What if playdead made a Metroidvania?

We all know how predatory algorithms can be, but sometimes it works to your advantage by helping you discover new things that you might have missed. This is the case with the upcoming indie Metroidvania Selini.

Hyper Light Drifter from Heart Machine and Inside from playdead are some of my top games of all time and Metroidvanias are probably my top genre. Selini is a 2D mashup of those three things with the futuristic dystopian atmosphere of Hyper Light Drifter, along with the minimalist art style and aesthetics of Inside.

Selini is as indie as games get with the core game being developed by one person, known as Cymban Studios, that started back in 2016, but recently went to kickstarter to get over the final hump. Selini raised about 250 percent of its intended goal, which sounds high but the goal was only 9200 euros and raised a little over 22k euros thanks to 667 backers. I tempered my expectations before playing the demo on Steam as there have been many times that games seem to sound like the perfect blend of games or taking inspiration from some of the genres best that end up falling short.

Leading up to that first movement was make or break as bad movement in a Metroidvania can be a non starter. The game can have amazing atmosphere, story and upgrades but the movement needs to be there. It doesn’t need to be overly responsive because playdead has proven that a certain float to the character can add in a layer of complexity. I held my breath and moved the joystick and pressed a for jump and while Selini doesn’t have controls that are as responsive as games Celeste or Hollow Knight, they feel like a perfect fit for the universe they are building.

The playdead inspiration can be seen with the minimalist controls as you to move with the joystick, jump with A and flash light with X, which serves as your line of defence in this world. There is no speech or text in Selini, which creates the classic stranger in a strange land scenario, just like the all of the best of the genre have done. This creates a mystery and intrigue in the world as you you to explore the relationship between human and AI.

As for some of the key elements of a Metroidvania, the puzzles were fair but challenging. The boss fights required proper timing and patience. The upgrades felt satisfying and completely opened up new areas of exploration. The map provided the perfect amount of information like the classic Metroid’s with colored doors, save points and not much else.

“Selini is at an advanced level of development as all the main mechanics are quite polished. Development will be mainly focused on connecting and wrapping up the rest of the world map, polishing and testing frequently to ensure a balanced game pacing”As of right now, Selini has been in development for around 7 years and is about 60% complete according to the studio. The projected release date is 2024 with beta testing slated for December 2023.

If you’re a fan of atmospheric Metroidvanias, playdead or Hyper Light Drifter then keep your eye on Selini.