It's time for the next edition of the list of dead metroidvanias!

For those who don't know, this is a list of abandoned/in-hiatus metroidvania project that still have an active steam page. I have been maintaining this since the start of 2022, initially for the personal purpose of finding out what metroidvania projects I can remove from my wishlist. I've been conducting an audit and updating this list every 6 months ever since. This is NOT a list for projects that were killed (steam page removed/delisted) or projects that never really came into proper existence in the first place (no steam page).

The intended purpose of this list is to aid in keeping wishlists tidy. It occasionally also serves the purpose of notifying if a dead project miraculously came back to life.

This time around we have some truly exiting news as the first two projects that ever died have BOTH come back to life during this autumn! This list is designed to be definitive so this is a truly amazing occurrence.

There will be 3 categories:

• metroidvanias that are no longer dead: Metroidvanias that were previously listed as dead but which came back to life. I am putting this on top this time because of the significance of it this time around. 2 ancient projects came back to life.
• Newly declared dead metroidvanias: Metroidvanias that have been declared dead in this audit after previously being marked as dying for six months and still not getting any updates during this probation phase. 13 projects have died recently.
• Previously declared dead metroidvanias: Metroidvanias that were previously declared dead in previous audits. 35 projects died previously.

Metroidvanias that are no longer dead

• Divinum: Divinum was the very first metroidvania project that died, all the way back in early 2019. All activity ceased, websites got removed, so too did discords, pretty much nothing was left aside from the inactive twitter account and the steam page. Then, in November 2024, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it sprung back to life. It turns out that it did indeed die but after the pandemic ended the developer decided he wants to bring this to fruition so in 2024 he began assembling a team and they have since done a lot of work quietly. This is now going to be a beautiful pixel art soulslike metroidvania. Do check out the steam page, it has been overhauled!
• Hippoxxus: This metroid-like was also among the oldest projects to die, it was believed that this was due to the developer completely losing interest in the project in 2020 due to other commitments. However, this autumn the developer has decided to continue working on it and is even working on a kickstarter to that end. The steam page is also in the process of being overhauled.

Newly declared dead metroidvanias

• Sorrowself (IN HIATUS): A hollow knight inspired metroidvania that went into hiatus a few years ago, it never came out of this state and at this point there is virtually no chance of it ever coming out of hiatus.
• The instruments of Faith - Padua's destiny: This ran out of funding and the developers considered doing crowd funding at the start of 2023 in order to prevent a termination of the project. Despite a positive reception to this idea, the crowdfunding never happened and at this point its obvious the project is now dead.
• Warp Soldier (IN HIATUS): The developer lost interest in this and moved on to other projects. Maybe this could come alive again one day, but for now its in hiatus with a very low chance of coming out of that state.
• Vampiric Crown: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• Strawberry Samurai: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• Effigy: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• Charlie from the swamp: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• Shining Symbol: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• The Abandoned Presence: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• The Search - Lost Dreams: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• Onchu (IN HIATUS): Put into hiatus while a different project is in the worlds, very unlikely to be revived.
• Umbra Sepulcri: No signs of life for more than 2 years
• The Tale of Greenbrier: abandoned in favor of a different project

Previously declared dead metroidvanias

Declared dead in June 2024

• Without kidney: After a lengthy period stuck in limbo, this twin stick metroidvania is finally dead.
• Aria Disconnect: This was abandoned following a failed kickstarter. There has been no activity in years and the website has died.
• Akari - the five eyed fox (IN HIATUS): The dev has not done work on this in several years, instead trying to complete some kind of frog game instead, making a kickstarter for that which ultimately failed. The last activity shows he's still trying to complete that game. The original release date of september 2023 was missed without the developer ever updating it manually despite several automated reminder emails being sent by steam. All of this implies an indefinite hiatus.
• Full Moon: There hasn't been any activity in years. The original release date of september 2023 was completely missed without an update despite several automated reminder emails being sent by steam, a clear sign of abandonment.
• Matachin: see above, but november 2023 instead
• Dreadstone - the immortal prisoner: see above, but december 2023 instead
• Sir magical jelly: see above. Also, a failed kickstarter.
• Soul cipher (IN HIATUS): After being marked as dying the developers have confirmed that this project is in indefinite hiatus. They are currently working on a very different 8-bit game.
• the last tree: No activity anywhere in over two years.
• No one's earth: No activity anywhere in over two years.
• Pheno[core]: No activity anywhere in over two years and the website is dead.
• Bear the terrain: No activity anywhere in over two years
• Bitup: No activity anywhere in over two years
• VeLM: This has not seen any activity in several years

declared dead in January 2024

• Puppetmaster: The developer has declared the project dead following an unpopular demo.
• The last cadet: The developer has declared the project dead.
• Murus: The developer has declared the project dead following a failed kickstarter.
• Reina and Jericho (IN HIATUS): The developer has declared the project to be in hiatus and unlikely to be revived due to unity installation fees.
• PlayBound (IN HIATUS): This has been in hiatus for several years and is almost certainly never going to be revived.
• Mechanode: This was abandoned almost 4 years ago.
• Castle Escape: This was abandoned almost 4 years ago and the steam page is the only remaining evidence that this project existed at one point in time with all other traces long since deleted.
• Skyseeker (IN HIATUS): In hiatus for more than 3 years. The dev seems to be more interested in promoting and reviewing video games now rather than developing his own games.
• Forsaken castle: Despite the successful kickstarter, more than 2 years in total have gone by without any activity whatsoever. Even prior to this, there was extremely little activity during the pandemic.
• The ancient cat temple: The developer seems to be more interested now in political activism rather than developing video games which he doesn't seem to have worked on in years
• Codename Mallow: It's been more than 2 years without any activity
• Gaze of the Eyeless: see above
• Slacker dungeon: Declared dying in a previous audit and there were fears the developer was also dead due to the russian invasion of ukraine. However, in November 2023 the developer did at least show he is alive and well... unlike this project which is clearly abandoned at this point as a result of the war.
• Shattered Soul: This was abandoned almost 4 years ago after the artist dropped out of the project.

declared dead in July 2023

• Akita: King pig thinks pink: The first ever metroidvania project with a steam page to be abandoned due to the failure of its kickstarter.
• MURICA: No signs of life whatsoever for several years other than the release date manually being changed from June 2022 to "coming soon" one and a half years ago.
• Chibits: Abandoned website, discord is gone, no activity for almost 3 years.

declared dead in January 2023

• Tower of Samsara - Hidden treasures: There has been no activity on this game for over 3 years. The game had a failed kickstarter in 2016 but development was ongoing for a few years afterwards before dying out completely.
• Animosa: See above
• Koko, the last leaf: The project was put on hiatus when the developer went to join some church missionary thing for two years. The developer eventually returned but as I expected he has lost all interest in this project during the interim and has abandoned it completely.

declared dead in May 2022

• Lore Finder (IN HIATUS): There has been no activity on this game for several years, while the developer works on a different game. The developer has stated this is in hiatus and could be revived in the distant future but it seems he's just saying this for legal reasons (a kickstarter for the game was successfully funded).

With 13 projects declared this time it appears that the exponential growth of this list of dead metroidvanias has flattened out into a linear growth. 23 have been marked as dying this time around, which fits a linear pattern since half of those usually end up being alive when I check up on them six month later. If you wish to know what has been marked as dying, send a DM, I longer make that part of my data public due to past confusion.

And that's it. If you like what I do and want to see more, check out the index.