

during my scavenger hunt just for some additional damage boosting powerups, I found myself translating Sudran (one of the game’s multiple hidden languages) into English, glitching and corrupting every enemy I came across in hopes of learning an extra clue, and even mastering trick shots with the drone launcher just to get positioned just so to find a new area. Throughout my hours with Axiom Verge, I had only stumbled across two of them and I wasn’t sure I had even found everything in them to begin with.ĭiscovering secrets in Axiom Verge can be both brain teasing and ultimately satisfying. Miniature retro-themed secret worlds are hidden across the map and offer gateways to glitch-filled worlds with more secrets to uncover. The address disruptor is handy for scanning the environment for certain visual cues but you’ll have to use the other tools in your arsenal to discover what’s really hidden deeply. Small environmental cues are important to pay attention to, as these can lead to some very worthwhile upgrades and weapons. Secrets in Axiom Verge aren’t just tucked away behind collapsible walls. Timer notifications are built into the HUD, allowing players to track their segment by segment speed, providing instant feedback if they are playing as efficiently as possible. For a further challenge, either difficulty can be played on a specially crafted Speedrun Mode, targetted specifically towards those players on Twitch that try to opt for the most efficient route and glitches to make it through the game. I found myself having to sit on the edge of my seat for many boss fights, sometimes just scraping by with only a sliver of health before that music would change and trophy notifications came across my screen. Careful planning and pattern memorization was necessary to survive most combat encounters, especially the later boss fights. Both a normal and hard difficulty are available from the onset and while I didn’t finish my normal playthrough, playing on hard struck that nice balance between fun and frustration.
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Different bosses call for different tactics, so knowing how to utilize each weapon can mean the difference between taking it down on the first try and being sent back to a rebirth chamber not too far away.Ī playthrough in Axiom Verge takes that of three flavors. Two can be equipped at a given time and swapping around to a different arsenal is as easy as rotating the right stick to dial in your preferred firepower.
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Not limited to just a couple of guns like in the Metroid series (wave beam, freeze beam, etc), Trace has upwards of two dozen varied weapons to work with. Speaking of the new firepower, Axiom Verge takes a fresh new spin on the plethora of weapons at Trace’s disposal. It’s a cliched tale that’s told superbly through dialogue and ingame artifacts that help it feel refreshing and unique. From then on, Trace is essentially on his own, relying upon the upgrades and new firepower he discovers in order to save this alien world and perhaps return to his very own. Our intrepid hero, known as Trace, is thrust into an alien world where a sentient benevolent being asks for his assistance in fending off a threat to the world known as Athetos.

Is Axiom Verge able to stand upon both its own and the borrowed merits of the genre or is this one truly a work of Athetos?Īxiom Verge opens with an experiment gone awry in New Mexico some ten years in the past. As a nostalgia trip back to the glory days of the NES, it’s easy to see its inspiration from titles such as Metroid and Blaster Master. Developed in his freetime by Thomas Happ, a developer for Petroglyph Games, this project has been a labor of love since its initial creation back in 2010.

This one-man project has lasted nearly five years, mirroring closely to the stretch of time gamers have been without a proper followup to Metroid: Other M. The development cycle for Axiom Verge has certainly been a lengthy one.
