If I were to list to you my five most favorite video game genres then you should expect metroidvanias on the list. Some of you may think the genre gets really tiresome after a while, but there’s something about 2D exploration that really clicks with me. Is it that all the areas are interconnected and find ways to loop back into earlier parts of the game? Is it how they handle player progression and by taking the time to find stronger gear they can stand up to later challenges in the game? Is it how they handle combat and how some metroidvanias contain engaging encounters? Is it that sense of wonder to see what type of world you're stuck in? I don’t know man. Maybe it’s all of the above. I just really love this style of games. The genre didn’t really blow up until two games.
The first game was Super Metroid which was the third major entry in the Metroid series. It improved upon the first two games in the series by improving player progression, having more detailed environments, and ditching the linear progression the other two games had for more player freedom. Disclaimer: I haven’t played Super Metroid so I don’t know what I’m saying is actually true. The second big title to really kick off the metroidvania genre was 19997’s Castlevania: Symphony of The Night which was directed by the legendary Koji Igarashi. It ditched the formula the previous Castelvania games had and took inspiration from the previously mentioned Super Metroid. It had a dazzling setting, found ways to mix in RPG-esque character progression, a stylish cast of characters, and a really intriguing story that helped expand the Castlevania universe. Koji Igarashi would then help direct future 2D Castlevania titles and eventually leave to create the Bloodstained series. It was thanks to these two games that the genre was established, but it wasn’t until the 2010s that other developers would put their own ideas onto the table. Most commonly indie developers, for they took a lot of inspiration..
Most of the metroidvanias I’ve personally played are from indie developers, because if you know me by now I love to support their work. I played Owlboy by D-Pad Studio which was an extremely well made game that had a very charming atmosphere and a story I still look back to even today. Blasphemous by The Game Kitchen which was a hardcore experience with a grueling world to explore. The Ori series which had an incredible artstyle and extremely emotional storytelling. Steamworld Dig 2 by Image & Form which found a way to take something boring and make it engaging. Then there is Hollow Knight which had an incredible setting, incredible art design, incredible combat, music, world design, character progression, boss fights, design choices, and hopefully by now you know it’s my favorite game of all time.
However, one metroidvania I completely forgot that I even played was Axiom Verge which was made by solo developer Tom Happ and released back in 2015. Before working on Axiom Verge, Tom Happ worked at Petroglyph Games and helped with the development of a few sports games. Tom Happ did take a lot of inspiration from the Metroid series and he eventually came up with the idea of creating his own Metroid. The Metroid franchise hadn’t been active since 2010 and since other indie metroidvanias like Guacamelee and Steamworld Dig were hitting the market at the time, Tom Happ thought it would be a good chance to create his own.
Development for Axiom Verge began back in 2012 and the game was constantly reworked until Tom Happ had a proper build of the game. An official build of Axiom Verge wasn’t revealed until 2014 during Playstation’s E3 convention. It was announced to be coming to Playstation 4 and Vita, and be one of the few big indie titles coming first to the new console generation. People at the convention were probably more hyped for the other games revealed, but fans of the metroidvania genre were hyped to see a game attempt to serve as a successor. The game received further delay because Tom Happ wanted it to be the best it could be and the final product wasn’t released until March of next year. Once Axiom Verge did release on the PS4 it performed pretty well as players thought it was one of the best metroidvanias in years and maybe a comeback for the genre. Tom Happ even revealed he was planning to port the game to other consoles like the Xbox One and Wii U to make the game more readily available to other audiences. The game even got ported to Switch which was the version I played.
Currently there is a cult following Axiom Verge and Tom Happy is working on a sequel which is planned to be released soon. So I found this as the perfect opportunity to replay a game I have no memory of. I originally had a review of Axiom Verge on this site, but it was poorly written and I deleted it. Now that I have beaten the entire game once again what can I say? This is a really good metroidvania. It has quite a few flaws, but it certainly is one of the better ones among the genre. Today we’ll be talking about why I loved Axiom Verge and why it deserves your attention. So power up the Axiom Disruptor and prepare to journey deep into an unknown world.
