But without the incentive to explore the optional content, what’s left in Axiom Verge 2 is repetitive exploration.Īxiom Verge 2 does, however, attempt to intensify pace changes with puzzles. I either had to get too close for comfort and trade health for damage with the pickaxe, or I would be unable to hit the boss at all with the boomerang’s rigid trajectory that couldn’t keep up with the boss’s sporadic movements.Īs a consequence of the limited reward for defeating the boss, you’re inclined to treat it for what it is: optional. The bosses do act as a respite from exploration, but instead of invoking a challenge they feel tedious because your weapons limit your manoeuvrability. The skill points can be used to increase health, damage, speed and abilities, but I stumbled across enough while naturally exploring the map to make the boss fights unnecessary. In comparison, fighting the optional bosses is incentivised with skill points upon defeating them. Indra travels from one objective to the next through similarly styled regions, with the same task of exploring for Arms to gain access to new areas.Ĭombat within these regions doesn’t reward players – you don’t receive currency or experience from combat, which means enemies can often be ignored by grappling or flying over them. While the approachable gameplay makes exploration straightforward, the lack of traditional combat gating negatively affects the game’s pacing and progression. The result is a consistent, uncomplicated experience. Axiom Verge 2 transforms the common Metroidvania gating, which is complex in design, by leaving you to explore the world without a clear objective. She even gains the ability to transform into a drone, which receives superior upgrades: a grappling hook and the ability to fly. Roadblocks, as they may have appeared in the first game, are bypassed in the second with a plethora of exploration abilities: a compass that reveals the direction of Arms a map the ability to teleport between save locations around the map. The restricted combat approach to Axiom Verge 2 makes exploring regions approachable and consistent. The game encourages stealth and exploration over combat to clear each region by adding visibility meters on enemies, skippable bosses and a surplus of exploration-focused abilities that contrast Indra’s weapons: a pickaxe and boomerang. The world of Kiengir is made up of open, earthy-toned regions that Indra explores by following map coordinates that take her from one objective to the next.
Indra must navigate her subsequent entanglement with its politics to survive.įrameborder="0" allow="accelerometer autoplay clipboard-write encrypted-media gyroscope picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen> The more Arms Indra saves, the more she understands the world’s war-driven history. What transpires is a race to find any remaining Arms on Kiengir before its impending collapse. Breaking it reveals not only superhuman abilities that entwine itself with Indra, but an Arm-a special being made from nanomachines. Armed with limited knowledge and a trusty pickaxe, Indra is submerged into the conflict of this alien planet by the whisperings of a mysterious voice that leads Indra to an urn. Exploration never hindered narrative urgency because you were reminded of the looming climax in every region with the introduction of grotesque characters and foreboding notes.Īxiom Verge 2 trades in this variety of gameplay in order to experiment with an open, free-form structure that, unfortunately, reveals the shortcomings of its less refined components.Īxiom Verge 2 is set in Kiengir, where protagonist Indra Chaudhari is tasked with traversing this machine-like world in hopes of finding her daughter. Backtracking for weapons and abilities was exciting because accompanied with it were new challenges. Each region felt unique, not only because of varied aesthetics, but because you were forced to adapt your playstyle to defeat new enemies with over 20 uniquely interesting weapons available to you. It featured stylish pixel art, a great chiptune soundtrack and complex map design filled with hidden paths and obscured objectives begging to be discovered.
Axiom Verge was, at the time of its release in 2015, a standout callback to the 16-bit era of Metroid-style exploration-heavy platforming games.
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