Sundered review — the beauty of exploration and death

Metroidvanias — a genre inspired by nonlinear side-scrollers like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night — have become a favorite project of smaller studios. I love Metroidvanias, so that’s great for me, but I do wonder how much room for innovation exists. Sundered, which comes out on July 28 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, proves that there’s still space for the genre to grow.

Sundered doesn’t remake the Metroidvania. You’ll find a lot here you’d expect. You explore a 2D world, often finding road blocks that you can only overcome later once you discover new abilities. But as I played the PC version of indie developer Thunder Lotus Games’ new project, I found a lot of fresh ideas. In Sundered, death isn’t much of a setback. Instead, it gives you the chance to become stronger.