At first glance, Axiom Verge looks to be the latest in a long line of exploration-based platformers, lovingly dubbed 'Metroid-vania.' It looks great, sure, but does it really do anything new?
The game's been billed as both a loving homage to the 16-bit platformers of yore and the next evolution in the Metroid-vania genre, but can a game made by a single person really hold up against some of the greatest titles of all time?
Axiom Verge tells the story of Trace, a scientist thrown onto a far-off alien world following a lab experiment gone wrong. After waking up, Trace stumbles upon gigantic bio-mechanical beings who then task him with repairing the planet. From there, the story quickly unravels into hard science fiction, and eventually tackles themes like the nature of reality and controlling the spread of technology.
Frankly, there's a lot of stuff to remember: Axiom Verge throws a lot of terminology at the player in a short amount of time, and it can be a bit much at times.
To be honest, the story is told in a relatively simple way: Axiom Verge relies mostly on text boxes and scripted sequences to tell its tale. However, the story does provide the game with a few chances to change things up along the way, and the unique set-pieces are all great.
For the most part, however, it's all told in a very dry way. On top of that, it can definitely get confusing - it's not terrible by any means, but it clearly wasn't the game's focus, either.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page!
