Metroidvania ecologies: Exploration and the environmental imagination in Hollow Knight and Rain World

Angelo Maria Andriano; Marco Caracciolo

doi:10.7557/ejcgc.v16i2.7958

Authors

Angelo Maria Andriano IULM University https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9987-2321
Marco Caracciolo Ghent University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7955-0325

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/ejcgc.v16i2.7958

Keywords:

catastrophe, difficulty, ecocentrism, ecogaming, environmental imagination, nonhuman, vulnerability

Abstract

Metroidvania games are characterized by highly interconnected levels that open up as the player acquires new skills or knowledge of the game world. In this article, we argue that the spatial interconnectedness of the Metroidvania genre strongly resonates with ecological theories foregrounding human–nonhuman enmeshment as well as nonhuman autonomy. Discussing two recent Metroidvania titles, Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 2017) and Rain World (Videocult, 2017), we show how these games consistently challenge the player’s environmental imagination, and particularly notions of human mastery over the nonhuman world. They do so on multiple levels: by evoking rich postapocalyptic settings that resist the player’s attempts to project anthropocentric assumptions onto the games; by confronting players with nonhuman characters and lore that remain unreadable and opaque; and by creating dynamically evolving game worlds in which nonhuman behavior feels unruly and unpredictable. Most importantly, though, the two games suggest ecosystemic interconnectedness by defamiliarizing the players’ understanding of exploration as the linear traversal of spaces that can be fully controlled and depleted. Through this discussion, we aim to situate Metroidvania games within the growing archive of ecogaming, explaining what is so unique about the genre’s approach to the environmental imagination.

References

Andriano, A. M. (2025). Enjoying the uncertainty: How Dark Souls performs incompleteness through narrative, level design and gameplay. Games and Culture, 20(7), 916–933. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120241226837

Arnott, L. (2015). Mapping Metroid. Games and Culture, 12(1), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015580016

Borthwick, M., Tomitsch, M., & Gaughwin, M. (2022). From human-centred to life-centred Design: Considering environmental and ethical concerns in the design of interactive products. Journal of Responsible Technology, 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrt.2022.100032

Bostan, B. (Ed.). (2020). Game user experience and player-centered design. Springer.

Buell, L. (1995). The environmental imagination: Thoreau, nature writing, and the formation of American culture. Harvard University Press.

Caracciolo, M. (2022). Materiality, nonlinearity, and interpretive openness in contemporary archaeogames. Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, 13(1), 29–47. https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6618

Caracciolo, M. (2024). On Soulsring worlds: Narrative complexity, digital communities, and interpretation in Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Routledge.

Cardboard Computer. (2020). Kentucky Route Zero [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Annapurna Interactive.

Chang, A. Y. (2019). Playing nature: Ecology in video games. University of Minnesota Press.

Costikyan, G. (2013). Uncertainty in games. MIT Press.

Farjay Studio. (2016). Bear Simulator [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Farjay Studio.

Fernández-Vara, C. (2011). Game spaces speak volumes: Indexical storytelling. Proceedings of DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play. https://doi.org/10.26503/dl.v2011i1.512

Ford, D. (2016). “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate”: Affective writing of postcolonial history and education in Civilization V. Game Studies, 16(2). https://gamestudies.org/1602/articles/ford

FromSoftware. (2011). Dark Souls [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, published by Namco Bandai Games.

Fuchs, M. (2021). Playing (with) the non-human: The animal avatar in Bear Simulator. In C. Mengozzi (Ed.), Outside the anthropological machine: Crossing the human-animal divide and other exit strategies (pp. 261–274). Routledge.

Fuller, M., & Jenkins, H. (1995). Nintendo® and new world travel writing: A dialogue. In S. G. Jones (Ed.), Cybersociety: Computer-mediated communication and community (pp. 57–72). SAGE Publications.

GDC Festival of Gaming. (2017, July 16). The Rain World animation process. YouTube. https://youtu.be/sVntwsrjNe4

Gibson, J. J. (1986). The ecological approach to visual perception. Psychology Press.

Giddings, S. (2020). The achievement of animals: An ethology of AI in video games. In M. Spöhrer & H. Waldrich (Eds.), Einspielungen: Neue Perspektiven der Medienästhetik (pp. 115–140). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30721-9_6

Hadoque. (2024). Ultros [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Kepler Interactive

Horn, E. (2018). The future as catastrophe: Imagining disaster in the modern age (V. Pakis, Trans.). Columbia University Press.

