How do the community define metroidvania?
I have been a fan of the genre since playing sotn through dracula x chronicles on the psp and always looked for new metroidvanias to play. However since hollow knight came out, the genre has been flooded by games I barely consider metroidvanias at all. Sometime I wonder if it's me who has misunderstood what it means. So I'm asking what you consider are a must have for a game to be considered a "metroidvania".
IMO metroidvania is a spectrum ranging from a purist perspective to a general perspective to a very, very loose defintion.
I consider a pure metroidvania to be a game very similar to the games that birthed the name, namely the metroid inspired castlevania games. These are exploration-based platformers with jrpg elements(item inventory, exp, rng grinding) that are 2D. Backtracking is also required in one way or another.
The general perspective is more about comparing what castlevania has in common with metroid. This would swap out jrpg elements to simply being rewarded with key items and optional upgrades through exploration. I feel a weak majority falls under this definition.
Then we have the loose definition where the rules are "a game which is open-ended but not open world with rewards for exploration". I have heard a lot of people call a game a metroidvania with this definition. This would include games that are not 2D at all like the souls-games and top-down games like zelda. Backtracking is optional.
Remember these are just my views on the genre and what I expect when I see the genre on a game. (Also sorry if this was badly written or felt ranty as this is my first real post).