Axiom Verge 2 is amazing. Many have tried to make games that can work as light entertainment and heavy, honest stories about their own lives at the same time. Few have succeeded as well as this one. [Issue #55 – October 2021, p. 19]
Axiom Verge 2 is a fantastic evolution of Axiom Verge 1—it feels like a different game, but with enough gameplay and story connections to remain familiar. My issues with the protagonist and wayfinding pale in comparison to the addictive exploration and beautiful vistas that Axiom Verge 2 revels in, and I can’t wait to speculate wildly about the storyline.
Loved it. The world design is brilliant and the interplay between the main world and the breach is a real mindbleep. There's lots of fun in the end game trying to figure out how you can get to different places in these two worlds. And the aesthetics are great. There's things going on in the background of this game that I guarantee you haven't seen before. It's excellent. Give it a try.
Axiom Verge 2 is a proper love letter to Metroid. The vast world is challenging and exciting to explore, the power-ups provide intelligent ways to solve puzzles, and the story is involving. It's not perfect though, thanks to the lackluster combat and occasional bouts of frustration.
A triumphant answer to the question of what Axiom Verge is outside of its influences, and a clinic in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in nonlinear platformers. And though the pacing is less dynamic than the first game, the meditative vibe that it encourages makes it stand out.
Axiom Verge 2 is a 2D metroidvania game that focuses on exploration in its huge environment. If you played the first Axiom Verge game you may be disappointed in some of the changes like lack of weapons and less of a combat experience.
Axiom Verge 2 adds some interesting twists to the Metroidvania format and it does get good once the player unlocks the drone, fast travel, and some of the special abilities. If the player is willing to sit through a slow start and some dicey combat encounters, then Axiom Verge 2 becomes a lot of fun to play, with a world that's fascinating to explore and treasures that are waiting to be found in its beautiful and scary alien world.
As many have said, this game is unorthodox. Very few bosses, a shift in tone and gameplay style from the first Axiom Verge. But having played AV2 first it is still a succinct and phenomenal experience with some really clever puzzles.
If you go in expecting AV1 redux, you'll almost certainly be disappointed, but this game includes many quality of life improvements over the first, while being generally more polished, more well balanced in difficulty, and with a plot that feels more professional and easier to take serious. The writing hits some divine notes in playing on sci-fi metaphysical identity distortion.
If you go in expecting at face value, a good metroidvania, leaning vania, you will be blown out of the water by the game's soundtrack and atmosphere that really show strides of improvement over the first game. The first game was good, but taken by it's own merit, AV2 is a slice of the sublime.
"Despite my gripes, Axiom Verge 2 is not a bad game, but rather a disappointingly mediocre one. It starts out well, with the great visuals and epic soundtrack, but as you progress things start to fall apart. From tepid combat, to dull NPCs and enemies, to a sometimes confusing map, the game starts to frustrate in different ways. The beautiful aesthetics of the world and the nifty drone help save the game from mediocrity, but the game could (and should) have been better. You won’t have a bad time playing the game, but there are far better Metroidvanias on the console you could be playing instead."
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Nowhere near as good as the first game. The combat is terrible, enemies can be avoided. For what do I need to play this game when there is no real challenge? Axiom Verge 2 is the biggest disappointment of 2021. Avoid it when you loved the 1st game as the sequel is not good.
SummaryLife. Afterlife. Real. Virtual. Dream. Nightmare. It’s a thin line. It’s Axiom Verge 2. The sequel to Axiom Verge, Axiom Verge 2 expands on the universe with completely new characters, abilities, and gameplay.