➤ Axiom Verge 2, the review of the new metroidvania by Thomas Happ 🎮

La review of Axiom Verge 2 drags us back into an alien world, albeit different from that of the first chapter of the series. However, this is not the only novelty of this sequel, which adopts a different approach in various respects: it changes the style of the scenarios (of most of them, at least), it changes the focus of a gameplay that focuses on exploration by putting in second floor the fighting and severely limiting our arsenal, naturally change the main characters and their stories.

So what remains of that Axiom Verge that in 2015 caused a jolt in the indie scene, showing us how a Metroidvania in retro style?

The formula, in the first place, reaffirmed in a practically scholastic way from the first to the last of the upgrades and from the first to the last obstacle that we will be able to overcome thanks to them. And then of course the author's undoubted ability, Thomas Happ, to keep everything together with a coherence and a vision still uncommon today, despite the fact that in recent years this same trend has seen some pearls of extraordinary quality appear.

Story

Axiom Verge 2, the review of the new metroidvania by Thomas Happ — Axiom Verge 2, the confrontation between the protagonist and a mysterious entity

Launched by surprise on PC (via Epic Games Store), PS4 and Nintendo Switch, Axiom Verge 2 tells the story history by Indra Chaudhari, owner of a multinational who recently bought the settlements and technologies developed by Elizabeth Hammond, a scientist who has conducted mysterious research in Antarctica for years. It is there that the woman goes in the opening sequences of the campaign, aboard a helicopter.

But something is wrong and during the inspection Indra falls into the void. He awakens later in a body that has the same appearance as ever, but which is no longer his own, but has been reconstructed by the nanomachines of an ancient technology. The female figure who speaks to her through the nanites, Amashilama, explains that she is now in the world of Kiengir and that perhaps there is a way to go back, but not without a fight.

The place Elizabeth Hammond was desperately looking for, and which she probably found along with her expedition, is indeed populated by hordes of dangerous drones that attack any form of unexpected life, the latest legacy of a bloody war that led to the devastation of that world. Armed with a pickaxe and a boomerang, but also with a skill that allows you to hack enemies and electronic devices, we will therefore have to explore the scenario in search of answers and a possible way out.

What really happened to Kiengir? Who are the mysterious ones Arms which Indra can welcome into her new body and which provide her with special abilities? What is hidden in the protagonist's stormy past? And what is the secret of the Breach, the parallel reality that can only be explored by drones? In the course of the approximately ten hours it takes to complete the Axiom Verge 2 campaign we will get some answers, but some of them may not like us.

Gameplay

It was reasonable to expect from Axiom Verge 2 in some way a "more of the same", an enrichment of the play system that many users had appreciated and which included close fights, a rich arsenal with many firearms and a certain type of atmosphere. . Instead, what Happ has given us is in some way a hybrid, an experience that on the one hand certainly relaunches what are the founding elements of the subgenre of metroidvania, on the other hand it pulls back sharply, as if to convey a political message.

It therefore happens that the numerous enemies present within the map can be avoided by moving quickly, even including the bosses (apart from a couple of mandatory clashes for the purposes of the plot). This approach can be used for convenience, especially until you unlock the ability to instantly move from one save point to another; but also, it must be recognized, because the combat system it is less exciting than expected and is expressed through often approximate dynamics.

Here, therefore, that the focus, as mentioned, shifts toscouting and on puzzle connected to it; on the essence, therefore, of a Medroidvania structure that opens the doors to new areas for us only and exclusively when we come into possession of an ability that allows us to access it. The spectacular explosion that Indra can perform and which disintegrates certain rocks, or the ability to scale surfaces, the call of the drone that we have already talked about and which has its own set of skills, including a catapult that destroys specific blocks or a partial flight device to reach the most distant platforms.

Then there is the power to carry out thehacking of devices and enemies, so as to block them, slow them down or even transform them into impromptu allies, and which in itself represents an additional source of environmental puzzles to be solved. Where is the switch to disable that barrier? What if I use a hostile drone as a platform to reach a higher point? Questions that you will not fail to ask yourself as soon as you begin to understand the philosophy behind certain choices. And then there is the Breach, which adds a further substrate of complexity to the structure and puzzle solving.

Here, in the context of this system there are perhaps some less successful and valued aspects, which remain in the background and which can even be ignored until the end of the campaign, as they are so marginal. We refer to certain weaponry and certain upgrades, since in the end it is enough to emphasize only some of Indra's abilities for the character to have what it takes to overcome virtually any obstacle. And maybe change some values from the accessibility options to make the clashes become much less insidious.

Therefore, the one that Thomas Happ has prepared over the last six years is not a perfect hole donut, also allowing himself a postponement last May to carry out further refinements. However, it is undoubtedly "his" donut, his way of understanding what by now, also thanks to him, has become in effect a recognized and appreciated sub-genre in the increasingly multifaceted world videogame panorama.

Structure and technique

In terms of content, Axiom Verge 2 is definitely dry: from the main screen you can access the campaign (with three different save slots available) or the interesting speedrun mode, designed precisely for those who want to attempt the enterprise and which automatically cuts away dialogues and interlude sequences to leave room exclusively for in-game action that is as fast as possible.

La map it is visually represented by blocks and can be navigated paying attention also to any coordinates communicated to us by a document or a character, which produces a luminous point that indicates the next goal to be achieved. How to get there, of course, will be the problem we will have to solve for ourselves, often making surprisingly long laps and virtually lighting a candle to the god of backtracking.

Navigating the Breach, the alternative dimension perfectly superimposed on the world of Kiengir, implies very similar dynamics, even if in that case we will be able to move only at the command of our small drone, cross conduits that connect one "room" to another and face different threats. with our trusty rotating appendix, until we find an exit that projects us in a different area even in the starting map. Do you understand what the point is, yeah?

The whole experience is strongly characterized by the inevitable retro style, which harks back to the era of 16-bit systems as regards the graphics in-game, albeit with a somewhat cloying appeal to rotations and "aggregate" sprites when objects are large, see bosses for example. However, everything changes in the breach, which turns instead into the 8-bit paradise and psychedelia, going in some way to distort and reinterpret even the beautiful colonna sonora that accompanies us throughout the adventure.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Processor: Intel Core i5 10400
Video card: NVIDIA RTX 3070
Memory: 16 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 10

Minimum requirements

Processor: Intel Pentium E2180 2.0 GHz
Scheda video: Intel HD Graphics 4400
Memory: 4 GB of RAM
Storage: 9 GB of space required
Operating system: Windows 7

Recommended Requirements

Processor: Intel Core i5
Video card: NVIDIA GTX 550
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Storage: 9 GB of space required
Operating system: Windows 10

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Epic Games Store, PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop Price 17,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.0

Readers (14)

8.1

Your vote

Axiom Verge 2 is perhaps not the sequel that fans of the first chapter expected and there are numerous differences in terms of approach compared to the concepts that Thomas Happ had so brilliantly established in 2015. However, the common thread of an even more focused metroidvania structure remains. on exploration and puzzle solving, which perhaps culpably puts weapons and fights in the background to try a different path, not better or worse but equally enjoyable when you understand the dynamics. There is a new world out there to discover: are you ready?