Research on the Backtracking Narrative Mechanism in Metroidvania Games

"Metroidvania" is a portmanteau referencing the Metroid series and the Castlevania series. This name summarizes the design connections formed across map exploration, ability acquisition, and area re-entry in both franchises, but it does not imply that the scope of research is limited strictly to these two series. Retrospectives by Nintendo on the Metroid series indicate that early entries had already combined maze-like exploration with ability upgrades; meanwhile, Konami's product documentation reveals that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, released in 1997, organized exploration through transformation abilities and hidden areas. [1][2] When this paper uses the term "Metroidvania games," it refers to works featuring interconnected maps, staged access restrictions, and mechanics that allow players to revisit established areas with new abilities or knowledge. Defining the term this way anchors the discussion on spatial structure and sets a boundary for investigating backtracking narratives. This spatial structure makes "returning" a frequent action in Metroidvania games, yet a common action does not necessarily possess narrative significance. Players may temporarily abandon a route due to a lack of abilities, or repeatedly traverse the same room to purchase items or locate an entrance. While these actions modify exploration routes, they do not inherently alter the player’s understanding of a location. Therefore, the "backtracking narrative" discussed in this paper refers specifically to instances where players, upon returning to a familiar site, connect what they previously saw with newly surfaced information, thereby revising their judgments regarding the environment, characters, or events. Whether backtracking generates such cognitive shifts marks the dividing line between this study and general discussions on map exploration. From the perspective of early genre design, returning primarily solved traversal issues: new abilities rendered previously unreachable locations within old areas accessible. This design created the prerequisite for backtracking narrative without pre-guaranteeing its occurrence. A hidden room might contain only a reward, or it might leave behind clues sufficient to explain a character's actions; a reopened path might merely shorten a route, or it might allow players to witness changes in the original area. Thus, examining the past and present of Metroidvania games requires more than comparing whether maps have become more complex; it necessitates analyzing when and how space begins to function as a mechanism for reinterpreting prior experiences.

To demonstrate how space participates in storytelling, it is necessary to distinguish between "a story taking place within a space" and "space facilitating the understanding of a story." In Game Design as Narrative Architecture, Henry Jenkins discusses the relationship between level design and narrative, proposing that designers can arrange narrative information through explorable environments. Citing works such as American McGee's Alice, Jenkins illustrates how players compare game scenes with their existing story experiences to derive new understandings from transformed spatial imagery; he further discusses how clues scattered throughout the environment prompt players to reconstruct past events. [3] This formulation provides a starting point for analyzing spatial narratives. However, "reconstructing a story based on space" remains a broad proposition, requiring further explanation of how first and second visits connect when a player returns to the same location. Research on the relationship between clues and action helps narrow this problem. In Game Spaces Speak Volumes: Indexical Storytelling, Clara Fernández-Vara analyzes traces, markers, and remnants within game environments. Using works like Portal and BioShock, she demonstrates that players can deduce preceding events based on visible environmental signs. Borrowing the concept of "indexicality" from semiotics, she emphasizes the link between clues and events, as well as the role of "reading" space in guiding player actions. [4] This analysis suggests that a backtracking narrative cannot be identified simply because "new objects appear in an old place"; the new objects must also point to a specific event and form a meaningful relation with the player's memory. Within Metroidvania research, Andriano and Caracciolo juxtapose Hollow Knight and Rain World to examine how interconnected maps, exploration barriers, and hard-to-master non-human environments shape player imaginations of the game world. They point out that space in such games is not a static container waiting to be permanently conquered by the player; rather, its environment continuously limits and readjusts the player's perception. [5] This study demonstrates that re-entering a map can carry significance far beyond mere navigation. Building upon their work, this paper poses a more specific question: when a player enters the same location again, which recognizable differences between the before and after alter their interpretation of past events? The delayed presentation of character information serves as another point of reference. Yu Yan (2020) analyzes the Soul Master in Autonomous Alienation and Mechanical Rebirth in Game Literature: A Case Study of Hollow Knight (p. 69), citing in-game dialogue from Hollow Knight Nintendo Switch version 1.4.3.2 (see p. 70, note). The Soul Master claims to study souls to cure the infection, yet his dream dialogue upon defeat reveals his true pursuit of eternal life; furthermore, the spell acquired by the protagonist is used for subsequent exploration. Reading these materials alongside T.S. Eliot's discussions on religion and civilization in Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, Yu argues that the work critiques the pursuit of selfish gains under the guise of salvation and the misuse of power, rather than the ability itself. [6] This analysis indicates that later information can revise initial assessments of a character's motives. It provides a reference for discussing "post-hoc reinterpretation" in this paper; what role spatial backtracking plays in this process must still be demonstrated through concrete scenarios. Synthesizing the above research, this paper establishes "Initial Experience — Re-entry — Cognitive Shift" as the basic analytical path for backtracking narrative. "Initial Experience" refers to the environment, characters, and obstacles visible during the player's first visit; "Re-entry" refers to returning to a recognizable location after changes in abilities, narrative progression, or knowledge; "Cognitive Shift" requires that new information addresses questions left unresolved during the earlier visit. These three stages may not all fully appear in every instance of returning. Using this standard, this paper selects two scenarios from Hollow Knight—regional state transformation and character clue supplementation—to examine how spatial narrative presents world changes and reassesses past conflicts.

