If I would have to guess, Metroidvanias must be explored first and usually you have to get to know the map as it is not revealed to you at first. There could possibly be more platforming/ jumping around in Metroidvanias vs open world which could be just a flat terrain. Which ones have loading times and which don’t? I haven’t played too many Metroidvanias but I played for example Darksiders and that COULD qualify as a 3d Metroidvania, but also as open world, I don’t know. Can anyone who played a lot of these explain?
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This question is kind of wonky because people haven’t really nailed down 100% objective definitions for either of these terms. For example, in a Retronauts podcast about Metroidvanias, one host vehemently argued Super Mario World meets all the criteria they came up with for a Metroidvania to point out the difficulty of defining the category. (That podcast is relevant because the host is, as far as he can tell, the first person to publish an article with the word “Metroidvania”.)
If I had to define it, I think I’d start by saying “open world” is a “bigger” category than “Metroidvania”.
When you say “Metroidvania” people tend to think of some very specific games, and the ones without “Metroid” or “Castlevania” in the title are built to make you think of them. This is predominantly focused on 2D side-scrolling platform games. (I’m not sure if *Metroid* Prime counts and don’t want to get into that discussion.)
When you say “open world”, a lot of different games come to mind. They’re predominantly 3D, but 2D examples of open world games like *Grand Theft Auto* exist. While the name implies you can go anywhere in the world without restriction, a lot of games are called “open world” even if they block your progress. That’s why I say this is a “bigger” category: I can think of games with very different ideas and implementations, like *[Prototype]* and *Goat Simulator*, but the differences don’t affect if they’re “open world”.
So I’d argue a Metroidvania IS an “open world” game, but not all “open world” games are Metroidvanias. People expect a Metroidvania to have item upgrades that unlock parts of the map, but that’s an optional trait of open world games.
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