Recommendations for Lighthearted/Non-Scary Metroidvania games

[kiwikenobi]

It came to my attention that I never enjoyed a Metroidvania game, but I realized that it was never because of the gameplay. It was because of the story and atmosphere often being spooky or creepy or dark. And I just don't really like scary things. ^o^;>

Metroid is a relatively dark, serious sci-fi kind of story, compared to something like, say, Star Fox, which is more colorful and light-hearted most of the time. Castlevania is all vampires and horror-movie themed stuff. Hollow Knight, while it looks very excellently done in terms of presentation and gameplay and everything, is still rather dark and unnerving throughout.

And it got me wondering: Are there any Metroidvania games that aren't quite so dark and spooky? It seems like there must be something about that style of game that inspires people to tell darker stories for some reason. But is there a game out there that plays like a Metroidvania game while having a less-dark theme? I'm not saying it has to be all sunshine and rainbows or anything, but maybe a little less dark an unsettling than the ones I mentioned.

And maybe there aren't, which would be an interesting thing to examine, why games with that kind of gameplay would lend themselves to telling stories with that kind of atmosphere and theme.

And I put this in the Nintendo section because I only have Nintendo systems, so games on Nintendo systems will be the only ones I can play myself. Though I'm curious to hear if games on other platforms are any different in the way I described.

 

[HiZack]

i played Guacamelee on the ps3 a long time ago but ive seen it on the switch sometimes. I remember it being compareably lighthearted (its about luchadors fighting skeletons with alot of humor ) to anything else i can think of and has a fairly good metroidvania feel. i'd recommend you to check it out.

 

[Raz]

There's a nice little game on the Switch called Gato Roboto. I received a review copy a week before it was released and played through it. I highly recommend that game, especially in your case. It's exactly what you're looking for: a light hearted Metroid game. It's cheap too.

There's a game called Hue (I played it on the PS4 but I think it's available on the switch too) that could also interest you.

There's also another one called Xeodrifter. I wrote a review of it in English (my review of Gato Roboto is in Portuguese). It's an amazing game, although a little short (same thing applies to Gato Roboto, although this could be considered a good thing as they don't overstay their welcome).

 

[kiwikenobi]

Thank you both! I'll check those games out.

 

[Cress]

Toki Tori 2 is also somewhat of a Metroidvania. You're a cute egg-shaped chicken who stomps and chirps to solve puzzles and move forward. But I say somewhat of a Metroidvania because those 2 abilities are what you start with, and that's mostly all you get throughout the game. There's no upgrades or new items. If you can't reach a certain place yet, you either need to go through more of the story, or you need to interact with something somewhere else to open up the path. (Although I should add that I played this back when it released on the Wii U. It's been a few years since I've played it so my memory on it might be incorrect, but I'm fairly certain those 2 abilities are all you get in the game.)