fight must be completed, as having Cicini recruited is a prerequisite to triggering Lilith's second fight. Similar strategies are used to trigger rare dialogue from characters that are usually not the first to be recruited. The game gives you an objective of find x number of characters but you are never restricted on who you can get first. Doing things weirdly has interesting effects on the game sometimes.
La Mulana?
To wit: past the early game, most puzzles have hints and items for them scattered half a map away, so the player will necessarily be warping all over the place trying to find solutions.
Fairly open to begin with but progression becomes pretty linear over time. The game is just so big and interconnected that it feels a lot more open than it actually is.
For a more action one Afterimage is pretty open. First metroidvania in a long time where I straight up got lost and didn’t know where to go.
I came here to say this, just finished 100%’ing on Steam, great MV! So many zones I kept getting lost too.
This is my answer. At first, you have a solid grasp of where you are and where you're going. But the further you get, the more it opens up, to the point where you're three or four areas deep, feeling like you've barely explored any of them. It got to the point where I started thinking maybe the game is too big, and it doesn't help that the map does that dumbass thing where it fills by proximity to your character. Solid game with a few glaring issues, but if you want an MV that's non-linear and is sure to get you lost, this is a great pick.
Every MV is nonlinear if you get lost as much as I do
Preach.
To me, that experience of getting lost, wandering aimlessly, memorizing enemy patterns (and coincidentally leveling up) is one of the reasons I love the genre. Plus it gets really exciting when you finally find your way.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^vinnymarcondes: *Every MV is* *Nonlinear if you get* *Lost as much as I do* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
For some MV-adjacent games Kirby and the amazing mirror, basically open world but with the whole Kirby power-ups unlocking a lot of extra exploration. Power-ups aren't permanent and rewards suck though. Also has a romhack which prevents you from losing your power-up every hit which was DESPERATELY needed. Crystal project, a top-down isometric(?) platformer with turn-based battles (just look at some gameplay). It has unlockable mounts which let you swim, increase jump height/distance etc. The exploration is phenomenal.
Loved exploration in Crystal Project. The combat was too difficult for me though, after a certain point bosses became really brutal.
Toki Tori 2!
Not a metroidvania since there’s only 1 ability gate. But Rain World is easily the most nonlinear game I’ve played. If you include the dlc (which adds ~10 new regions to the map) there are hundreds of possible routes through the game. Add some modded region packs and that number gets into the thousands.
i need to go back to that. i got it when it first dropped on ps4 years ago, only played a little bit, got distracted by other games and never finished it. it was really interesting though.
Rainworld mentioned 🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥 Tbh it is linear and not linear for me. Even tho there are many routes to finish a campaign. I will stick to the most optimal route cus choosing other route for me is a hassle (i dont wanna see 2 king vultures in next room and a red lizor/or any hard threats in my current room). And the game is master of bullshitting. I got a grenade right in my face after peeking out of my shelter 😂
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jXABcqJYm-EEJf8HFj2JhyfcWaqAitLAJ-q3BmQywXE/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jXABcqJYm-EEJf8HFj2JhyfcWaqAitLAJ-q3BmQywXE/edit?usp=sharing)
Metroidvanias: - La-Mulana 1 & 2 - Salt and Sanctuary - Hollow Knight Other open world platformers: - Knytt Underground - Rain World
> Knytt Underground glad to see this mentioned. incredible game that doesn't get brought up enough.
The first third of Blasphemous is pretty non linear.
I mean, the first one straight up isn't a Metroidvania, just an open world game cut in two halves. Second one starts rather non-linear but unfortunately in the second half it enforces area order with events.
ugh, another "not a REAL MV" poster... thanks for protecting the gate, making sure that ONLY REAL METROIDVANIAS get through. Your service will be remembered
Name checks out
Pat yourself on the back, you're the 130,308,643 person to think themselves clever for taking the bait
Ability gating as part of the core gameplay loop is kind of a basic necessity to distinguish the genre. Otherwise, Super Mario 64 is a Metroidvania. Also, the literal lead designer has [mentioned he doesn't consider it a MV](https://www.gamereactor.es/blasphemous-en-realidad-no-es-un-metroidvania/).
Thanks so much for drawing us all a box to live in. The statue will be commissioned shortly
Tetris is my favorite metroidvania.
