Talk:Risk of Rain

Not Metroidvania

Risk of Rain isn't a metroidvania. (I don't know what genre should be assigned to it, but roguelike is perhaps the closest to its mishmash.) The Rock Paper Shotgun article cited as support for Risk of Rain being a metroidvania actually says the game "delivers metroidvania-style gathered abilities in fast-forward." (This is arguably incorrect, and a quick glance at the comments on that RPS article show the readers were confused by the claim as well. It would make about as much sense to say that Diablo "delivers metroidvania-style gathered abilities.") The important point: the RPS article does not support Risk of Rain being a metroidvania as defined by Wikipedia's page. Metroidvanias are defined by the way the progression through the world works, and "gathered abilities" only matter because they are a way to proceed. They are not this way in Risk of Rain: the game can be finished without any specific item being needed to progress. You can get from the start of the game to the finish by your starting walking and jumping abilities; the character needs no double jump, wall-breaker, super dash, or other progression device-type. There are a couple places where chests can be accessed using jump enhancements, but they're minor and don't progress the game. The Metroidvania page offers an excellent description of what a metroidvania is: "Metroidvania games generally feature a large interconnected world map the player can explore, though access to parts of the world is often limited by doors or other obstacles that can only be passed once the player has acquired special items, tools, weapons or abilities within the game." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:680:8002:56F1:4490:6939:E4DD:2156 (talk) 19:31, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Keep in mind a couple problems: WP itself should not be used as a reliable source, and that we are dependent on reliable sources, that makes it a bit difficult. However, I will agree that Metroidvania is probably not the best overarching genre for this looking back at sources; it is specifically a platform game (even with the sequel set in 3D, that remains platform in nature), but includes both Metroidvania and roguelike elements. I have updated it --Masem (t) 20:55, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for your work, that's a definite improvement. I still think it's very demonstrably incorrect, but it's better. In referring to the Metroidvania page, I was referring to it because it collated clear, concise sources on the term which seemed to be a good "literature review." It contains an excellent article: The undying allure of the Metroidvania, Gamasutra. That article provides a good definition, too: "The classification narrowed to mean something like, 'Side scrolling action-adventures with a obstacles in a continuous map that you can surmount only after finding the requisite items and backtracking,' says Tom Happ, whose upcoming Axiom Verge is one of the most promising new titles in the genre." I still don't see how Risk of Rain fits that definition at all. The RPS author that wrote "metroidvania-style gathered abilities" just doesn't seem to know what the term Metroidvania means. A few other short game news articles on the web also make this mistake, but they never explain how it fits the bill at all. I assume they're just borrowing copy from each other, as it's hard to find any other explanation. I would challenge anyone to find sources that actually explain what elements of Risk of Rain are Metroidvania, in line with the quotes provided above and this or this article, or this video, all taken from the Metroidvania page. 2601:680:8002:56F1:C86A:6261:137A:2C33 (talk) 21:00, 17 May 2018 (UTC)