I wasn’t entirely sure I’d ever return to my old body, which is a great twist in a genre all about building a slow, upward ramp in power, and it recaptured the feeling of tension and loneliness you get in the early sections of Metroid games. In a game like this, reverting that sense of progression feels harrowing I had to navigate old areas in a much weaker state. At one point, though, I got stuck in the Breach, cut off from most of my bodily upgrades and vulnerable as a result. It’s uninhabitable by humans, but my little robot friend had no issue exploring it. After acquiring the aforementioned drone, I learned there’s a second world I can explore called the Breach. And that’s where Axiom Verge 2 finds its most powerful moments.
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One of the most enduring things about that series is how isolating it can feel. I’ve been through this loop dozens of times, and Axiom Verge 2 didn’t do enough to compel me to complete it.Īxiom Verge 2 recaptures the feeling of tension and loneliness in Metroidīut Axiom Verge 2 doesn’t let you forget that there’s more to Metroid than backtracking. Later on, though, seeing a new mysterious object, poking at it, then immediately dubbing it a “come back later” signpost got old - I felt satisfied with the tools I already had. I explored as much as I could early on, gathering new weapons and skill points that I could spend on new abilities, more health, or increased damage. Later on, you get the ability to hack locked doors, but you can also hack any kind of robotic enemy to disable their guns or make them your allies.īut while Axiom Verge 2 cleverly splices and repurposes the bits and pieces of Metroid, its purist dedication can also make it feel too familiar at times. One is a drone you transplant your consciousness into with its own set of upgrades that help you traverse Kiengir. Some of these upgrades are fun to experiment with, too. It also helps that the map features in-game coordinates, which makes tracking down specific upgrades easier. It’s an obvious trick, dangling progress in front of players like this, but the speed with which I evolved made it hard to care. I waded through an early underwater section for 10 or 15 minutes before I got an ability that made moving underwater a breeze. What’s more, the game is quick to dole out upgrades early on. Image: Thomas Happ GamesĮvery new area is appropriately tough to navigate at first, but that only makes finding new upgrades and collectibles all the more captivating. Trekking back and forth across this world always felt some degree of oppressive, because even when I returned to previous areas as a more powerful threat, enemies could still quickly cut me down if I wasn’t alert. Sure, by the end of the game I had upgraded my health plenty, but enemies scaled to match. This makes the world of Axiom Verge 2 one you explore, but don’t necessarily conquer. In other words, enemies aren’t resources to mine - they’re obstacles in the purest sense, and if you can avoid fighting them altogether, even better. In Axiom Verge 2, enemies don’t drop currency for you to spend on upgrades. Most of what we call Metroidvania games tend to borrow more from Castlevania’s RPG grind and economy-based progression than Metroid’s simpler approach to power-ups. So you grab a pickax and start exploring a new alien landscape with the help of the Arms, a group of superpowered entities that imbue their wielders with powerful abilities. You don’t know what’s going on or what anyone else is doing here, but you’re bent on going back to Earth.
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More importantly, while its meticulously paced exploration and upgrade loops are a little too close to its inspiration at times, it’s the way Axiom Verge 2 digs into the isolation at the heart of the Metroid series that makes it stand out.Īxiom Verge 2 strands you on the cold, mysterious world of Kiengir and cuts right to the chase. Axiom Verge 2 is a Metroidvania game for people who hate the term “Metroidvania.” Thomas Happ Games’ second outing has a purist’s view of the genre built by Metroid that feels like a refreshing change of pace in a sea of imitators.
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