Tom Happ’s Axiom Verge is a wonderfully designed love letter to the classic Metroid games of the NES and SNES generations, with atmospheric science-fiction environments and plenty of power-ups and abilities to use. If you’ve already played through the original and discovered every secret, you’ll be happy to know a full sequel, Axiom Verge 2, is coming to Nintendo Switch next year.
Appearing at the end of Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase presentation on December 10, Happ explained that he has been working on Axiom Verge 2 for the last four years, and he offered a sneak peek at gameplay for eagle-eyed fans to sift through.
“You are not in control. You are not yourself. You belong to us now,” text reads at the beginning of the teaser.
We see the protagonist materialize in a region filled with snow-covered mountains, jumping across treacherous obstacles and battling enemies with special moves and an ice pick weapon. They soon dive into the darker, spookier areas fans of the first game might be more familiar with, and briefly turn into a spider creature before disappearing.
You may think you already know the world of Axiom Verge. Think again.
Discover the origins of the @AxiomVerge universe in #AxiomVerge2 coming to #NintendoSwitch in 2020! #IndieWorld pic.twitter.com/XZqvgcEwKn
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 10, 2019
Axiom Verge helped to fill a void left by the notable absence of the classic Metroid games over the last decade, with Metroid: Samus Returns only recently rectifying that on 3DS. Happ’s blending of mysterious environments with tried-and-true exploration and platforming gameplay made the game arguably more acclaimed than any Metroid game in recent memory, including Samus Returns. With its pixel-art style, it’s a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch. The first game is already available to play on the system right now.
Axiom Verge 2 will release for Nintendo Switch in autumn 2020. No other platforms have been announced thus far, but the previous game released for everything from PlayStation 4 to Linux, so we would be surprised if the sequel doesn’t follow suit.
It was far from the only game announcement made during the Indie World Showcase, too. Nintendo also used the video presentation to announce Sports Story, a sequel to Golf Story with more variety but the same classic role-playing elements that fans loved in the original. Also, if you’ve been waiting to play Dauntless on Switch, you can do so for free today.
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