Humble's Metroidvania Bundle includes seven bangers for only $15

Metroidvanias, Metroid-likes, and Castlevania-likes are games that heavily feature non-linear exploration and cool discoveries that open up parts of an interconnected map. Otherwise known as good game design. A new Humble Bundle has now compiled seven great Metroidvanias for the low price of £12/$15, available here from now until June 20th.

Of course, the bundle’s headliner is the subterranean Hollow Knight which boasts some of the tightest stabbing and jumping you can find anywhere. Plus, the melancholy kingdom is packed with surprises, from ethereal boss fights to benches that let you do amazing things like sit down and chill. With a big big sequel on the way, now’s probably a decent time to dig into Hollow Knight.

Sinful action-platformer Blasphemous is also included in the bundle (and also has an upcoming sequel). That’s the one with unholy Catholic iconography and a tough-as-nails difficulty. Blasphemous surprisingly had a crossover event with the next game in the bundle: Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night, which actually comes from sub-genre veteran and Symphony Of The Night director Koji Igarashi. You can’t really get more Castlevania-like than that.

The bundle also includes the adorable and apocalyptic Haiku The Robot, the gorgeous game with odd idle animations Lost Ruins, and the survival platformer starring a cute slugcat, Rain World. Our review said “there is so much to love about discovering the laws of nature behind this huge ruined ecosystem,” although beware of some frustrating deaths. To sweeten the pot, the bundle has a -20% discount coupon for Rain World’s Downpour DLC, and a -50% discount coupon for Zapling Bygone.

Rounding off the bundle is Lone Fungus, a game that I had never heard of but am instantly interested in. Made by a solo developer, you play as a cute, acrobatic, spell-slinging mushroom - the last mushroom alive - and you cycle between abilities by changing your shroom top hats. That's obviously a cute and lonely setup, but Lone Fungus' precision platforming is what called out to me, channelling a bit of Celeste as you bounce from wall to wall, chaining together moves as you go.

Humble’s Metroidvania Bundle is available here. As always, proceeds are split between Humble, the developers, and a charity - this time supporting the NGO Girls Who Code which aims to close the gender gap in the tech industry. And as always, you can choose how your money gets split between the three groups.