Hi, I've been playing Elemental Rage HD and I love it, the polish and exploration and 'levelling up' abilities are brilliant. I was hoping that there are other games out there like it. I have Swordigo but I get bored halfway through. Thanks.
Aqauria, Waking Mars, Emberwind, Shantae: Risky Revenge, Capsized +, Vergeance, Mystery of the Japanese Werewolf to name a few... I keep a folder just for such games like this and all of those more or less have the same feel of exploration and discovery and backtracking in the sort of Metroid-vania mold you seem to like!