I typed up my thoughts on this game. More so, my thoughts on this game compared to its biggest inspiration, Super Metroid. I wrote it pretty quick, so excuse the hodgepodge nature but I pretty much got all my thoughts out about it for now.
Contains no major spoilers. Contains some minor general story, and item/ ability spoilers. Tried to keep it fairly vague though.
I enjoyed this game immensely, but also got really frustrated with some parts. The things it does well are amazing, and the things it struggles with can affect that, but it was never enough to make me want to stop playing.
Let's firstly address the Elephant in the room: Yes, this is obviously inspired by Metroid. Sure, they mention it as the last inspiration on their store page, but this is very heavily influenced by Metroid. More so Super Metroid, but there are some Metroid 1 elements in there too. All three games follow generally the same structure. You are dropped into a world, and you basically just start wandering around to find stuff. You will see “locks” in the form of items you need to progress in all three games, as well as be able to explore stuff out of order to an extent. You fill in a map as you explore, and go deeper into the world.
Axiom Verge does a few things differently. For example, there are cutscenes here as you play through the game. I personally liked these, as they are short, skippable, and interesting. In the Metroids, you are vaguely tasked with destroying two, or four bosses before access to the final area is granted, without one word of dialogue in between. How and when you do stuff is left up to you, in some spots. Not so much out of the box in Super, but a savvy player can sequence break. Along the way, you pick up items, go back through areas, and explore more stuff, clearing all the bosses to enter the final area. Axiom Verge is more like Metroid Zero Mission, if we're going to compare. You typically have some sort of story-related objective to complete in a given area. This will allow you to move onto the next area, since doing whatever you need to do will usually give you the power-up you need to advance.
So I guess that's still pretty similar after all, right? Well, it depends on how much you care about the stories of either game. Trace, the character you play as is no Samus. He is not a seasoned, trained bounty hunter. He is not a killing machine clad in nearly indestructible armor. No, Trace's story begins as a scientist, who get sucked into a parallel world via a lab explosion. He is somewhat scared, and unsure of what to do, and who to trust. At least for me, his characterization was enough to make me feel like I wasn't welcomed here, and the abilities he gets as the story goes on also go a along way to establish this too. You get a lot of “should I be here yet?” moments, and I like those. I'll come back to this later when I talk about pacing, but this is kind of a cache 22. I don't want to spoil any story stuff so that's all I'll say, but this story is not particularly ground breaking, and anyone who reads that game's description will know what I've said here, but I bring it up, cause the motivations for each story are different. Both games may play similarly, but they have you going through somewhat samey worlds for entirely different reasons. Mostly. Either way, both games absolutely nail atmosphere. Axiom's music is not nearly as good, but I'll talk about that later.
So what if you don't care about the story? What can Trace do that makes this game worth playing over the SNES Classic? Even very early on, you will realize you are not Samus. Trace's weapons, and abilities are very different (okay, save for a few), and they kept me surprised through and through. I can't stress how important the element of surprise is in a game like this for me. Here's a little anecdotal example: My first playthrough, I had made it to the game's third area. There is a “one way” gap, that Trace cannot cross back till way later. I had explored most of the area, but did not want to fight the boss yet. I had assumed I'd get a legde-grab ability. “This is like Metroid, right?” I thought. I actually got stuck, and looked up “Axiom Verge ledge grab”, and found nothing. I was confused. I was sure I knew what I needed. At a loss, I went back, and went ahead and fought the boss after finding a few more little goodies (this boss was hard for me at first, with my current equipment). I beat it, and lo and behold, I get an item that allows me to advance. It isn't a ledge grab. Hell, it's not even a high jump. It's the ability to glitch through single-tile pillars. This opened up a new wealth of paths and possibilities. Around this same point, you get a “glitch gun” that lets you 'glitch' things in the game, including every enemy. This all the sudden adds a new layer to the game. Some enemies can help you when they are glitched, others can become harder, and meaner. It was at this point that I felt like I was no longer playing a Metroid homage, and the point where the game really started to come into its own. For me, at least.
