Most Anticipated Metroidvania 2023

The Last Case of Benedict Fox

Silksong is not our most anticipated Metroidvania of 2023. Before everyone starts to pull out their pitchforks, Silksong looks amazing and even though Team Cherry look to be iterating in plenty of ways over the original, it should still feel like a Team Cherry game and that’s something that we know. What’s exciting is brand new experiences from brand new studios that are trying to make a name for themselves.

This is where Plot Twist and their debut title, The Last Case of Benedict Fox comes into the picture. Although Plot Twist is a new studio, they are very experienced. The people that make up the studio have some impressive games on their resume in the AAA arena including Dead Island, Dying Light, The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, Total War, For Honor, Watch Dogs 2 and Hitman.

Built Around Story

The number one reason that Benedict Fox is our Most Anticipated Metroidvania for 2023 is because of the story first approach. The Last Case of Benedict Fox began as an idea one night that blossomed into what would become a comic series. After being filed away, it has eventually pivoted from comic into a game.

However, before fully deciding if the plot would be a worthy game, it needed to be tested as a D&D campaign first, a medium that is driven by its story and characters. In a recent article we wrote about what are the essential pillars to a great Metroidvania and the main pillar was story. It doesn’t matter how cool the world is or how many interesting weapons and abilities are in the game, if there isn’t an engaging story driving you to uncover the next part of the mystery, it’s meaningless

It’s great how Benedict Fox evolved into a Metroidvania that was built around a story and not the other way around, which should lead to a more engrossing narrative. Once the team decided that most of the game would take place in the mind of the deceased and the human mind is already maze like, it made sense to make it a Metroidvania. To top everything off, the game takes place in one night. A race against time before the clock runs out on the victim and on himself.

Influences and Originality

In some of the interviews the team has given since the games reveal, they have explained multiple sources of inspiration for the game including Tim Burton, Sherlock Holmes and of course HP Lovecraft. Benedict Fox is a fantastical, Lovecraftian Metroidvania in which you dive into a twisted world of secret organizations, forbidden rituals and cold blooded murders.

You are Benedict Fox, a self proclaimed detective who was linked with a demonic companion since birth. To solve the murders, Fox will need to dive into the mind of the victims using his occult powers. What secrets are found in reality can help you in limbo and what you find in limbo can help you solve the mystery.

The concept of moving between the dimension of the living and the dead is a very interesting premise that looks to bring a breath of fresh air into the genre as there is abundance of sci fi and gothic themes. Tonally, the game will be a lot darker and more mature than its cartoonish art style. The developers are hoping that the story resonates strong enough to cause players to dig through some of their deeper memories.

Watching the trailers you can draw comparisons between Benedict and his demonic companion to the relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom and the rapport that they have. The voice acting in the trailer, combined with the audio design seem like an amazing experience with headphones to fully immersive yourself in the occult.

Cracking the Case

What Plot Twist said will likely surprise people the most is how deep the combat is as you will likely be using a combination of human and demonic elements in conjunction. The wait to find out just how surprising the combat is shouldn’t be long as during their most recent interview, The Last Case of Benedict Fox will be releasing in spring 2023 and will be hitting Game Pass on day one.