Fancy another Metroidvania? Of course you do, don't be a silly billy.
Mangavania from publisher Sometimes You is launching on the Switch later this month on April 26th for a rather tasty price of $4.99 / £4.49 (pr-orders can also currently bag an additional 20% discount).
It looks like your typical Metroidvania with branching pathways, fluid motion, and plenty of enemies and bosses to swipe wit your trusty sword (though from the game's description, it sounds like the game is split into distinct levels). The visuals are quite interesting, too, taking inspiration from the wonderful Downwell, with a stark black and white aesthetic mixed with the odd splash of red here and there.
Here's a look at the official description from Sometimes You:
"Join the adventure as Yuhiko, a young ninja who has gone to the underworld to find a cure for his brother. Free the lost souls to advance to the next level. Find Spirits in secret places – they will tell you a story or give you advice. Explore dungeons, fight monsters and meet new friends!"
It's cheap and cheerful, to be sure, so this might well be one to add to your Switch collection when it launches later this month.
Will you be checking out Mangavania? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.
Comments (27)
Wow, no comments yet... why not be the first?
Pixel art for this style... I don't know.
More Metroidvania games?
Yes please!
This reminds me of Astronite, hope it gets a physical as well.
Switch is my favourite Metroidvania machine, I mainly play these and not a lot else, I love how many excellent ones there are on Switch.
Keep them coming.
I feel the main character is a little too big/-:
The artstyle reminds me of Gato Roboto
Also, black and white game called Mangavania... Megalovania reference? Probably not, though
"'Mangavania' Looks To Blend Metroidvania Mechanics With Downwell Aesthetics"
...so basically Gato Roboto?😅
Jokes aside, though, it's a neat artstyle and Switch can never have too many metroidvanias. No sarcasm implied.
Why does the character in the thumbnail look exactly like Therion from Octopath
@ComfyAko 100% a gato roboto rip off
It's like they're not even trying to come up with a good game title any more these days. Mangavania? Really?
I will keep an eye, quite like the look especially the cut back palette
@Scapetti Not really a Gato Roboto rip off, you use a sword...
@Freek I hope you're joking. They're not going to do physical copies of a 170mb $5 shovelware game lol
Hmm. None of this screams manga to me. It’s all very vania, though.
This has me written all over it. Can’t get enough of this style and I absolutely loved Gato Roboto.
INSTABUY FROM ME!
Another one that reminds me of Gato Roboto? *sigh. Take my money...
@nhSnork I have Gato Robotto downloaded and ready since it was pretty cheap on a recent sale, but I still need to get to it, it LOOKS amazing though.
@theModestMouse Unless they can turn them into 170mb $50 limited physical games that way. They've done it before, they'll do it again.
@Shambo I've already played it for a while and it's fun, too. Seems to channel some Metroid vibes [to my knowledge as someone who has yet to play Metroid properly].
The controls look really good. That's the one area I feel is a let down with far too many Metroidvanias. I don't like the main character design, but that isn't a big deal. I do like that it's close combat vs shooting.
I'm certainly interested, especially at only $5.
So I just read some reviews (the game is already on Steam) and apparently this is a level based game, NOT A METROIDVANIA. Very strange considering the name.
@theModestMouse
No, definitely not.
They release more rubbish than this in physical form so why can't I hope they release a game I'm actually interested in.
meh. Can't say I am into these visuals. Minimalist is cool, and Game Boy is cool, but this is not doing it for me.
Metroidvania is one of my favourite genres, so I’m always interested in keeping an eye out for good ones.
But then I saw Sometimes You was the publisher, and I will proceed with caution. They’re on the trashier end of the spectrum of indie publishers, releasing a lot of garbage. Devolver Digital they are not.
When I read "Mangavania" I thought it was gonna be manga panels. I was picturing something Comix Zone like in a metroidvania format.
For a game called "Mangavania"... I really don't feel the manga influence. Just feels like a Japanese platformer in Commodore 64 style.
As @Ardisan said before, it would be cool if there were manga panels to move through similar to Comix Zone, but go even further with that. Splash pages, screen tones, action lines, interesting manga-styled character portraits, Japanese onomatopoeia filling the screens with strikes and jumps, flashy screen-clearing moves with special names like in Shonen manga, maybe have cutscenes in manga style similar to how Phantasy Star IV presented it's cutscenes, etc. They could also add some elements found commonly in manga like mecha or even slice-of-life. A hand-drawn artstyle would have also been more fitting but I'm not gonna dog on it for that but I will say the main character certainly doesn't reflect the style of most manga protagonists.
I'm sorry if it comes across as me judging the game for what it isn't rather than what it is, but the title just brought forth so many cool ideas like a 2D Madworld rather than what is being shown here.
Like the look of this, and the price. As others have said echoes of Gato Roboto
@Ardisan @Supaguy Or at least something à la Jump Super/Ultimate Stars but nope, not even that.
Still have some interest in this game despite the confusing title, but I'd love more games like the ones we cited and/or something like the one Supaguy depicted!
@Ardisan
I didn't know I wanted that until now. Now I need it.
@JohnnyMind Thanks, as I wrote it out I kept thinking I would totally buy a game like that. If I ever go into game development I'll put that at the top of the pile. Coming out in 2XXX.
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