And it only gets better. You gain more traversal options, and a few optional ones make the game a borderline broken blast to go through. Instead of a morph ball for those one tile passages, you get a remote drone. This quickly became one of my favorite things, once you get the ability to launch it farther, and teleport to it. You also get the ability to just dash through walls, and destroy certain blocks (very late game though). There's even a password system, with a working Justin Bailey code. There are a few esoteric secrets with the passwords, but some people love that stuff. I, on the other hand, had to look it up. See pacing later on.
But that's just traversal stuff. I haven't talked about Trace's regular weapons at all yet. This is another big difference between Super, and Axiom. As you know, in Super, you got your four base beams. Power, Ice, Wave, and Plasma. Then you got your charge beam. Then, you got your beam stacking (though you can't use Spazer, and Plasma at the same time). There are, I think, 16 possible beam combinations. Beams also have something like an 'element'. Ice freezes stuff, electric waves pass through solid walls, and plasma can pierce multiple enemies. There is an application for nearly every beam combo. Then you have the 'consumables' like Missiles, and stuff. These make up a bulk of the non-main-item pick-ups in Super. Energy Tanks, Missile Tanks, Super Missile, and Power Bomb expansions, etc.
Axiom Verge does things differently a bit here too. Instead of stacking beams, and whatnot, you are given an absolutely massive trove of new weapons to find. Now, I'll be straight up, not all of them are good, or useful, but the better half of them are cool, and have well thought out uses. There's.. maybe 15-20 guns? I don't think I've found them all, but I'm only missing a few. Every single gun acts differently. You have your standard pea-shooter, which unlike the power beam actually remains relevant the whole game. Then you have beams that can fill in pretty much any use niche you can think of. You got piercing rounds, shots that follow the ground, and one of my favorites, the lightning gun which is literally a 2D version of Prime's Wave Buster. And I loved it. Switching beams/ guns is easy too. Tap the right stick, you can pick your gun from a wheel. One downside is, if you are using the joy-cons, and have large hands, you may accidentally bump the stick, which can get annoying. Really annoying. But, this is minor. You can also fully customize every control, and yes, this game eventually uses every single button on the controller. So, if you are worried about it getting stale, don't worry! But, I digress.
Besides guns, Trace also gets a drill which is this game's answer to morph ball bombs, and the aforementioned glitch gun. There are no missiles though. No charge shots either. “Whaaat?! You're telling me the only stuff I can find is guns, and movement power-ups? That's duuumb!” Not exactly. To make up for this, Axiom verge has different pick-ups that make your shots larger, stronger, and go farther (where applicable). This goes a long way in making sure that you never really “outgrow” a gun. You are always being reminded of your arsenal, and to pick the best one for the job. I really liked this approach, personally. I think this power up system is better than Super's. Don't get me wrong, I miss stacking beams, but when every beam stays just as good, it allows for some more interesting uses throughout the game, in my opinion. You may not have super missiles, but that third, or fourth gun you found will still be useful late game. Trace can also expand his health like Metroid, and even Zelda by finding whole health nodes, or pieces of one. There is a lot of stuff to find. You'll want to get strong, since the enemies in this game can hit pretty hard. Some are annoying, tbh, but there is usually a “secret” to killing them quickly. I'd say enemy and boss design is on par with Super, over all.
While we're talking about collectibles, there are also 'notes' hidden around the world. Now I have mixed feelings on these. I don't like it, cause they are placed just like the other power-ups. What I mean is, you have just as good of a chance of finding a new gun, new movement option... or a note. And the notes do nothing. They offer you some flavor text about the world. That's cool, but I guess I just wish it was handled differently. I'm not sure how else you'd work them in, though. I just feel that it goes against the “reward for exploring a new area” since they don't enhance your abilities, or gameplay in any real way. As far as I know there is only one ending, and these don't matter.
I guess this is as good of a time as any to segue into the stuff I didn't like, or enjoy as much, or just stuff that could have been better. I'll start with the map system. The map system is fine, but it has some flaws. These flaws also extend a bit into the world itself. Now, Super was in no way free from these similar flaws, but I'll talk about both here. So, in Super you start out with no map, and only fill in rooms as you explore them. You later find a map room, which fills in some of the map with blue, showing places you can go. The map is peppered with dots which are items. Later Metroids perfected this, by changing the look of the dot once you got the item, but hey, at least it had dots. Here's the same sentence, but for Axiom Verge: you start out with no map, and only fill in rooms as you explore them. … And that's it. I'll need to once again talk about Super in order to point out why this is a flaw, or at least a missed opportunity in my opinion.
