David Smith

Me, finally starting to play Axiom Verge 2 after years of hearing it’s amazing: idgi, this is just a middling platformer with overly harsh vibes

Me now, 60% or so of the way through the game: this thing just keeps getting wilder. I’ve unlocked three radically new map navigation abilities that require me to rethink exploration in the last half hour, and I’m being hunted by invisible owls. Also I’ve changed my mind and think some of the harsh aesthetic and sound choices are inspired now.

The great:

• Genuinely novel game-sized concepts are hard to come by in metroidvanias, and this does it

The good:

• “metroidvania but you move by playing pinball” works WAY better than you’d think
• absolutely charming
• do crimes
• honk honk mfer
• loved most of the setting and characters
• fun art style
• the bee line is very satisfying

The bad:

• some of the optional puzzles for 100%ing the game are frankly terrible. Tedious timed pixel positioning with a long setup on each try.
• main plot didn’t really mesh with the tone of the game, and was a bit of an afterthought tbh

The weird:

• absolutely baffling attitude towards xenophobia. Are we for it (anti-sootling Karen side quest) or against it (helping sootlings on the mountain). Are we pro restorative justice (forgiving [spoiler] for, uh, mass murder) or pro prison (catching the escaped spirits of people being eternally punished for helping… the guy you have to forgive to 100% the game). And the whole thing with the mushroom spores??

Overall I very much enjoyed it and recommend it for anyone who enjoys metroidvanias and/or pinball, but definitely some strange design choices.

About 5 hours in, my thoughts are as follows: did you enjoy Aquaria (2007)? This game is pretty much Aquaria (2007).