{"id":451,"date":"2018-02-27T23:15:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T04:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=451"},"modified":"2018-02-27T23:15:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T04:15:22","slug":"game-ramblings-66-axiom-verge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=451","title":{"rendered":"Game Ramblings #66 &#8211; Axiom Verge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.axiomverge.com\/\">More Info from Thomas Happ Games<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Genre<\/strong>: Metroidvania<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform<\/strong>: Switch<\/li>\n<li><strong>Also Available On<\/strong>: PS4, Windows, macOS, Linux, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>TL;DR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Solid core combat mechanics with a great range of weapons<\/li>\n<li>Visuals nail the retro look without feeling unnecessarily simple<\/li>\n<li>Traversal mechanics (or lack thereof) end up becoming a big problem as the game goes on<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Axiom Verge is a bit of a tough one to crack.\u00a0 From a visual and combat mechanics standpoint, this is obviously a Metroid-inspired game, and in a lot of ways ends up surpassing what was done in those days.\u00a0 The variety of weapons in particular is a real high point.\u00a0 However, the game starts to drag as it goes on due to a lack of some traversal and map features that I&#8217;d consider standard in the genre, leading less to artificial difficulty and more to artificial time padding.\u00a0 While the game is ultimately pretty good, those things that were missing were pretty damaging to my overall feel for the game.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_452\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-452\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_visuals.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-452\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_visuals-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_visuals-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_visuals-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_visuals-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_visuals.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visually the game often impresses, even more so when they manage to throw in some pixel explosions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I generally don&#8217;t try to hide the fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?tag=metroidvania\">I enjoy\u00a0 Metroidvania games<\/a>, so chalk this one up to another game I should have played a long time ago.\u00a0 Coming into this, the main thing that I&#8217;d seen in the past about it were the visuals, and we&#8217;ll start there.\u00a0 This is very obviously patterned more after the 8-bit style of the original\u00a0<em>Metroid<\/em>, though in practice it ends up falling somewhere between the NES and SNES in overall visual style.\u00a0 However, the care put into the visuals of the game elevate it above a lot of other similarly retro-inspired games.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s often the little details that can be pulled off in modern hardware that end up being the most impressive.\u00a0 Bosses explode into pixel bits, covering the entire screen.\u00a0 Warping effects give obvious hints that things are going very wrong, as well as hints that this game isn&#8217;t exactly 8-bit.\u00a0 Enemy animations are simple, but very fluid throughout.\u00a0 Weapon firing across a wide range of weapons all have unique effects that very plainly tell the player how a weapon works and where it will be most effective.\u00a0 Overall, the game just looks damn good, even if it doesn&#8217;t look modern.<\/p>\n<p>On the weapon front, things also continue to impress.\u00a0 Rather than <em>Metroid&#8217;s<\/em> slim selection,\u00a0<em>Axiom Verge<\/em> comes with a wide range of weapons that can be selected from at any time.\u00a0 These range from your simple orb weapons to lock-on lightning beams to bouncing orbs to flails.\u00a0 This is combined with a default radial selection menu that can be hopped in and out of with great speed to allow the player to quickly and effectively switch their weapon to take advantage of their current enemy&#8217;s weakness.\u00a0 This is in effect the best part of the game where combat is no longer just run and gun, but often has wildly changing tactics even on a room to room basis.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_453\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-453\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_boss.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-453\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_boss-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_boss-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_boss-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_boss-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_boss.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-453\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bosses are the first spot where the game starts to show obvious points of faltering.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I&#8217;ll be the first to admit that in my head the problems I have with the game generally feel like &#8220;old man complains about missing features&#8221;.\u00a0 That being said, I&#8217;ve moved on from games that came out 30 years ago.\u00a0 Padding time via artificial difficulty or re-traversal doesn&#8217;t feel nostalgic, it feels old.\u00a0 That&#8217;s where things started to fall apart for me in this game.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite bosses being visually impressive in scale they also start to show the first sign of weakness in the game.\u00a0 Generally speaking each boss has one mechanic to worry about, and they fairly universally involve some sort of jumping mechanic.\u00a0 For example, the boss above involves hiding behind the purple walls that block shots, then peaking out and shooting the boss from range.\u00a0 A later boss involved an annoying sequence of pseudo-random projectiles that had to be avoided via teleporting.\u00a0 The long and short of it is that the bosses are visually cool, but ultimately pretty simple.\u00a0 Despite the typical pattern recognition of the genre, these just don&#8217;t live up to your Ridley or Kraid fights.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_454\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-454\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_environment.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-454\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_environment-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_environment-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_environment-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_environment-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_environment.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-454\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Get used to seeing these environments, because you will keep traversing them for hours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This weakness is then exacerbated by some of the choices made in traversal mechanics.\u00a0 The singular main issue for me in this entire game is that there is no fast travel, and this causes a cascade of issues.\u00a0 As your character&#8217;s power curve advances, it just becomes a time waste to fight enemies in areas you had been to.\u00a0 You know their pattern, they die quicker, they pose no danger, but you have to run through or past them.<\/p>\n<p>Generally speaking, the lack of objective markers wouldn&#8217;t be a problem in this genre, but the lack of fast travel made the end of the game a chore.\u00a0\u00a0By the end, I was basically doing circles around the game world to find the one spot that I could enter with a new tool, getting another new tool, then finding the next one spot I could now enter.\u00a0 If a spot I hadn&#8217;t been able to get to was still closed I moved on.\u00a0 There wasn&#8217;t much fun here, it just became the pattern that had to be done.<\/p>\n<p>The real final problem was an expectation of how the map worked based on other games.\u00a0 Typical Metroidvanias at least give some notification if there is a hidden pickup in a general area, leaving it to the player to puzzle out how to find it.\u00a0 In\u00a0<em>Axiom Verge<\/em> there is simultaneously no indicators and in a lot of places, no real in-world clue that there are hidden things either.\u00a0 I found a not insignificant amount of treasure in the late game by accidentally teleporting too far and ending up in a wall that looked in no way passable or breakable.\u00a0 For a genre built around exploration, those two things combined to just make the loot pattern feel really awkward compared to the norm.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_455\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-455\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_bee.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-455\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_bee-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_bee-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_bee-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_bee-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/axiomverge_bee.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-455\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bee&#8217;s unamused look didn&#8217;t get any better as I proceeded to take it out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So I suppose the question becomes, is this worth playing?\u00a0 I would say yes, with the caveat being that you probably want more patience for very old missing mechanics than I generally have.\u00a0 From a core fundamentals standpoint, this is a perfectly solid Metroidvania title.\u00a0 The variety of weapons does a lot to push the player to explore and find new combat situations, and honestly does a lot to allow me to ignore the very real problems the game has around traversal.\u00a0 However, if some of the problems I listed above sound like deal breakers, I&#8217;m probably fairly close to in agreement with you that this one is skippable.\u00a0 However, it may be worth a look even with the knowledge that it may just get shelved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More Info from Thomas Happ Games Genre: Metroidvania Platform: Switch Also Available On: PS4, Windows, macOS, Linux, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One TL;DR Solid core combat mechanics with a great range of weapons Visuals nail the retro look without feeling unnecessarily simple Traversal mechanics (or lack thereof) end up becoming a big problem as the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=451\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Game Ramblings #66 &#8211; Axiom Verge&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,37,83],"tags":[18,35,53,84],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action","category-adventure","category-switch","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-metroidvania","tag-switch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}