Your arsenal is geared more toward solving light puzzles and unlocking new passages than blasting enemies to hell. Unlike the first game, Axiom Verge 2 places a much bigger emphasis on exploration than combat.
Whenever a giant robot appeared on screen I was blown away. It’s a big part of what makes Axiom Verge 2 feel like more than just more of the same. But soon enough you discover the Breach, a demake dimension filled with neon colours and animalistic monsters, which you navigate using an insect-like drone that makes movement and exploration a joy. Intricate configurations of wires and metal are juxtaposed with mythical backdrops of giant statues and celestial cloudscapes while human vocals mix with earthly instruments to create otherworldly intrigue.Īt first the landscape is very naturalistic, with green fields and rocky cliffs giving way to dark caverns and underground lakes. Dazzling pixel art and chiptune-y beats return, but this time enriched by more layers and variation. Her search quickly finds her transported to an alternate version of Earth filled with enemy robots and the remnants of a lost civilisation, where her trusty pickaxe and boomerang are sure to come in handy. You play as corporate billionaire Indra Chaudhari as she investigates the disappearance of a research colony in the Arctic.
Tedious combat and uneven pacing DEVELOPERĪbout 9 hours, finishing the main game and occasionally venturing off the beaten pathĪxiom Verge 2 bears loose connections to its predecessor, but it’s also self-contained enough that you can approach it with no knowledge of the original. Gorgeous art, great soundtrack, rewarding exploration DISLIKED One your friend tells you gets good eventually LIKED
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Where Axiom Verge was an impressively crafted homage to Metroid that was largely free of that game’s frustrations, Axiom Verge 2 feels like an original 2D exploration game that just happens to be littered with irritating artifacts from Nintendo’s genre-creating NES classic.Ī pickaxe? Against that thing? TYPE OF GAME New abilities, a more organic map, and constant dimension shifting made me fall in love with Axiom Verge 2, but only after I learned to avoid its pitfalls in a way I never had to with the first game. I was relieved, though also occasionally pained, to find something that built out from rather than just on top of what had come before. I was essentially expecting a more polished, optimised, and ambitious version of what the first game had already accomplished. Where the first game received a big marketing push as part of PlayStation’s then-annual Spring Fever indie showcase, the somewhat more sophisticated and experimental followup dropped out of nowhere, relatively speaking, beckoning players to go in fresh and discover its secrets for themselves.
There are plenty of Metroidvanias out there that evoke bygone gaming eras, but indie creator Tom Happ’s personal spin on the nostalgia-fuelled genre continues to stand above most of the rest of the field.Īfter single-handedly creating its 2015 predecessor, Happ spent the past six years working on Axiom Verge 2 and then, following much anticipation, mystery, and a few delays, surprise-launched it on PS4, PC, and Switch last week. Lovely art, haunting music, and a packed constellation of obstacles and shortcuts elevate an often frustrating side-scrolling gauntlet into a worthwhile and occasionally sublime experience. For all my problems with the game, by the end it had me completely enthralled. There were times early on in Axiom Verge 2 when I wanted to stop playing.
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