Axiom Verge
Axiom Verge wears its influences proudly and without shame. Taking inspiration from Metroid, Contra, and Castlevania, it crafts an explorative, open-world platform-shooter that proves new yet familiar for gamers of a certain age.
The opening moments of Axiom Verge perfectly evoke the era and style of game it imitates. Pixel art cut-scenes layout the plot, while the music is dirty enough to feel like it could be coming straight out of a SNES or Mega Drive.
And this sense of nostalgia that doesn’t ease up. The first moments of gameplay seem to be lifted directly form the Nintendo classic Metroid. The reluctant (and confused) hero Trace awakens in a desolate, black-background world with no idea what to do to progress. But hunt around a little (or just walk left), and you soon discover the first item needed to progress.
This formula is the basis for the rest of the game with you discovering items throughout your travels that unlock abilities to clear new paths forward. This leaves you traversing your way back-and-forth through the environmental puzzles and tight platform action.
Most of the time Axiom Verge feels like a streamlined, modern experience. Unfortunately, it still retains some outdated elements of its 8-bit influences. Finding the way forward is often dependent on you spotting specific cues in the environment – or remembering them from hours previous in the game. This may sound easy, but given the scope of the game it often proves frustrating.
Axiom Verge Review
While the combat feels great, Axiom Verge’s sense of exploration is a letdown. The map unfolds as a hodgepodge of identical squares that never really give you any indication of what you’ve stumbled across. While I appreciate a game that doesn’t hold my hand, without a clear objective I found myself getting lost far too often, especially after taking a break and coming back to the game. And without a method of fast-travel, I spent far too much time wandering back and forth across vast stretches of the map in an attempt to figure out just what the hell I should be doing.
One place Axiom Verge fails to learn from the classics is in its world design. Where Super Metroid is littered with memorable scenery and zones that feel completely different, yet spatially connected to one another, Axiom Verge’s locales never really stuck with me.
Where Metroid succeeds by delivering its plot purely through environmental storytelling and atmosphere, Axiom Verge often grinds the action to a halt and delivers an exposition dump onto you. The story certainly isn’t bad, but I never felt attached to the characters or their problems, so pulling me out of the action ultimately turned into a chore.
Despite occasional moments of feeling slightly uncomfortable by just how much Axiom Verge feels like Metroid, I still felt compelled to see this journey to the end. The weapons feel great, the character progression is rewarding, and bringing down a massive boss is awesome. While I wish it balanced its lack of mission explanations with its overabundance of exposition, I still really enjoyed my time in its strange, yet familiar world.
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