Welcome to Kotaku Split Screen, the show where we talk about video games one very excruciatingly specific topic at a time.

I'm your host for this week, Ethan Gatch, and joining me today are my co-hosts, Mike Fahey, and Lisa Marine.

Wow. Did you have to look us up?

No, I just, I forgot, I forgot if you, uh, if you guys like chime in and be like, you know,

say your names or not. It's, it's a weird hang-up. Anyway, I can do that again.

That's okay. We're going to stick with this, Not now. It's just going to be, you introduce this. There's an awkward silence and then it sounds like you're trying to remember our names. It's great. I'm an imposter. Who is this? Who is this podcast again?

Is it Fortnite? You're an imposter? Like, Fortnite? Don't. We smearly rolled her eyes.

There needs to be a video component just for my reactions.

So we'll get there.

Now that I can sit up in a fixed bed, we'll eventually get me on video too.

But I will be an anime cat.

Now, Mike, you've talked a lot about your new bed, and it sounds a lot like a Metroidvania.

The topic of today's show, it's a it's a space you have to traverse every day and now know intimately

but can also be uh somewhat confining is that wow is that is that the definition of a metrovenia

i don't know i think we should uh i actually want to ask you to we should should know that. When you guys think of Metroidvania, what do you think of?

I think of this impending doom of games. I feel like I need to play and haven't yet.

There are a lot of Metroidvanias on my to-do list that I haven't gotten to.

So I just feel anxiety when I think of them.

I don't know if that's a genre definition, but that is what I think of when I think of

Metroidvania's.

No, I think that's very, I mean, I definitely have that feeling.

Like, I think there's, there's, there's, there's,

...