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. 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. "I've been lucky that I've had great support from Sony and Microsoft over the years," he concluded, "so I hope to be able to talk about my plans on those systems soon.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. Happ confirms Axiom Verge 2 will be making its way to Steam "eventually" - although doesn't disclose the length of Epic's exclusivity deal - and has teased a release on additional platforms too. With this deal in place, game development started feeling like a hobby again." Making games can be fun, but it can also be stressful. I don't want to go into too many details about the nature of the arrangement I have with Epic other than to say that I've been able to put my stress about how the game will perform out of my mind for a bit and just focus on making the game I want to make. I love that I get to work on my hobby all day, but at the same time, I'm always aware of the responsibility I have to my family. I have a wife and child who depend on me and the game. "To say that life is very different for me now would be an understatement," Happ continued, "Axiom Verge is my job now. I wasn't really expecting Axiom Verge to pay the bills." I had a well paying job with benefits, and my dog and I lived a very low maintenance lifestyle. "When I first started development on the original Axiom Verge about 10 years ago, it was my side hobby. "I'd be lying if I said the only reason I decided to go exclusive on Epic was because I'm a fan of the platform and all the wonderful people who work there (though I am, and they are)," he wrote. ![]() ![]() Axiom Verge 2 will, after a short delay last year, be coming Switch and PC this spring, and Happ has explained his decision to launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store in a post to his blog.
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