The Anatomy of a Corpse Run: From Dark Souls to KUTO
A good corpse run gives the player one more decision after death. KUTO makes that decision personal by letting your own loadout stand between you and the loot.
Author
Andrii Kovalenko
On the dev team
Andrii Kovalenko is on the team building KUTO: The Lock of Time. He writes about the Time Keys, the lore of the broken oath, and the time-bending action adventures the studio takes cues from — usually from the inside, while the systems are still being tuned.
Articles by Andrii Kovalenko
Designing Enemies That Can Handle Time Travelers
A player who can bend time changes the rules of every encounter. Good enemy AI has to stay dangerous after the rewind, not just before it.
Art Direction for a Shattered Timeline
A timeline can jump eras if the game keeps one set of shapes, materials, and colors alive across every age.
Designing Bullet Time for 2.5D Action
Bullet time is easy to add and easy to ruin. The only interesting version is the one that still has to fight for its place in the loop.
Games Like Ocarina of Time: Okami, Tunic & More
The Switch 2 remake has everyone thinking about Ocarina of Time again. Here are the 3D action-adventures that chase the same dungeon-and-discovery feeling, plus one upcoming game built on time.
How Long to Beat Saros: 20–25 Hours (Early Data)
Saros launched April 30, 2026, and completion data is still settling — but early reports put a first clear at 20–25 hours, with the secret ending totaling 22–27.
Is Saros Worth It? Honest Verdict After the Hype
Saros earned some of the best review scores of 2026, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone. Here's the honest case for and against.
Saros Story Explained
Saros hides a story about guilt and denial under its bullet-hell death loop. Here's Carcosa, the Yellow Shore, and what both endings are saying.
Silksong: Sea of Sorrow DLC — Everything We Know
Team Cherry's first Silksong expansion is free, nautical, and coming sometime in 2026. Here's what's actually confirmed so far.
Best Soulslike Metroidvania Games: Blasphemous & More
The games that fuse soulslike difficulty with Metroidvania exploration — Blasphemous, Hollow Knight, Nine Sols and more — and one upcoming pick built around time.
Blasphemous vs Dead Cells: Which Should You Buy?
Blasphemous is a handcrafted soulslike metroidvania you finish once and remember. Dead Cells is a procgen roguelite you run forever. Here's which one fits how you actually play.
Games Like Blasphemous on Mobile (Android & iOS)
Blasphemous itself plays on your phone through Netflix Games — so if you searched this from a phone, here are the dark soulslikes and metroidvanias actually worth downloading on Android and iOS.
Is Blasphemous a Soulslike? Yes, With Nuance
Blasphemous checks the core soulslike boxes — a death penalty, deliberate combat, bosses you learn by losing. But it reaches them as a 2D metroidvania, not a Dark Souls clone.
Games Like Metroid: Isolation, Sequence-Breaking & More
Not every metroidvania feels like Metroid. These do — the alien isolation, the map that rewards backtracking, the item you find before you're supposed to.
How Long to Beat Silksong: 20–30 Hours + 100%
Hollow Knight: Silksong runs 20–25 hours for a focused main-path clear. Full exploration and 100% push well past that.
How Long to Beat Nine Sols: 20-25 Hours + 100%
Nine Sols takes most players 20-25 hours to beat. Full completion, chasing lore and every hidden area, pushes past 30.
Best Time Loop Metroidvania Games to Play in 2026
Where the time loop meets the connected map. The games that blend resets, rewinds, and era-hopping with Metroidvania design — sorted honestly by how they do it.
Games Like Deathloop: 8 Loops, Heists, and Immersive Sims
Deathloop is a heist puzzle wearing a shooter's clothes. These eight games share a piece of it — the loop, the freeform levels, or the plan that finally comes together.
Is Nine Sols Worth It? An Honest 2026 Verdict
Nine Sols has some of the best boss fights in the Metroidvania genre and a story that actually lands. Whether it's worth it comes down to how you feel about parry-or-die combat.
Games Like Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps ran out eventually. These eight games share its focus on movement, its emotional weight, or both.
Is Rogue Legacy 2 Worth It?
Rogue Legacy 2 hands you 20 to 40 hours of castle-crawling for a fair price, and every failed run still makes you stronger. Here's who it's actually for.
Blasphemous Story Explained: the Miracle & Endings
Blasphemous tells its story in fragments, item lore, and imagery. Here's the throughline — the Miracle, the Penitent One, and the true ending that leads into Blasphemous 2 — laid out plainly.
Games Like Braid: 8 Time-Bending Puzzle Picks
Loved Braid's mix of gorgeous art and time-warping puzzles? These eight games hit the same notes — some through clever puzzle design, some by making time itself the mechanic.