Super did a stellar job with its map system in the sense that once you got an area's map, you were given an outline of where you could go. You could see rooms, and dots, and points of interest. You wanted to get there. You didn't know how, but you could see the route. This is paramount for making these games work. You need to be able to guide players, encourage thought, and exploration, while also making sure players don't hit a wall, all without holding their hands too much. If that sentence sounds like an impossible order, you're probably right, as even Super struggled at points where it became, “okay, guess it's time to bomb every tile in this room”.
So take that same idea of getting stuck, except you have no idea where to go at all, and no idea what the area will look like when fully explored. I understand that these last few points may come down to preference, as some may prefer the no-map approach. But I felt that it ultimately hurt the game. This may be its biggest similarity to Metroid 1 (which had no map, but you could draw one), and it may be the biggest problem I had. I like having a goal, and also being able to come up with my own way to get to it. In Axiom, you are often just aimlessly wandering around, at times, with no idea what area you should be in, or where to use your new power up. You get a vague story prod, like, “Go find Ophelia” but they don't tell you shit else about it. Super had this problem too though, mainly around where you get the power bomb. There are a few routes, but most first time players of Super will probably get stuck in Norfair for a long time. They either won't find the ice beam to escape red Brinstar right away, or they won't be able to get to the speed booster to take the shortcut to Crocomire, and instead take a the long away around. They may also forget the grapple beam, and not be able to access Wrecked Ship, which will send them all the way back to the lower part of the game's world from the highest, since the shortcut from east Crateria to Maridia is locked behind the gravity suit, and grapple beam. Both games have issues with their maps, and progression. At least Axiom Verge shows you where doors are on the map, which can make navigating Super a nightmare if you don't remember what room connects from any given side. This whole thing assumes this is your first time playing either game, and don't know the routes like the back of your hand. I could see myself getting frustrated with Super Metroid as a first time player, as I was frustrated by Axiom Verge as a first time player. I feel like it is a game that begs you to replay it, and both offer enough variety in mechanics, and routes to warrant it.
The last point I'd like to touch on in this little comparison is the pacing stuff I mentioned earlier. Both games can get you completely stuck in any given case, given what you have, and what you know on any given playthrough. Now, I know I said these were “problems”, but it goes to show how well Axiom Verge captures the Super Metroid vibe. Yeah, it can be obtuse, annoying, and confusing. But so can Super if you have never played it. As a massive fan of Super, I'd say this game is just as good as Super Metroid. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but this is just one guy's opinion. Regarding the music, as mentioned above, it's a mixed bag. The track for Xi is absolutely jaw dropping. The track for lower Kur is ear-grating, and annoying. Music is subjective and the tracks do their job of setting a tone.. even if I don't always like that tone. I honestly think Super has the better OST, but Axiom's isn't terrible. Oh, and back to the password system. There are a lot of these passwords. Some are found in game, or by mining the game's code. Either way, there are some collectibles that require finding and using some of these passwords. There is nothing required to clear the game behind them, but if you want 100%, well, get ready for some esoteric shit. But hey, I'll be real. I looked this shit up cause I was absolutely stumped on one room in particular. Again, this was optional though.
In closing, I feel like I'm still leaving so much out of this. I didn't talk about bosses, or puzzles, or areas within either game in depth. I didn't mention anything about how the worlds are structured, or any story resolutions. I didn't even mention my lack of fast travel gripes here either (for BOTH games). I wanted to touch more on how areas are connected, and how each game's power-ups affect progression, but a tl;dr post can only be so long, right? This was a writing experiment for me, and I think I got most of what I wanted to say out anyway. So yeah, both games have their quirks, and gimmicks, and moments of brilliance, and moments of “what the fuck”. Axiom Verge is a lot of fun, and a good time sink if you like deep Metroidvanias, and need something to scratch that itch. It took me 22 hours to beat my first time, and I feel all dumb about it, cause I see all these reviews saying it is a 5-10 hour game >.>
Welp, thanks for reading.