Axiom Verge 2

Axiom Verge 1 is one of my favourites indie metroidvania, or at least it was for a long time until Hollow Knight came out and upped the ante, and so its very easy to get disappointed with this one. Axiom verge starts off much slower, and with admitedly worst visuals and audio design. But after the first couple of hours the game really opens up in the exploration department, and it can be a great playthrough if you allow it to be something different than its predecessor.

The artstyle is really rought, with a lower pixel count than its predecessor. Not only that but in terms of colour pallette its a far cry from the cyberpunk feel, feeling washed out and even dull in certain places. It makes the earlier levels a lot more boring to explore because of that.
Audio design its also a mess, featuring some very bad sound effects, that are incredibly loudly mixed. Music is also pratically a non factor, which is really disappointing considering that it was one of the strongest points of the first game.

Storywise the game tells a personal journey through dialogue with NPCs essencially, being a lot of tell and little show. I grew honestly bored with it in very little time, it tries to force urgency which is contraditory to the exploration based gameplay, and it was not long since i was skipping. Honestly doesnt feel like i missed too much worthwhile. There are some attempts at humor that are a bit cringe.,

Gameplay is really the main reason to play this, but not really the combat per se, which is rather basic and low stakes (as most bosses go down rather easily plus they are all avoidable. The game shines in the exploration department, as it really recontextualizes movment and transversal with each upgrade. Map is really very non linear, particularly when there is no compass at the start, and its really rewarding to come back and look at map design differently once you have certain transversal upgrades.
I would say that its perhaps a bit too easy to get lost, as i had to use a guide to point me the direction a couple of times. But its a small price to pay to play a world map thats so enjoyable to explore as this one, even if the secrets found end up being of the metroid variety (like health points or skill points for a few static upgrades to health or combat). There is nothing in these secrets that will reinvent the gameplay, but they are enjoyable to find just for themselves, particularly late game when it evolves switching between the two dimensions and feels more like a puzzle game.

Overall its a solid metroidvania, with a very different direction and focus from the original. Perhaps he should have used a different title and it would have been better received. Either way its still worth getting through the inicial dull hours because it really opens up in a magnificent way to people who enjoy the genre.