Axiom Verge Review

To say Thomas Happ’s 2015 game Axiom Verge draws its inspiration from the Nintendo ’80s classic Metroid is an understatement. So clear is the inspiration in the visuals, atmosphere, and design of Axiom Verge that I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo did some digging to see if the game was a reskin of a canned Metroid entry.

However, as a metroidvania title, Axiom Verge is still experimental enough to feel like a significant evolution over what came before. After all, there is nothing wrong with paying homage to excellent source material, if you can excel at taking the best from it. And for the most part, Axiom Verge understands this philosophy better than most. Axiom Verge takes some of the best qualities from its genre and sprinkles in some creative innovations of its own.

Gameplay

It’s a rough day for Trace the scientist. His laboratory experiences a bizarre explosion that transports him to the alien realm of Sudra. From here, Axiom Verge’s tongue-in-cheek science fiction story takes a backseat to the game’s masterful take on classic 2D metroidvania design. That means exploring a huge intertwining map in order to find useful power-ups that will open up more areas for probing.

Axiom Verge differs in a few key areas from the plethora of contemporary indie games that can be classified within this same genre. It manages to establish its own creative identity through some of these unique variations as a result.

For instance, the game has a very interesting spin on how glitches operate within its world. In other games, unstable pixels would signal a fault in the coding and therefore a failure on the developer’s behalf. However, Axiom Verge deliberately includes these imperfections throughout its world as just another barrier to get across.

Furthermore, you can glitch out enemies and certain objects to augment their capabilities and use them to your advantage. It’s a really clever system that works within the world of Sudra. And after enjoying the manipulation it offers, it will most likely be the mechanic I remember the most.