Axiom Verge

I like the grafix SFX. I like the story. Lots of varies weapons but only few are good, rest are meh. Bosses are kind of a joke. Worst enemy is knock backs, freefalling and climbing back up. Don't really like the music.

Even though it does a few neat things, it doesn't progress the Metroidvania genre in any meaningful way but it does what it does well. The story is pretty interesting, there's a lot of content for how much it costs, the music is decent, and the boss battles are pretty inconsistent with some weird difficulty spikes.

Probably one of the best Super Metroid knockoffs of recent years. No one is able to interconnect that world with the slick brilliance of Nintendo, and this game is no exception. And the gameplay can be frustrating at points. But the graphics and music are great and the eerie, mysterious Phillip K. Dick-esque story and vibe of it is quite sublime, with a few genuinely surprising plot turns in its modest runtime.

Overall a pretty enjoyable Metroidvania game. It was fairly short, only taking me 11-12 hours for a 100% playthrough. The core gameplay was pretty satisfying, and the biggest faults I would level at it are that many enemies look unintelligible, the final boss fight was anticlimactic, and some secrets are very unfairly hidden behind ordinary-looking walls.

The final boss was dumb, but I enjoyed this more than the more popular, traditionally beloved Metroidvanias. Love that aesthetic.