Nothing exactly as rigid as the movement and whip combat of NES castlevania that I know of. The closest I know of is Slain: Back from Hell. The enemies and environments look similar to Castlevania (or an Ozzy Album) but the sword combat feels more like Actraiser from the SNES. I enjoy it quite a bit and it's super cheap right now (oops sale is done but its available for gift). But it's punishing like NES action games were. So I have to play it in like 10 minute sprints, rest calm down, and then go back at it. It has very frequent check points though so you only have to learn small sections at a time. That's the closest I can recommend right now.

My brother was watching some Humongous Entertainment retrospectives and Spy Fox definitely rose to my mind also. Some Assembly Required in particular did. Freddy Fish also.

Codename Panzers Cold War is a game I am still waiting on.

Stronghold Legends still works DRM free from the Stronghold Collection disc but I do want it here for update support.

Diablo II and III, and none of that remake stuff either for II.

The Sims any of them but I throw in with 2 the most.

Rush for Berlin.

MechCommander 2 in particular but the first as well.

Arma II.

Oh heck, I forgot CnC... I pick Tiberium Wars. Scratch Stronghold.

From the game page: That point alone makes the game nothing like Castlevania 2, which has the first two of those points.

Also, I'm specifically looking for a platformer that's structured like Castlevania 2; that is, sort of like a metroidvania, but with lots of outdoor areas, multiple towns (many far away from the start of the game), the ability to backtrack, and not a hub structure.

Stray
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/stray

Viscera Cleanup Detail
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/viscera_cleanup_detail

Costume Quest 2
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/costume_quest_2

The Caligula Effect 2
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_caligula_effect_2

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/danganronpa_trigger_happy_havoc

The Room
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_room

Cthulhu Saves the World
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/cthulhu_saves_the_world

1. Might and Magic 10
2. Assassin's Creed series after 2 (the original is already here)
3. Yakuza series.

In no particular order:

Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
Potionomics
Total War: Medieval II
Company of Heroes
Freelancer
Dead Space 2
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst

In no particular order:

1. Total War: Medieval II
2. Transformers: War for Cybertron & Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
3. Tiny Combat Arena
4. All the Call of Duty Modern Warfare games (not the newer ones nor the remastered ones)
5. The Sims 2
6. Battlefield 2142
7. Valkyria Chronicles
8. RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3: Complete Edition (I take it the game was pulled from GOG, but maybe there's a chance the game could come back?)
9. Rise of Nations
10. The HALO games

Highlight means high priority.

I'm not saying it's the same game. CV2 was very weird. I''m not sure ANY game is the same as that one.

Well here are some other ideas to look at:

- Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim
- Guacamelee
- Steamworld Dig 2
- Hollow Knight (if you don't mind depressing games)

I don't know if they'll be quite what you are looking for either but... it's all I can think of right now.

No specific order
- Nier Automata and possibly sequel (already DRM-free on steam so would like it to come to GOG).
- Kingdom Hearts series (would love to have a DRM-free version)
- Chrono Trigger (same as above)
- Metal Gear Rising (would like to get PC DRM free version but might not be available to me anyway due to region)
- A Total War game - would like a DRM-free version

1. Max Payne 1, 2
2. Dead Space 2, 3
3. Fable: The Lost Chapters

Oh yeah, I forgot about this one! Would love to see the game released here on GOG in the future.

They're not really what I'm looking for.

For example, each of those games has only one or two towns, and they're all reached early in the game. I want a 2D platformer where there are late-game towns, with late-game equipment for sale and people who give late-game information (and possibly late-game quests), and that are rather remote.

I don't want a game where I keep returning to the same central location after every mission.

(Also, perhaps a game similar to Zelda 2 (and specifically Zelda 2, not other Zelda games) would be appreciated, as well.)

Have you tried Dust: An Elysian Tail? I never played it much but I think it has a lot of towns. It's a beautiful looking game but my memory is that it was kind of boring.

I understand what you want...but I don't know that that type of game design exists after 1988. At some point, if you really want to play the exact same game from then...you may need to just replay that game.

I've played Dust. It is a nice game (and there's a large chunk of it that seems to be a huge Castlevania 2 reference, combined with another (smaller) Castlevania 2 reference later), but it still has more of a hub structure, where you're returning to the main town a lot. (In particular, I don't want there to be a clear "main town"; I want the late game to center around late game areas that are far remote from where the game starts.)

Max Payne 1 and 2
GTA 5
HALO
Mechwarrior games
Rainbow 6 Games especially Vegas 1 and 2