Story
We follow the role of a scientist named Trace who is conducting a somewhat dangerous experiment at an unknown laboratory located in New Mexico. We aren’t told exactly what the experiment is and what is driving Trace to do it, but we see Trace get caught from a terrible explosion that bursts through a nearby wall and makes the entire laboratory collapse towards the ground. The laboratory is left in complete ruins and we don’t know whether Trace was rescued or not. Trace then wakes up moments later in an unknown underground cave in an egg shaped machine that has completely healed him of all his wounds. He has no idea where he is and has no recollection of how he got there, but he is then contacted by a mysterious voice. The voice tells Trace that he has woken up in a dangerous place and there are monsters inhabiting the place he is in. The voice directs Trace to a mysterious gun known as the Axiom Disruptor to defend himself with. The voice directs Trace to their location and he eventually ends up in a room with a giant robotic head wired to the wall. The voice says her name if Elsenova and once Trace activates some repair drones she reveals where he is. He is trapped on an alien planet named Sudra which was once inhabited by an intelligent alien race.
The inhabitants of Sudra are protected by Elsenova’s kind known as the Rusalki, giant robotic beings that acted as guardians. Together they maintain a giant storm known as the Breach which they are trying to keep away from the Worldstream which connects every world in the universe. From nowhere a man from out of their world named Athetos appeared and tried convincing the people of Sudra to reveal their knowledge of the Breach. Some of the inhabitants of Sudra became his followers, but a majority of them refused to reveal their knowledge. Athetos then unleashed a deadly pathogen upon Sudra killing all of its inhabitants and transforming all of his followers into an army of mechanized beasts. The Rusalki tried fighting back against Athetos and his army, but some of the members of the Rusalki betrayed them during the battle and led to a majority of the Rusalki being massacred. Elsenova and her sisters retreated into the underground and eventually Trace came along. Elsenova tasks Trace with helping her sisters and stopping Athetos before he corrupts the Breach and all hell breaks loose. Something seems very off. How did Trace end up in Sudra and how come every time he dies on he’s brought back to life? That’s something he’ll figure out.
Gameplay
Axiom Verge is one of the most heartsdown metroidvania I’ve played and can almost be considered a spiritual successor to the Metroid franchise. The influence Axiom Verge takes from the Metroid series is obvious, but there are quite a few key differences that separate it from Metroid. You explore each area fighting enemies, picking up new upgrades, and opening up new paths that allow you to progress with the game. Areas do tend to loop back into each other, but some areas are designed so that once you proceed through them you can’t go back unless you find specific equipment. For example there’s this gap in the second or third area where once you jump down from it you can’t jump back up to it. If there are areas you want to revisit you can leave a reminder on the map telling you to come back later. That’s one thing I felt the Metroid series could have used more of. Reminders that you can mark on the map.
The upgrades you pick up are pretty standard metroidvania stuff. A drill that allows you to break down certain surfaces, a grappling hook that allows you to swing across gaps, a drone that fits into tight spaces, and a dash that allows you to teleport through thin walls, but one mechanic I really want to bring up is the Field Disruptor. You unlock it fairly earlier in the game, but the way it’s used t is mind blowing. There will be certain barriers in the game that will be flickering or glitching out. That’s not the game bugging out; those are actually things you can interact with. By hitting them with the Field Disruptor you can reverse their properties allowing you to bypass them. Glitchy walls aren’t the only thing you can hit with the Field Disruptor. Certain objects and enemies can be hit with the Field Disruptor changing their property entirely. You can transform explosive bubbles into platforms, or make a powerful enemy drone fly around and fire slower. You can make fights much easier just by weakening enemies with the Disruptor.
There are several save capsules throughout the world which not only save your game but replenish your health, and whenever you die you are transported back to them. Luckily the Axiom Disruptor is outfitted with multiple types of firing modes allowing it to cut down enemies within seconds. New firing modes can be picked up by exploring the world and some of them are crazily overpowered. The first one you get is a simple blaster that fires straightforward projectiles. Then you unlock one that is practically a bomb with remote detonation. You can get projectiles that bounce off of walls, a boomerang like projectile, lightning that latches onto enemies, a powerful energy shot that covers up the screen as long as there is nothing blocking you, a flamethrower that just rinses away enemy health, and so much more. I can tell that Tom Happ also took some inspiration from the Contra series since some of the enemies later on get really aggressive and you have to stay on your toes if you want to survive.
