Supraland

Ori. Both of them.

They are works of high art.

Sundered: eldritch edition

Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania Symphony of the Night.

It's only $3 on play store and iPhone store. The phone version has the advantage that you only have to cast/input each spell once, and then you have a button to press.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is top tier.

Aquaria. Very retro indie game from 2007. Underwater theme.

Hollow Knight. It's the only one I actually played to the end.

La-Mulana 1 and 2. They have excellent music, and more importantly, the exploration is a lot more interesting than most metroidvania games. This is because these games are all about puzzles, which come in the form of riddles, lateral thinking, and so forth. You don't complete any area in one go - rather, each place you can go has information about the other zones, so you criss-cross and cross-reference, completing them piecemeal. Plus, there is a great deal of cultural architecture for each area, making them very distinct. If you want an lengthy and difficult metroidvania that is all about the details, this fits the bill.

The original freeware version of La-Mulana is also worth playing, due to the audio and graphics resembling what could be on the MSX computer.

I also really liked Ender Lilies/Magnolias.

Other metroidvanias I've really enjoyed that haven't been mentioned yet are Blasphemous and Vision Soft Reset.

Blasphemous has a really cool theme and is pretty challenging.

Vision Soft Reset is more indie and probably PC only. It has a unique twist to the formula.

Besides all the already mentionend games: Shadow Complex (2009) was a good game back then. Nothing special without any real story. But it was fun to play

Darksiders is very good

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. IMO this is where the series peaked, perfected the formula and delivered a game packed with several large maps and three sets of bonus characters to replay the game with.

Ghost Song is one of my favorites that doesn't look like its been mentioned yet.

The only one I've played is Dead Cells, and it's fantastic. I haven't even bought any of the DLC, the base game is already endlessly replayable. I also listen to the soundtrack at least once a week.

I definitely want to get around to playing Hollow Knight and Animal Well at some point.

Super Metroid. I really haven't liked any others that I've played.

Aside from sotn of course, dead cells hands down.

Playing it for years now.

Edit: I would love for the downvote(s) to say (why/if) they didn't like dead cells or if they don't see it as metroidvania. (no discussion about opinions! ☺️)

I have a list of Metroidvanias I've started but never completed. The only one that managed to hold my attention to completion that wasn't an actual Metroid title was Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Which is a shame, because Ori and The Blind Forest is beautiful and Hollowknight is very cute, but neither could really hold my attention.

So many solid suggestions here already. I have a soft spot for the more retro styled games, and despite being short Gato Roboto is one of my favourites. It just feels so good to play.

I've played Ultros recently and thought it was really cool and unique.

Void Stranger. The most powerful progression unlocking item is knowledge. The second most powerful is the

I love this style of game. I always have one on the go. Some times they scratch the itch, others they miss just a bit. I found that the blasphemous series more dark souls than Metroidvania. Biogun, chasm, bloodstained, any of the ori games, haiku, the mummy demastered, turnip boy commits tax evasion, dust an Elysian tale... I have more but that's a solid chunk. I'd love to hear from others if they do or don't consider these in the same family.

Do you consider Zelda64 a MetroidVania? If so then Darksiders has that action, similarly control, soul reaver 1 and 2, and blood omen 2.

Currently playing Animal Well, and it is excellent so far!