Steam Page Tips for Metroidvanias
Metroidvania fans evaluate movement first: how the character controls, what abilities unlock, how the map opens up. It’s a connoisseur genre with high standards set by its classics, and pages get judged against those standards immediately.
The capsule
Character in motion against a striking environment silhouette. The genre’s buyers respond to art direction more than logos: let the world do the talking.
To see your own art at every capsule size, including the small one at search result size, drop it into the free Steam capsule checker; it runs in your browser and uploads nothing.
The short description hook
Name the ability-gated exploration loop and your twist on it. If your movement tech is the hook (dash, grapple, time-rewind), it belongs in sentence one.
Screenshots that convert
One map screen. Genre veterans read map density like a wine label: interconnection and secrets sell. Plus at least one traversal-ability shot mid-use.
The mistake to avoid
Calling a linear platformer a metroidvania. This community polices the label hard, and the mismatch shows up in reviews.
Common Steam tags for Metroidvanias
A starting set: cross-check against your closest comparables and keep the tags that describe what your game actually is.
Want an honest score for your page?
LaunchKit grades your Steam store page from 0 to 100: it looks at your header capsule and up to three screenshots, checks your description and tags, and gives you a prioritized fix list. Paste your store URL, or grade a draft before you publish.
Grade my Steam pageCommon questions
Is showing the map in screenshots a spoiler?
No: it is the strongest proof of depth you have. Show a mid-game map with enough revealed to display interconnection, shortcuts, and unexplored edges; crop or leave dark the late-game regions. Veterans read map density the way they read a wine label, and a page with no map screen makes them assume the world is a corridor.
My game is ability-gated but mostly linear: is the Metroidvania tag safe?
Treat it as a claim you will be audited on. This community polices the label harder than any other, and reviews saying "not a real metroidvania" stick to the page permanently. If backtracking and sequence-flexibility are thin, lead with Action, Platformer, and Exploration instead: a linear game with great movement sells fine under honest tags.
Every metroidvania gets compared to Hollow Knight: how do I survive that?
Accept the comparison in tags (landing in Hollow Knight’s More Like This row is excellent traffic) but refuse it in art. A capsule that echoes its palette and creature design invites a direct quality comparison you lose by default. Lead your page with the one mechanic it does not have: your traversal twist, your structure, your combat identity.
Other genres
For the genre-agnostic fundamentals, start with the Steam store page checklist and the capsule size & design guide.