For all its potential for mechanical variation, the Metroidvania is an oddly static form. I mean, we get these sprawling, multi-mansion maps, yet it’s always the same formula: start off essentially naked (or in Hell Yeah‘s case, literally naked), find item X, get past door Y, etc. There’s some exploration, sure, but the good stuff’s always gated by unflinching steel progress walls. InterWave, meanwhile, doesn’t even want people to refer to Dark Matter as a Metroidvania – possibly for that very reason. So instead, the Nuclear Dawn creator’s billing its second project as a “side-scrolling exploration and combat game” with a focus on survival-horror, AI, adventure game elements, and crafting – among other genre-benders.

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