There are nodes scattered throughout the world that will either increase your maximum health or the damage the Axiom Disruptor deals. Some nodes are fragments meaning you are going to have to collect a set amount of them if you want to have a full upgrade. The bosses I also want to bring up because some of them can be tricky to figure out at first. They can only be damaged at certain spots meaning you’ll have to come up with specific strategies to beat them. Besides that I really don’t have much else to talk about. By finding the right amount of upgrades and understanding your foes you should be able to stop Athetos and make it back home to earth.
Thoughts
Axiom Verge is a really good metroidvania and I do recommend it. I like the wide array of firing modes or alternate ammo the game gives you, and how the player is motivated to use what they think is best. It’s like playing your average first person shooter. At first you think you’ll stick with the starting guns you have at your disposal, but everytime they give you more weapons and firing modes you get more creative. Character progression is done incredibly well as the game starts off challenging, but once you gain a good amount of upgrades you begin plowing through waves of enemies with ease. It’s the state of empowerment, a state that can only be earned by getting stronger and better at the game. It’s a very satisfying feeling, because enemies that were once a threat now feel awesome to take down now that you have the powers to do so. The game starts off linear at first, but once you get to around area four the game encourages the player to explore. There’s even a hallway that allows the player to quickly backtrack to previous areas, so they can find equipment they missed to overpower themselves. The game doesn’t have fast travel pods like Metroid or Stagway Stations like Hollow Knight, but at least there is an option to backtrack quickly. The controls are extremely tight and it never felt like Trace was aiming towards the wrong direction or slipping off ledges unintentionally. I had a really fun time playing this game and I’d say the run time is pretty good. There are at least ten hours of playtime, or more if you’re me and you wanted to find all the sweet goodies hidden around.
There are a couple of major complaints I have with the game. Some of the enemies kill you faster than they really need to and seeing how the checkpoints are spread so far apart from each other it means you’ll have to rewalk long stretches just to get back to where you probably wanted to go. Some of the bosses are really hard at first, but once you figure out what firing mode to use or what spot of an arena is the safest then they are really easy to cheese. Seeing how this is a metroidvania there are the occasional “where do I go?” moments where you’ll backtrack through other areas only to discover the solution was some really absurd crap. Sometimes you’ll need a guide just to know where to go, or maybe you’re me and you used the map that came with the Multiverse Edition because they number the points where the player is supposed to be. It’s great the game tried to recapture classic Metroid, but it does come to a fault as there's a lack of convenience, combat takes time to get used to, and not every area is handled well.
The story is forgettable. Really forgettable to be honest with you, but it is intriguing. I’m one of the few people who paid attention while playing so I can type up this review and from what I can tell you it has a really good premise later on. It shows a man who is driven for ultimate knowledge, but the consequences for seeking unexplored mysteries far beyond what mankind can handle. There’s even a point where the player character asks himself if said knowledge is what will drive a person insane. It’s really cool and reminded of Bloodborne and how a society full of madmen eventually were sickened by mysteries they shouldn’t have touched, but a majority of players are going to ignore the story and how it is presented through boring dialogue filled cutscenes with actions or scenes that don’t match up with the dialogue to make it exciting. Finally I know the game was made by one guy, but for some of the environments I wished Tom Happ would choose a better color palette for because they are extremely painful to look at after a while. I could have toned down the resolution of the TV so that the flickering red and purple environments didn’t hurt my eyes, but I wanted to experience the game for what it is. I do appreciate the amount of work put into replicating what Metroid on the original NES felt like, and by that I mean very hard to look at. I heard Axiom Verge 2 will improve the color palette by having more varied environments so that's something.
All of the complaints I just listed sound like major issues that should have prevented me from easily recommending Axiom Verge to a majority of metroidvania lovers, but they don’t drag down the overall core experience and I really enjoyed the time I spent with Axiom Verge. It’s one of the better indie metroidvanias I’ve played and I feel like fans of the Metroid series who are craving for more will have a super fun time playing Axiom Verge. It feels more like a true Metroid follow up than Samus Returns which really says something for me. I’m super pumped for the sequel and I wish Tom Happ the best of luck for making it a big improvement from the first game. In the end I am giving Axiom Verge an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.
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