Axiom Verge reviews

The artstyle makes the level design pretty unintuitive for a Metroidvania, the movement powerups feel very weird and everything that isn't a boss or one of the huge robots looks hideous. Still the interesting story, setting and general weirdness make this worth trying
«Underrated»
Barely a recommend, but a recommend nonetheless.

Gameplay is sound and the soundtrack is actually fantastic.

But

-The artstyle is both highly detailed in bosses and certain background details and painfully clunky in the tileset of the stages.
-The plot conveys itself clunkily.
-Many secrets/collectibles are hidden in the "well this block of wall is not an actual block but there's no way you could've known" way, which makes for tedious trial and error.
-Bosses are either completely cheesed or brute forced. None of them feel like actual well designed fights.

The game came out in the early indie game boom so a lot of it's faults are just a lack of a better recent template to draw from and/or expand upon
«OST on repeat»
I would only barely recommend this. It does some good with solid level design, surreal setting and music, really unique power-ups that help drive the surrealism home. But the pacing is a mixed bag - sometimes it's great, sometimes you have to wander aimlessly. Some secrets feel rewarding and properly hidden, some are obtuse. Sometimes combat can be tense and rewarding that adds a platforming challenge, weapons are diverse and interesting, but other times it's high damage output enemies with movement patterns that are impossible to move around. Bosses have a good sense of scale but, perhaps because of the scale, don't move around much and can feel like underwhelming drawn-out  damage sponges. Glitching can be a good spin on a side-scrolling shooter format, but it can take too long even with upgrades and feels redundant with the drill.

Overall, it's a good Metroidvania spin that doesn't lean too heavily on common tropes - though it does still include the obligatory "better jump" and "awkward grappling hook" - but still held back by its own frankly kind of glaring flaws.
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Axiom Verge is one of those Games for which you would like a "neutral Rating" on Steam. Personally, I have to say that the Title disappointed me, because I expected a little more Action. However, depending on the Player's Expectation and Entitlement, this may also be different. Since there is only the Possibility of "recommend"/"do not recommend," I have to choose The Latter. Pros:-very good Atmosphere-beautiful Ingame-graphics style-great ideas (both Weapons and Gadgets) Neutral:-Story, well, who was interested in the Story "back then" ever at a Platformer? ;-)-Bosses; All somewhat comically balanced; In general, it does not find it reprehensible that you can "outsmart" bosses (there were already in Turrican 1/2 at that time), I find bleary-again here rather some Reset Points in the later Course Of the game. -the Control is a bit "over-the-top"; On the one Hand beautiful to have so many Gadgets, on the other Hand the Whole thing often becomes an annoying Finger exercise; With a little Practice, however, you actually get everything to go so far. Cons:-a lot of extremely annoying Backtracking; Unfortunately, not only as a Bonus for Explorers, but often imposed by the Game in order to be able to get further-consistently lame pace; It is quite annoying That even with advanced equipment in many Areas You "get stuck" on every single Opponent and 90% by "stop & go" durch die Level bewegt; The only Weapon that brought something "Redemption" to this was the Flamethrower, which I found only with the Help of a Walkthrough on the Internet-Soundtrack; I am a big Fan of Music in "Chiptune Style," but here there are for the most part only any rum Dudel; And the one Track in KUR is hard to Beat in Cruelty;-)-supposed "dead-ends"; Unfortunately, you hang out in several Places in the Game and you have to try an extremely big lot, run around etc ... In order to find out what happens next; Some "Secrets" are more obvious to find than the next Ways of the "Main Mission." -"enemy respawning"; Everyone likes to keep it up as they want: I just don't like it; Especially not when it comes to finding secrets in already known Areas. Well, Axiom Verge Is not a totally bad Game. For a One-man show, it's a respectable Performance, but you should think beforehand about what you expect from the Game. Anyone who-like me-expects a nice Action Loaded Platformer of a Platformer of a jump ' n ' shoot will probably be rather disappointed. Those who are totally on it are in front of them and looking backwards for secrets and like more the Action-Adventure aspect, may have their Pleasure in it. What I lack for "Thumbs up": "Main mission" a little More linear, but better "rewards" at The backtracking bag at Secrets, no "enemy respawning" within a "World" of a level, Reset Points at * all * Bossfights right before the Fight. And those who dismiss my Design Flaws as being owed by the "Retro" style Might want to allude to Turrican I/II (C64/Amiga) again:-)
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