Axiom Verge 2

It's ok I guess, maybe if its on sale for $5 or so. Definitely not worth $20. Boss fights are trivial. you can just stand in/on them and burn them down. The only challenge in the game is backtracking to find that one spot that opened up after you get the next item, which in some cases is extremely frustrating. 30/100.

This game, unfortunately, does not continue the story of the first game. Which is a shame in general, but also I replayed the first one before playing this, assuming it was. This game departs from the previous in many ways. It's melee focused with some "spells" and a boomerang. Not nearly as interesting as the amount of weapons in the original. The graphics are upgraded quite a bit, which isn't necessarily good or bad, just noticeable. The music isn't as good. Start music is happy go lucky and uninteresting. It feels like I'm in the middle east for whatever reason, while the first game had a more futuristic serious tone. I guess the point was because the urns have AIs in them and they are like genies in lamps? I'm not sure. Either way, didn't care for it. I did my best to stick it out and give this game a fair shot, but I was just not enjoying it. The enemies I encountered all exploded or were ranged and I'm trying to deal with them with the boomerang and an ice pick. Most enemies see...

Axiom Verge 2 is a solid Metroid clone if you want little to no combat, just a well-put-together map and some fun powerups. Its pacing (of how often you find items/powerups) is its best trait, though I think the first game was a bit better about that. The world opens up steadily. Some powerups felt quite clever, and even familiar types of upgrade (wall climb, grappling hook) felt fresh because they didn't work the same as others. The fast travel you get eventually may be convenient, but it also led me to disengage with the world and rush the lategame objectives, exaggerating how abrupt the ending felt. It also felt like I only needed to use some later powerups 2-4 times, so in a way the experience lost steam in the end. The combat in AV2 is almost completely optional, which really shows how mediocre it is. Combat falls into the two typical boring playstyles of face-tanking -- not bothering to dodge and mashing attacks until you win -- and turreting -- finding cover and jumping and sho...

Big step forward over the first game pretty much every way. More open exploration, more beautiful art, more relaxing progression with less annoying combat (the original didn't have enough skill-requirements to be interesting). More interesting story too. I hope in the sequel we get to explore (what I presume is) a more technological an'ansur for the next world in this inverted Kabbalah/tree-shaped cosmology. If you see this, Thomas (the game's creator) I hope you are doing well and that your personal life has gotten much less dramatic. Glad I live in Asia, free from the degeneration and decadence of american capitalist society. More power to you for being tough!

I had a blast playing this game. I was a bit apprehensive at first because I'm more into Metroid than Castlevania and I read that this game leans further to the latter than the first but I still really enjoyed it. The combat really is quite fun and responsive with very fair difficulty on normal settings but with tons of tweaking available in the accessibility options. The art style is a huge tonal shift away from body horror and dread and more into a beautiful loneliness but is more cohesive than the first game. The music is absolutely superb and I've been listening to it for weeks on Spotify. The story ads a ton to where we left off from the first game while still leaving lots of room for more storytelling. I really hope Mr Happ is able/willing to return to this project and bring us back to this multiverse.

First in the series feels much more straightforward, but this still had some character to it. Really glad I picked it back up after starting months prior.

Story is a great expansion upon the lore and world of the first one, exploration is fun, movement is awesome. Combat is very rough in this game in comparison to the first one. I gave Axiom Verge an 8/10, this one sits at a 7/10. Still really fun, but very unsatisfying in pretty much every combat encounter in the game. If you're someone who loved the boss designs from the first one (like me), expect to be disappointed in that regard. All this being said, it's a recommend from me *only* if you really liked the first one.