Games Like Katana Zero: 8 Fast, Lethal Picks
Loved Katana Zero's one-hit-kill flow and slow-motion combat? These eight share the speed, the lethality, or the die-and-retry rhythm that makes a perfect run feel like a dance.
Greek Mythology Games: 8 Myths Worth Playing
The games that put you inside Greek myth — fighting the Olympians, escaping the underworld, hunting monsters out of Homer. Eight worth your time, from blockbusters to hidden gems.
Is Animal Well Worth It in 2026?
Animal Well is one of the most inventive Metroidvanias in years — but its puzzle-first, near-combat-free design isn't for everyone.
MECCHA CHAMELEON: Why the Hiding Game Blew Up
A $5.99 game where you paint yourself to disappear into a wall just became one of Steam's biggest surprise hits ever. Here's what MECCHA CHAMELEON actually is, and why it took off.
Games Like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Loved The Lost Crown's parry combat, dense map, and time tricks? Six Metroidvanias that hit the same notes — including two built around stopping and rewinding time — plus one on the way.
Games Like Superhot
The games that scratch the Superhot itch — minimalist, stylish, and over the moment your plan slips. Five that come closest, plus an upcoming time-bending Metroidvania.
Games Like Blasphemous: Hollow Knight, Nine Sols & More
Loved Blasphemous? The grim, punishing soulslike metroidvanias that hit the same notes — brutal bosses, dense maps, heavy atmosphere — plus an upcoming game built on time.
Collapsing World Games: When the Setting Falls Apart
A world that holds together is a backdrop. A world that's breaking is a pressure system. The difference changes how you move through it.
Dead Cells Lore Explained
Dead Cells buries its story in item descriptions and environment details. Here's everything the lore says about who you are and what happened to the island.
Destructible level mechanics: when breaking pays off
Breaking things in games is usually consequence-free. In some games, it's a decision you'll feel for the rest of the run.
Games Like Hollow Knight: Silksong — 10 to Play Next
Silksong is done. These ten games — from precision-parry Metroidvanias to dark exploration platformers — will keep the feeling going.
Games Like Nine Sols — 8 Metroidvanias Worth the Punishment
Nine Sols is a 2024 Metroidvania from Red Candle Games — Sekiro combat, taopunk world, some of the best boss fights in the genre. These eight games share its precision or its density.
Games Like Outer Wilds — Time Loops and Exploration
Outer Wilds is one of the few games where finishing it changes how you see time loops in everything else. These eight games share its mystery-first structure or its relationship with time.
Games Like Returnal: 9 Alternatives (All on PC)
Looking for games like Returnal? All nine run on PC and share the original's death-loop structure, bullet-hell density, or sci-fi atmosphere.
Games Like Saros: 8 Brutal Loop-Driven Games to Play Next
Saros is Housemarque doing what they do best. These eight games share the same fast death loop, the same punishing pace, or the same eldritch-horror edge.
Hollow Knight True Ending Explained
Hollow Knight has five endings, and the 'true' one needs extra steps. Here's how to get Dream No More and what it actually says about Hallownest.
How Long to Beat Blasphemous: 12–18 Hours + True Ending
Blasphemous takes 12–18 hours for the main story. The true ending and full completion push closer to 25–35 hours.
How Long to Beat Celeste
Celeste's main story takes 6–10 hours. Full completion with all B-sides and C-sides can push past 35 — here's the full breakdown.
How Long to Beat Curse of the Dead Gods
Curse of the Dead Gods takes 8–12 hours to clear your first temple. Unlocking everything and mastering the curse system takes 30+ hours.
How Long to Beat Dead Cells
Dead Cells takes 12–15 hours to finish the main story and 50+ to see everything — here's what actually affects your run time.
How Long to Beat Hades 2
The finished Hades 2 takes 25–50 hours to reach the true ending, and 100+ to complete. Here's the full breakdown.
How Long to Beat Hades: 8–20 Hours to Escape
Your first escape in Hades takes most players 8–20 hours. Seeing the full story ending requires roughly 50 runs — here's why.
How Long to Beat Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight's main ending takes 25–35 hours. The true ending and full completion push well past 50 — here's the full breakdown.
How Long to Beat Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps takes 8–12 hours for the main story and 15–20 for full completion. Here's the detailed breakdown.
How Long to Beat Returnal (Story + Tower of Sisyphus)
Returnal's first clear takes most players 15–25 hours of attempts. The full story ending doubles that — here's the breakdown.
How Long to Beat Rogue Legacy 2
Rogue Legacy 2 takes 15–20 hours for the main ending. True ending and Ascension Mode push total playtime well past 40 hours.
Is Dead Cells Worth It in 2026?
