HockeyBird
Villager
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A few weeks ago I picked up Axiom Verge 2. The game came out over a year ago but I held out on buying it because I didn't want to over Metroid myself ahead of Metroid Dread. Fast forward a year later and I have finally finished Axiom Verge 2. I was a fan of the first game and while it had some faults, it was a fun Metroid-inspired adventure and unlike many Metroidvanias at the time, it really emphasized the Metroid aspects.
Axiom Verge 2 makes substantial changes to the gameplay. Unlike the first game where it was all about collecting new weapons, the combat in 2 is almost entirely melee based. You do get a boomerang for some distance but you'll primarily be up close to take out your enemies. And this is where my first issues start. I don't think the game design was balanced for melee combat. Melee attacks don't really stun enemies. That means you are likely to take damage while you hitting the attack button. Aerial enemies are pain to fight. In the early part of the game, you are pretty weak which means you die really fast. Only a few hits and it's back to a check point. The game prefers you to either dodge enemies entirely or use your new hacking abilities. But the issue is that the hacking is almost entirely useless throughout the game. You have to get up close to hack enemies which means risking damage. There's often so enemies and so little energy needed for hacking that it just becomes easier and faster to just run past everything.
The other big change to the gameplay is the combat drone which allows you to enter the Breach, an entirely different overworld that runs parallel with the main world. Think Light World and Dark World from A Link to the Past. You'll need to traverse one to make progress in the other. At the beginning, this is pretty straight forward which entrance and exists being clearly defined. But you eventually get more abilities to switch between the zones at will. You'll need to constantly be flipping through both maps to identify locations where you swapping worlds will put you on the correct path. This is a novel idea but it can get cumbersome late into the game. You'll spend a lot of time just looking through the maps to identify where the next primary route is. As for controlling the drone itself, it's basically a weaker version of the human form. It does get a grappling hook and the ability to hover so by the end game, being in drone form becomes the primary way of traversal in both worlds.
For secret items, instead of finding new weapons like in the first game, you'll primarily be finding upgrade points. These can be used in the pause menu to upgrade the power of your attacks. While this ensure that every secret you find is somewhat useful, it also means there are less chances to find something truly cool and interesting. You eventually pick up the main abilities while going through the critical path. The other upgrades are just for health, damage reduction, and some damage increase to some weapons.
The story, well it's there I guess. This was an issue in the first game. It wants to throw a lot of lore and techno babble at you but events and characters just aren't memorable. The notes and reports you find along the way just bleed into each other. The pixel art style, while beautiful, also means that none of the character designs really stick out. The Mesopotamian inspired structures and statues were a nice touch though. The story just kind of ends and seemingly setting up a sequel. It's whatever.
So overall, I found Axiom Verge 2 to just be an ok Metroidvania. Decent but nothing special. My biggest issues come with the changes to combat. It's simply less fun than the original game. You eventually get enough health that it's just better to just run and brute force past everything, especially when enemy placements become annoying and tedious. The game doesn't feel designed around it's major gameplay changes and that's a shame because there are some good ideas here on paper. I'd say pick it up on sale if you're itching for a Metroidvania to play and you already gone through Metroid Dread and the Ori games.
Axiom Verge 2 makes substantial changes to the gameplay. Unlike the first game where it was all about collecting new weapons, the combat in 2 is almost entirely melee based. You do get a boomerang for some distance but you'll primarily be up close to take out your enemies. And this is where my first issues start. I don't think the game design was balanced for melee combat. Melee attacks don't really stun enemies. That means you are likely to take damage while you hitting the attack button. Aerial enemies are pain to fight. In the early part of the game, you are pretty weak which means you die really fast. Only a few hits and it's back to a check point. The game prefers you to either dodge enemies entirely or use your new hacking abilities. But the issue is that the hacking is almost entirely useless throughout the game. You have to get up close to hack enemies which means risking damage. There's often so enemies and so little energy needed for hacking that it just becomes easier and faster to just run past everything.
The other big change to the gameplay is the combat drone which allows you to enter the Breach, an entirely different overworld that runs parallel with the main world. Think Light World and Dark World from A Link to the Past. You'll need to traverse one to make progress in the other. At the beginning, this is pretty straight forward which entrance and exists being clearly defined. But you eventually get more abilities to switch between the zones at will. You'll need to constantly be flipping through both maps to identify locations where you swapping worlds will put you on the correct path. This is a novel idea but it can get cumbersome late into the game. You'll spend a lot of time just looking through the maps to identify where the next primary route is. As for controlling the drone itself, it's basically a weaker version of the human form. It does get a grappling hook and the ability to hover so by the end game, being in drone form becomes the primary way of traversal in both worlds.
For secret items, instead of finding new weapons like in the first game, you'll primarily be finding upgrade points. These can be used in the pause menu to upgrade the power of your attacks. While this ensure that every secret you find is somewhat useful, it also means there are less chances to find something truly cool and interesting. You eventually pick up the main abilities while going through the critical path. The other upgrades are just for health, damage reduction, and some damage increase to some weapons.
The story, well it's there I guess. This was an issue in the first game. It wants to throw a lot of lore and techno babble at you but events and characters just aren't memorable. The notes and reports you find along the way just bleed into each other. The pixel art style, while beautiful, also means that none of the character designs really stick out. The Mesopotamian inspired structures and statues were a nice touch though. The story just kind of ends and seemingly setting up a sequel. It's whatever.
So overall, I found Axiom Verge 2 to just be an ok Metroidvania. Decent but nothing special. My biggest issues come with the changes to combat. It's simply less fun than the original game. You eventually get enough health that it's just better to just run and brute force past everything, especially when enemy placements become annoying and tedious. The game doesn't feel designed around it's major gameplay changes and that's a shame because there are some good ideas here on paper. I'd say pick it up on sale if you're itching for a Metroidvania to play and you already gone through Metroid Dread and the Ori games.