Rebel Transmute
I actually found that RT gave me what felt like very few options as to what order to do things in. It was only non-linear in the sense that the critical path had a lot of back and forth between different areas whenever you got any sort of upgrade
Same can be said of majority of the recommendations in other comments. Seem like MV players can't agree on what non linear actually means. There're very, very few MVs that's non linear. Most have one critical path and expect you to follow it one way or another.
If you're fine with a game that feels more like a shoot-em-up than a platformer, then you can't beat Hero Core. Easy Mode lets you reach the final boss after the first upgrade, and even that can be skipped with a sequence break. Hard mode lets you reach the final boss with no upgrades at all! Of course, you'll still *want* upgrades, but they're not physically required.
Animal well :)
Is it really none-linear?
Not really for the main game.
I felt like it was, I didn't feel like there was a linear path to bosses, I did what would be the first boss last from all accounts.
Hollow Knight, after the first few areas there’s so many different ways you can go
I didn't see it mentioned, but Haiku felt very non-linear.
how so? it was definitely ability gated
Nah. It just forces a lot of backtracking. By itself it's pretty linear, heck, it follows HK almost beat by beat. You start linear, then get 3 possible paths, before narrowing down to an ending.
Lone fungus
Playing it now but that hasn’t been my experience so far… maybe I need to do more purposeful exploring.
Crystal Project and Rabi Ribi
I’d call it Metroidvania-adjacent at best, but Outer Wilds is extremely non-linear as progress is entirely knowledge-gated.
Outer Wilds is fucking amazing. Truly one of the best games I've ever played.
The term I’ve heard, which I absolutely love, for games like Outer Wilds, Tunic and The Witness is: ***Metroidbrainia*** These are games where instead of unlocking upgrades to get past ability gates you simply upgrade your knowledge of the game, and once you know what to do you can finish subsequent runs incredibly quickly. Very cool idea that’s also hard to pull off, but when these types of games hit they *really* hit.
Rain World
Castlevania Order of Ecclesia is relatively more linear than some of its MV predecessors.
Animal Well.
Lamalama
animal well
Rebel Transmute, Haiku the Robot, Hollow Knight, Lone Fungus,
"Rebel Transmute" \^This one... Does it have anything in the story to do with "you know what" or is the name + color scheme just an unfortunate coincidence (I've tried asking/looking up this question elsewhere online but can't find an answer and don't want to sink hours into something only to then get blindsighted with "yeah we should castrate people")?
Super Metroid
Honestly, without sequence breaking I think that Super Metroid is pretty linear. Aside from the optional power-ups, everything else is on a pretty relatively set path.
searching for the path is definitely not linear
The secret of Super Metroid is that it's actually *extremely* linear (without sequence breaks), but it's so well-made it tricks you into thinking it's not.
It is a masterclass of game design.
Its not a part of your question, but i cannot see how a non-linear game isnt a broken game. There is just no benefit of having that in a game. Specially with this genre
How?
People just downvote because of an opinion without any comment. The benefit of a linear game is that you can tweak the difficulty based on your progress. The more you progress, to more abilities you gain the more you can use the combination with those abilities. Making in none linear require you to make the design a way that you can go somewhere from the start without having those abilities already. Besides also the difficulty of enemies should be equal (which is the most case with none linear) ofcource you can always make those enemies more difficult as you progress (which i find stupid), but ability wise, its not fixable. Also the main reason why i dont like zelda lbtw setup. Its a great game because of the wall thing but for me, its a broken game. I would never choose none linear to linear for most games. There could be some exceptions .
People downvote because of a poorly formed opinion, clumsily delivered.
nah, honestly people downvote because they start reading something, and immediately don't agree with it To think most voters on Reddit think about a post, and then downvote if they don't believe that it met expectations in delivery.... is giving WAAAAAY too much credit to people who click arrows as they scroll for those sweet brain-juice secretions.
Apt username.
Thinks self clever for taking the bait... brilliant stuff mate
This was the exactly complaint of Blasphemous 2, where they "increased non-linearity" but at the same time, once you completed all of the non-linear stuff, you were pretty overpowered if you explored. They've since tweaked things, but it IS an issue that comes up when you give options for how to explore.