Axiom Verge

TL:DR- Fine, but clunky game with amazing art. Get it on sale.
Preface: I beat the game on hard mode at ~85% total completion. This was a blind playthrough.
Pros:
* The art, lore, and music are amazing
* The game's unique mechanics are very cool thematically, but only mildly fun mechanically
* Game length felt fine for the price and the game didn't wear out its welcome.
* Level design is... good. Just good. Hidden item placement was very well done, although 100%ing the game without a guide sounds like hell, which I guess is appropriate for these kinds of retro games
Mids:
* While the different guns you can get are varied enough, I never felt the need to use more than one or two, with only a few enemy types and bosses wanting a specific weapon to kill them quickly/safely. The weapons that have unique mechanics can be useful, but most of them are just "shoot bullets in a different pattern with less dps than the starting weapon".
* The controls are... fine. The free aiming system felt very clunky, and there were a lot of times when I was holding down the button and it just wouldn't activate. Maybe a controller problem, but unsure, as I haven't had similar issues in other games. Double tapping a direction to dash feels terrible.
* The actual story is pretty minimal and predictable. Perfectly serviceable, but nothing special.
Cons:
* This game is VERY fond of hidden/offscreen enemies who are basically just there to punk the player, and there aren't quick and painless ways to get rid of them once you know they're there.
* This could be a skill issue, but there are a lot of enemies in this game that I simply don't believe can be defeated without taking damage, which turned certain sections into endurance runs more than anything else.
* As cool as the bosses are visually, the simple majority of them just kinda suck to fight against. Attack patterns are extremely simple, with most bosses not having more than like 2 or 3 patterns. The vast majority of their bodies are invincible, with fairly obvious weak points. The problem is that actually hitting those weak points can be extremely frustrating without knowing exactly where to stand, as they are often behind/"inside" (in a 2d sense) the bulk of the boss's sprite, and large portions of that bulk block bullets, with seemingly little rhyme or reason to which parts do and which parts don't. This in combination with bosses' natural movements basically turns boss fights into situations where you are just firing dozens of bullets at a weak point and only like 10% actually getting through, which in combination with the bosses large health pools, turns a lot of them into slogs where you are just doing the same thing over and over and over for minutes on end until either the boss dies or you get sloppy and get yourself killed.
* The game overall really feels like it's saying "I'm not going to reward you for slow, careful play, but I'm sure as hell going to punish you if you don't play like that", if that makes sense. This is a fine, of course, but I bounced off of it a bit.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Axiom Verge is a respectable entry to the Metroidvania genre, feeling
close to the vibe of some of the older 2D Metroid games. Overall, it does many things right,
creates an intriguing atmosphere through it's soundtrack, artstyle and story,
but does have some rough edges along the way.
Pro's:
- simple but catchy soundtrack that definitely adds to the vibe
- awesome pixelart at times, especially regarding backdrops and certain characters
- uniqe set of gadgets to use
- variety of weapons that allow different approaches to any situation
- interesting story to keep you motivated
- many things to discover off the beaten path
Neutral:
- This is a metroidvania thing, so it depends on how you react to it personally,
but I did get lost ~3 times along the way, not knowing where to go next to progress the story.
There are no "quest-markers" and no reminders, which makes discovering something feel
more rewarding, but also causes you to backtrack aimlessly quite a bit every now and then.
Thankfully the map shows quite nicely where there are still unexplored areas, and you'll most likely find some optional upgrades along the way.
Con's:
- Some enemies and bosses feel like it is impossible to avoid damage,
so straight-up trying to kill them before your health runs out is probably your best bet.
I'd like to be able to gain an advantage through my movement, possibly even
beating bosses without loosing health, but I honestly don't feel it's possible for some of the bosses.
Some enemies jump-attack you out of nowhere without indicators to their hiding-spots. (at least on your first try)
Other enemies tend to slow you down - laser crawlers and steam/sand creatures. Either you wait for them to pass, which tends to be annoying especially when backtracking, or you'll have to accept some damage trying to force past them.
- Finding a health upgrade-piece just to need ~4 more of the same to actually gain any effects is not a fun mechanic in my oppinion. It just spreads out the process and feels unsatisfying.
- There are some secret levels that are apparently procedurally generated. While this could be a nice idea to add to the replayability of the game, these levels felt kind of off. They were mostly a mixture of existing rooms, just with very glitchy visuals. These levels sometimes looked so broken, I couldn't even figure out which tiles you can walk on, or which tiles do damage to you. Also, once, I couldn't even exit the secret level and had to quit to the main menu to get out. That should really not happen in a game.
- there is a dash mechanic that works by pressing the trigger into the desired direction twice.
On my XBox Wireless controller, that was kind of hard to do, especially when dashing diagonally.
On the other hand I would often dash when I did not intend to.
So yeah, some rough edges here and there, but If you like the genre and are ok with some hickups,
I would still recommend this game as it had entertained me well for about 11hours.

I’m 10 years too late, but this is a great game and it still holds up. Gameplay is similar to Metroid, with some cool different gimmicks. My favorite part was the soundtrack, though!

It is a good game, although with so much high praises it got, I was expecting more...
Maybe I don't really get it.
But fun game it is.

I would buy again just for the soundtrack alone. What a masterpiece bringing back my deepest nostalgic memories.
If you fell in love with Metroid on NES, and Super Metroid on SNES, then you will fall in love with this one aswell, and potentially marry it.

I have been wanting to play this game for a while now and I had little to no knowledge about this game beforehand. I am so glad I avoided knowing anything about game because this was an amazing experience and this was overall a really fun metroidvania to play!

Yeah it's basically Super Metroid but more horizontal in upgrade growth than vertical, and with a more "90s anime" feel to it. Masterfully designed and has more stuff to offer for way longer than you'd initially think! The movement is largely uninteresting but the platforming is well-designed at least. This game is clearly not intending you to feel as godlike as you do by the end of Super Metroid, more like a little gremlin in the wires mucking with stuff in subversive ways. That's all well and good, but the issue remains.
The wasp is RNG: The Boss and it can go screw itself. The other boss fights are pretty good overall.