Dead Cells is still one of the best action roguelikes available in 2026 — but whether it's worth it depends on what you want from the genre.
Is Hades 2 Worth It? Verdict After the 1.0 Release
Hades 2 left Early Access in September 2025 with a finished story. Here's the honest verdict on whether it's worth buying now.
Is Hollow Knight Worth It?
Hollow Knight is one of the most content-rich games at its price point. Whether it's worth it for you depends on your patience for exploration.
Is Returnal Worth It on PC?
Returnal on PC is an excellent port of one of the most demanding roguelikes made. Whether it's worth it depends entirely on your frustration tolerance.
Is Slay the Spire 2 Worth It?
Slay the Spire 2 is what a sequel to a genre-defining game looks like when the studio doesn't overcorrect. Here's what's different and who it's for.
Returnal Story Explained
Returnal hides a personal story under its sci-fi loop. Here's who Selene is, what Atropos represents, and what the ending is really saying.
Roguelike death mechanic: why dying is part of the design
Death in roguelikes isn't a bug in the design. It's the design. Here's how the best games make dying feel deliberate.
The Best Metroidvania Games: 17 Essential Picks
Seventeen Metroidvanias worth getting lost in, from the genre's founders to Silksong, Ender Magnolia, and Ultros - plus a time-bending newcomer on the way.
The Best Roguelike Games to Play
The roguelikes worth your time, from the genre's gold standard to its weirdest experiments — plus a time-bending newcomer worth watching.
Best Roguelike Metroidvania Games
The hybrid genre that fuses roguelike runs with Metroidvania maps — the games that nail it, and one upcoming pick built around time.
Best Time Loop Games (2026): 8 Loops Worth Escaping
Stuck in a loop, learning a little more each cycle. The games that turn the time loop into a whole genre — plus a time-bending Metroidvania that runs on the idea.
Bullet Time Games: The Best Slow-Motion Combat Games
Slow the world to a crawl and weave through gunfire. The games that made bullet time iconic — plus one upcoming Metroidvania built on time dilation.
Game Feel: What Makes Combat Feel Good
Why one game's sword swing feels amazing and another's feels like waving a stick. The invisible craft of game feel, and what makes combat satisfying.
Games Like Dead Cells: Best Roguelike Action
Loved Dead Cells? Here are the games that nail the same fast, brutal roguelike combat and run-based loop — plus one built around time.
Games Like Hades: 13 Roguelikes to Play Next
Loved Hades? Here are 13 action roguelikes that scratch the same itch — fast combat, a run-based loop, gods to kill — plus which run on mobile and the closest alternative.
Games Where You Can Stop Time: Superhot to Katana Zero
Freeze the clock and move while the world holds still. The games that make stopping time the whole point — plus one upcoming time-bending Metroidvania.
Roguelikes Built on Myth: Gods and Titans
Death you repeat, gods who watch, fate you fight against. Why myth and the roguelike loop were made for each other.
Procedural Generation in Games: How It Works
How games build levels, loot, and whole worlds from algorithms instead of hand-placing every room — the types, the algorithms behind them, and why it powers roguelikes and Minecraft.
Roguelike vs Roguelite vs Metroidvania, Explained
Three words people use interchangeably and shouldn't. Here's what roguelike, roguelite, and Metroidvania each mean — and how games fuse them.
The Five Time Keys in KUTO: The Lock of Time
Recall, Dilation, Leap, Fracture, Stillness. Five keys that bend one rule of time each — and you only carry two at a time. Here's what each one does.
KUTO: The Lock of Time — Everything We Know
An outcast time guardian, bound to the titan Kronos, cutting back through a crumbling Rome. Here's the premise, the combat, and how to follow it.
The Lore of KUTO: Kronos and the Gods
An outcast left for dead, saved by the titan of time himself. The story behind KUTO: The Lock of Time, and the bond that arms him against the gods.
Games Where You Rewind Time — 10 Worth Playing
Undo a fall, replay a bad choice, rewind a fatal hit. Ten games where pulling time backwards is either a safety net, a puzzle tool, a story mechanic, or all three.
Upcoming Metroidvania Games in 2026
The Metroidvanias worth watching in 2026, from the big sequels everyone's waiting on to the indies flying under the radar.
The Most Anticipated Indie Roguelikes of 2026
The roguelikes worth following in 2026 — what's coming, what to wishlist now, and why getting in early actually matters for these games.
What Is a Metroidvania?
One big interconnected map, locked doors you can't open yet, and abilities that change that. Here's what makes a game a Metroidvania.
What Is a Roguelike? A Beginner's Guide
Procedural levels, permadeath, and a run you restart from scratch. Here's what 'roguelike' actually means — and why the genre is everywhere now.