Axiom Verge boasts a lovely assortment of weapons to kill hostile aliens with, and power ups that make scooting around the levels fun. There was a palpable feeling of joy when a new deadly weapon was within reach, or when a new ability allowed for a greater ease of movement, or interesting way to interact with the environment. Luckily Axiom Verge is very generous when it comes to providing you new toys to play with, as long as you’re thorough enough to find them all. Even so, taking a relatively straight path through the game will ensure you’re equipped to handle what comes your way.
You’ll need all the help you can get, as Axiom Verge is a hell of a challenge. Enemies will not hesitate to rip you in half and send you back to where you came from. Dying in Axiom Verge holds no real penalties except that the game will immediately respawn you back to the last save room you’ve visited. This lends a feeling of urgency when low on health and navigating unknown territory while looking for a save point. However, this also frustrates considerably when dying sends you half way across the map just to repeat the trek again from scratch–respawned enemies and all.
Backtracking is the backbone of Axiom Verge as it is often the only way to progress or acquire needed items. This becomes extremely frustrating when spending several minutes returning to a location to advance the game only to discover a dead end–giving you no choice but to return to where you originally were in order to try something else. This problem may have been mitigated by a more advanced map, or a convenient fast travel system; both of which are sorely absent here.
The map Axion Verge provides you with is terribly simple, and is made up of ninety percent indistinguishable pink squares, forcing you to constantly search your own memories or make notes so you don’t get lost or waste your time backtracking the wrong way. In terms of getting around quickly, a short cut allows you to traverse between most major locations relatively painlessly–but that too often requires the need to backtrack extensively to reach. Axiom Verge may boldly advance beyond the limitations of sight and sound, but it is committed to staying in the past in terms of navigation to a fault.
All in all, Axiom Verge has its moments. Exploration is fun to an extent, and the cavalcade of powerups and weaponry to acquire allows for an ever evolving way to interact with the environment and its hostiles. The graphics consistently impress, and the soundtrack is wonderful. However, backtracking gets old fast and the game frustrates at times with its difficulty and often archaic navigation. Still, if you’re looking for a way to scratch that Metroidvania itch and don’t mind some of the games more obtuse aspects then you can do much worse than Axiom Verge. Recommended.