izigame.me

The short of it is: I felt let down by Axiom Verge 2.
It is not a bad game.
You can play Axiom Verge 2, without playing Axiom Verge 1.
I do hope there is a third one.
AV2 has great style and music, but I couldn't enjoy it fully.
Maybe I expected more from it?


I can't be more specific without spoilers, so this is your SPOILER WARNING.


Spoilery review (complaints?) below...


Keep going...


Just a bit more...


Ok.
You were warned.
I'll get to the drone part, but first things first.
---I couldn't get into the story. And this has 3 levels for me.
- Indra's story (the protagonist's story).
She's just being led on the whole game. Go to Antarctica. Go to this coordinate, now go to this other coordinate. Why? Because. Now go. Get your body back. Now go kill the big bad. She doesn't really achieve anything in the game. Couldn't get back, couldn't find her daughter, didn't kill the big bad at the end (well, one Indra did). She was just the errand girl for Hammond, the big bad and Lamassu. And about the 2 Indras at the end... That just like, happened. Didn't really had a payoff for me. I'd rather have the drone arm get Indra back on his own than, oh, it's just a copy of her mind or something. At least, it would be some sort of accomplishment by one of them. Indra accomplished nothing as far as I am concerned.
- The big picture story.
That was just too convoluted for me. Sure, I like reading about it in the wiki, seeing all the things I missed, and I appreciate the mystery surrounding it. But it just flew over my head during my playthrough.
Also, lots and lots of loose ends. Where was Hammond? Did Hammond die? Then who was Indra talking to? How was she talking to her? Where was Indra's daughter? The other people she met just mutated and died? Why was there even a mention of the kazzacks (cosssacks?)?
jut died She goes to Antarctica to find Hammond and her daughter. She does not find her daughter. Did she find Hammond? I am not sure, She finds a body that's supposedly her, but then talks to her on the last ansible or something. Like I said, the story is not clear.
So, while looking for Hammond she does errands for the bad Arm and then loses her body to it.
- The comparison with Axiom Verge 1.
There is a point to be made that the same thing happened to Trace in AV1. Everyone lied to him and he was just let on. But he did succeed in his task. And the twist had a huge payoff for me. Maybe it didn't make an impression on me because of the similarities.
I could overlook the story, but other aspects of the game also felt like just things to do or get with no relevance. Sure, lots of things are needed to advance the story, but they didn't feel useful or fun to use.
--- Now the main game mechanics.
Where to start?
- Weapons. Basically, and the for the most part, melee only. You get a boomerang early on, but I don't think anybody uses it. It's slow, does little damage. It sits mostly forgotten on the menu. I was willing to give it a chance when I found my second or third weapon and noticed different attack animations and thought they could have different uses or attack styles. But no, those weapons didn't matter because of:
- The over-reliance on the drone. I thought it was just a section of the game that used the drone, but it's more like .... 70% (?). At least, it felt like that to me. I didn't like the drone at first, but it grew on me. I preferred it late game because of its mobility options. But no mistake, it is overused.
There's a sub-world, called the Breach, only accessible to the drone. Ok.
Then, you have to use the drone for some puzzle/exploration elements. Ok.
Then, you don't have a human body, so the drone is all you have.
This is when I noticed this was the primary game element of AV2.
You do get a human(ish) body later, but by that time, the drone's mobility is better than the other body, so you don't want to switch back.
What are the consequences of the overuse of the drone?
- Useless skills, weapons, upgrades.
Indra has a choice of several melee weapons. You don't need them. There is no reason to change the starting weapon.
Indra gets 2, well 3, boomerangs. Couldn't find a use for the first 2. Maybe, occasionally to get the attention of an enemy or hit a switch. The 3rd. one does not count as a weapon. It's more of an item. It's a remote control boomerang that you need to use once (maybe twice) to hit an out of the way switch. Useless as a weapon.
The skill points, skill tree and most of the exploration are rendered pointless for the following:
. There's zero need to upgrade the combat skill tree.
. Maybe upgrading health is useful, but you do find health upgrades on the map, so this is redundant.
. There's a ... let's call it mist cloud skill, and you can use points to move faster, but there is no need for it.
. Hacking skill upgrades... meh. Some are mandatory. Useless for the most part. It could have been fun, but it was not properly developed or used.
. Just do all the drone upgrades.
Leave some points available for when hacking is necessary. Otherwise, go nuts with the drone.
Random grievances:
- The grab on the ledge skill. Really?
- The see in the dark skill. You could've just put a switch to turn on the light in the area.
- The flashlight as a separate item. Could've just left it as a default feature.