The Forgotten Crossroads in Hollow Knight serves as an ideal case for observing regional state transformation because it is a central transit hub that players pass through early on and revisit frequently. Upon their first visit, players face routes leading to other areas and an already decayed subterranean space. As game progression advances under specific conditions, the Forgotten Crossroads transforms into the "Infected Crossroads": orange infection spreads through the environment, certain passages are blocked, and many regular enemies are replaced by more dangerous variants. [7] Despite these changes, the location's name, primary spatial relationships, and memory of old paths allow players to recognize the area; meanwhile, differences in environment and traversal conditions provide a comparative baseline for spatial narrative in Hollow Knight. This comparison shifts the player's understanding of the Forgotten Crossroads from a "decayed old area" to an "area actively undergoing change." The infection, sealed passages, and replaced enemies act simultaneously on visual cues, pathing, and combat. Without waiting for a concentrated exposition, players perceive these changes during familiar travel. The backtracking narrative thus embeds the update of the world's state into spatial memories the player previously established. However, the game progression conditions that trigger this regional change cannot be directly equated with the internal cause of the disease within the story; while this case study illustrates how the state of infection is experienced and compared, map changes alone cannot account for the entire cause of the infection. This analytical boundary ensures that conclusions regarding spatial narrative align strictly with visible in-game evidence. In contrast to regional transformation, the False Knight event demonstrates how character assessments are revised through backtracking. When players first encounter the False Knight in the Forgotten Crossroads, they face an enemy clad in massive armor blocking their path. During combat, a smaller maggot inside the armor is briefly exposed, though the combat scene itself fails to explain how he acquired the armor. After the False Knight falls, the player can deduce that his imposing exterior was a disguise, but may not yet understand his full motivation. Thus, this initial encounter leaves behind an unresolved question for Hollow Knight's backtracking narrative: why did a weak creature beneath the armor long for such formidable power? The resolution to this question occurs upon revisiting related locations. Returning to the storeroom above the False Knight's arena, players can break a fragile wall to find the maggot's corpse alongside a grieving companion. Upon acquiring the Dream Nail, players can enter his dream via the corpse to engage his more powerful dream form; dialogue after a second defeat reveals that he sought power to protect his kin. [8] These pieces of information do not erase his attack on the protagonist, nor do they simplistically rewrite him into a hero. What they alter is the interpretive scope of that initial battle: a conflict that originally seemed to be a mere level obstacle is re-contextualized to involve a weak creature's yearning for strength and its tragic failure. Re-entering the location, observing the placement of the body and companion, and unlocking the subsequent dream sequence together deliver these narrative clues, integrating character motive supplementation into the backtracking narrative. Juxtaposing these two scenarios shows that backtracking narratives in Hollow Knight do not rely on a singular mode of change. The Infected Crossroads transforms the old location itself, forcing players to perceive the state of the world through their original map memories; the False Knight event supplements clues at a familiar site, leading players to look back and re-evaluate a concluded battle. The core of the former is "what happened to this place later," whereas the core of the latter is "why did this event happen in the first place." Both require players to discern the connection between initial experiences and subsequent information, yet the objects of their cognitive shifts differ. This distinction demonstrates that backtracking in Metroidvania games can carry both world progression and character narratives.

While both case studies establish a connection of post-hoc interpretation, one cannot categorize all repeated movements in Metroidvania games as backtracking narratives. The "Subbottom Town Supply" (骸底镇补给) quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong provides a boundary case: a character collects supplies from Belltown and delivers them along a route to Subbottom Town, avoiding damage to the cargo along the way; this delivery task can be repeated. [9] The task assigns a new operational goal to an old route and requires the player to traverse a familiar area once more. However, regarding this delivery mechanism alone, repeated movement along the path mainly serves transport and challenge functions, without necessarily requiring the player to revise their understanding of Subbottom Town or past events. Thus, "returning to an old location" is a condition under which a backtracking narrative may occur, but cannot serve as sole proof that it has occurred. Establishing this boundary allows for a more prudent discussion on the genre's evolution. Early backtracking centered on ability unlocks, primarily altering whether players "could reach" a location; the case studies in Hollow Knight show that spatial states and delayed clues can further alter how players "understand" what they experience. These two approaches do not replace one another sequentially, and contemporary titles continue to make extensive use of repeated routes strictly serving traversal or quest objectives. Design inferences drawn from existing cases suggest a future direction: linking ability changes, spatial transformations, and information supplementation more clearly, thereby giving players opportunities to re-examine past events whenever they acquire new operational capabilities. This represents a design inference grounded in case analysis rather than a deterministic forecast for the Metroidvania genre.

Metroidvania games provide stable spatial conditions for backtracking narratives: maps permit return visits, while abilities and story progression ensure that the experience upon re-arrival differs from the initial visit. Through two cases in Hollow Knight, this paper demonstrates that changes in an old location's state can portray world progression, while supplementing clues at familiar sites can revise character assessments. Concurrently, the delivery tasks in Hollow Knight: Silksong illustrate that repeated routes may serve purely functional gameplay goals. Therefore, the key to determining whether backtracking constitutes a narrative lies in whether new experiences establish a recognizable interpretive relationship with past ones. Although the conclusions of this study are drawn from a limited set of cases and may not capture every player's actual cognitive process, they offer a verifiable analytical standard for comparing backtracking narratives across different titles.