@cr00mz
I don't know how many times I have to repeat this. Its hard to classify these games and you may have a different opinion than others. But also like I said, the games I put on the list seem to focus on three core things. To use one of your examples, the difference between Prince of Persia and Assassins Creed is Prince of Persia focuses almost exclusively on the puzzle solving and action side, while Assassins Creed focuses more on the 'three' key elements (item progression, platforming and free roaming). Yes, you can say Prince of Persia also had platforming and technically had free roaming, though a lot of times previous areas were closed off or not necessary to revisit. And Prince of Persia focused more on combining platforming with puzzles. Once again, kind of hitting on the Zelda genre.
I also think you're getting focused on the 'puzzle' aspect. As I brouhgt up in my last post, some noted 'Metrovanias' don't have puzzles, like most of the Castlevania games and Muramasa. Even Metroid has limited puzzle aspects like navigating bomb holes or hitting panels in a certain order. Clearly nothing on the level of say Zelda or Prince of Persia.
As another example, you have a game like Resident Evil. Its free roaming and has platforming aspects. But it focuses almost exclusively on the action and puzzles. And I doubt anyone would place it in the same genre as Metroid. That's why the 'Metrovania' genre is a sub-genre. A mixture of multiple genres, which its games itself also mix other genres. The original Metroid itself was suppose to blend aspects of Mario and Zelda with more focus on action.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
