Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge delivers one of the better experiences in the oversaturated Metroidvania genre, but if you've played a NES/SNES Metroid title, then you've played Axiom Verge. The game's plenty fun, but it fails to carve out a distinct...

A massive, challenging retro-flavoured shooter that takes the Metroid formula and runs with it. Old school, but with a modern...

Its inability to make me feel rewarded is really the core difference between Axiom Verge and the Metroid games it emulates so aggressively. On a moment-to-moment basis, exploring the alien hellscape of Axiom Verge can be awesome.

Axiom Verge makes no attempt to hide its influences. Using the original Metroid as a muse, it wouldn't be surprising if a random passerby were to watch a few seconds of gameplay and think the Nintendo classic was being played. Unless, of course, they...

Axiom Verge seems content to be a homage, rather than a revival or reinvention. That's fine, since there's already plenty to justify your interest, but it feels like Happ has more to contribute than he's showing here.

It's not a stretch to say that Axiom Verge is better than the games that inspired it, because it's so inventive and thoughtfully crafted. There's no excuse to hold onto the past when the present is this amazing.

Axiom Verge looks, sounds and plays great. It carries a lot of value for your buck, and it’s the kind of game you’ll be happy to own so you can hop back into it from time to time. Axiom Verge is absolutely worth your time if you’re a fan of old-school Metroidvania games, but even if you’re not, it’ll still be a lot of fun.

It’s incredible that he was able to nail every component of game creation in one package. I’ll wait as long as it takes for him to build a follow-up. When everything works this well, why let someone else get in there and screw it up?