Jagoda, P. (2018). On difficulty in video games: Mechanics, interpretation, affect. Critical Inquiry, 45(1), 199–233. https://doi.org/10.1086/699585

Jenkins, H. (2004). Game design as narrative architecture. In N. Wardrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan (Eds.), First person: New media as story, performance, and game (pp. 118–130). The MIT Press.

Konami. (1986). Castlevania [Famicom Disk System]. Digital game directed by Hitoshi Akamatsu, published by Konami.

Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. (1997). Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [PlayStation]. Digital game directed by Toru Hagihara, published by Konami.

Krzywinska, T. (2008). World creation and lore: World of Warcraft as rich text. In H. Corneliussen & J. W. Rettberg (Eds.), Digital culture, play, and identity: A World of Warcraft reader (pp. 123–141). MIT Press.

Lore. (2025). In Rain World Wiki. https://rainworld.miraheze.org/wiki/Lore

Martin, P. (2011). Ambivalence and Recursion in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, 5(1), 71–90. https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6128

Maxis. (1993). SimCity 2000 [Macintosh]. Digital game directed by Will Wright, published by Maxcis.

Mitchell, R. (2014, March 24). ‘Metroidvania’ should actually be ‘Zeldavania’. Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2014-03-24-metroidvania-should-actually-be-zeldavania.html

Morton, T. (2010). The ecological thought. Harvard University Press.

Murray, S. (2024). Postcoloniality, ecocriticism and lessons from the playable landscape. In L. op de Beke, J. Raessens, S. Werning, & G. Farca (Eds.), Ecogames: Playful perspectives on the climate crisis (pp. 145–161). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048557219-006

Newman, J. (2002). The myth of the ergodic videogame: Some thoughts on player-character relationships in videogames. Game Studies, 2(1). http://www.game-studies.org/0102/newman/

Nintendo R&D1. (1987). Metroid [Famicom Disk System]. Digital game directed by Satoru Okada, published by Nintendo.

Nintendo R&D1, & Intelligent Systems. (1994). Super Metroid [Super Nintendo Entertainment System]. Digital game directed by Yoshio Sakamoto, published by Nintendo.

Nintendo R&D4. (1986). The Legend of Zelda [Family Computer Disk System]. Digital game directed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezauka, published by Nintendo.

Op de Beke, L., Raessens, J., Werning, S., & Farca, G. (Eds.). (2024). Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis. Amsterdam University Press.

Pick, A. (2011). Creaturely poetics: Animality and vulnerability in literature and film. Columbia University Press.

Priestman, C. (2017, March 27). Rain World is like STALKER but a platformer and you’re a rodent. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/rain-world-is-like-stalker-but-a-platformer-and-youre-a-rodent/

Rockstar Games. (2018). Red Dead Redemption 2 [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Rockstar Games.

Schneider-Mayerson, M. (2018). The influence of climate fiction: An empirical survey of readers. Environmental Humanities, 10(2), 473–500. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-7156848

Schwingeler, S. (2012). Störung als künstlerische Strategie: Kunst mit Com-puterspielen zwischen Transparenz und Opazität. Navigationen: Zeitschrift Für Medien- Und Kulturwissenschaften, 12(2), 61–78. https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/1083

Shared Memory. (2024). Animal Well [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Bigmode.

Sicart, M. (2008). Defining game mechanics. Game Studies, 8(2). https://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicart

Skrebels, J. (2017, March 27). Rain World review. IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/03/27/rain-world-review

SparrowWingYT. (2024, January 22). The climate [Reddit Post]. r/Rainworld. https://www.reddit.com/r/rainworld/comments/19d5hxj/the_climate/

Team Cherry. (2017). Hollow Knight [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Team Cherry.

Torrance, S. (2011). Machine ethics and the idea of a more-than-human moral world. In M. Anderson & S. L. Anderson (Eds.), Machine ethics (pp. 115–137). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511978036.011

Tyler, T. (2022). Game: Animals, video games, and humanity. University of Minnesota Press.

Vella, D. (2013). “It’s a-me/Mario”: Playing as a ludic character. Foundations of Digital Games Conference Proceedings, 31–38. http://www.fdg2013.org/program/papers/paper05_vella.pdf

Vella, D. (2015). No mastery without mystery: Dark Souls and the ludic sublime. Game Studies, 15(1). http://gamestudies.org/1501/articles/vella

Videocult. (2017). Rain World [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Akupara Games.

Wei, H., Bizzocchi, J., & Calvert, T. (2010). Time and space in digital game storytelling. International Journal of Computer Games Technology, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/897217

Weisman, A. (2007). The world without us. St. Martin’s Press.