Axiom Verge

A modern Metroidvenia classic
Axiom Verge checks all the boxes on what makes a Metroidvania game excel!
From the exquisite 8 bit pixel art and music, down to the captivating story and exciting world building and Lore.
Such a blast from the past with well thought out modern touches.
It was an unforgettable experience, that I highly suggest everyone to experience for themselves!

Beautiful art, fun exploration and upgrades, lots of little lore nuggets to hunt down. Playing this on Steam Deck would have blown H.R. Giger's mind.

Comentario Analítico: "Axiom Verge"
Quizá uno de los mejores Metroidvanias del sector independiente, Axiom Verge me sorprendió muy para bien. Entré esperando un juego entretenido y acabé enganchadísimo con su historia.
Visualmente es precioso, tiene un aire a Ghost in the Shell, sabe jugar con el concepto de glitch y aprovecharlo para su argumento, no se limita a ser un espectáculo visual e incluso el flickering de algunos sprites ocurre a medias, tal y como ocurría en la NES. La banda sonora es fabulosa también, digna de tenerla guardada en tu celular.
Si tuviera que puntualizar algo negativo diría que algunos enemigos atacan desde puntos muertos que el jugador aún no logra visualizar. Los jefes son fenomenales pero no me gustó Ukhu, creo que con unos cambios en su arena podría ser un combate excelente.
¿En conclusión? Una muy grata sorpresa.

I played it once and beat it a few years ago. I picked it up just the other day and played it again on hard mode and ground out a few achievements as well.
The graphics, music, sound, and cut scenes are all on point. A lot of effort was put into the level design in a way that eliminates needless backtracking and exploration on multiple playthroughs as well as facilitates speedrunning. The game mechanics and controls are both familiar and alien in a way that makes the game unique and enhances the overall experience.

If Contra and Metroid fused together, this feels like this would be the result. Overall fun time. Controls are very smooth and well thought out. Look forward to playing the sequel!

Yeah this game is great so far. (I don't actually have 30 hrs played, Steam Deck bug. It's more like 4.5 hrs)
Will update upon completion.
Edit:
Just rolled credits at around 19 hrs. Overall I enjoyed Axiom Verge. Exploration is probably its biggest strength. Except for the fact that all the game's collectibles are not hinted at. I don't enjoy feeling like I need to refer to a guide to 100% a game.
This game has so many different weapons and I think that's awesome. However, half of them are pretty useless because they're designed with a specific gimmick that just don't compete with some of the better, straight-forward weapons. But when you have to switch to certain weapons to eliminate a specific enemy, I think that's a really fun design. It makes games feel less one-dimensional.
Speaking of combat, some of it can feel clunky. Though that may be because this is a "retro" game and you shouldn't expect it to feel as smooth as Metroid Dread. But overall it's pretty fun, when you're not fighting one of the game's more annoying enemies. Like the final boss. Oh my god what a terrible boss design. You know it's not good when every strategy discussed over this boss is some weird way to cheese the win. There's no fun or fair designed way to beat it and that brought down the score of the game for me. It was bitter sweet to have enjoyed the game most of the way through just for the final area/boss to sour the experience. It made completing the game feel a lot less satisfying. It was more like, I'm glad this is over.
I still recommend this game though. It has some really unique designs that left me impressed. I enjoyed getting each traversal ability. My only complaint about them would be the grapple hook. I wish it was utilized more and didn't feel so janky to use. But teleporting, different jackets with different abilities, drones, hacking? So many cool designs here. And the music was pretty great too. As for story, this game goes pretty deep sci-fi and I basically skipped through most of it because it did nothing for me. But that's okay, I'm never really expecting stellar writing with this genre. All about the gameplay.
7/10

I usually prefer action platformers over games that require exploration, but Axiom Verge always intrigued me because of the visual style. It's taken me long enough to get around to playing it but I really enjoyed it.
Collecting the upgrades, using the drone and warp techniques and fighting some huge bosses really made this game stand out.
I would definitely recommend this to those who enjoy the genre and even if you prefer things a little more linear like Contra or Metal Slug then it's worth playing.