History VideoGame / AxiomVerge

''Axiom Verge'' is a 2D indie retro-style {{Metroidvania}} game developed by Thomas Happ. Initial development began in March 2010 as a hobby and was announced in 2012 for commercial release. The game was released in Spring 2015 initially for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, with a UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita version planned that was finally released in April 2016. Just before that, it was announced that the game would also be released for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/WiiU.

* CriticalAnnoyance: Subverted. The game beeps when Trace is about to die, but it beeps in time with the background music, and the beeping gets quieter as it goes on.

[[quoteright:350:https://i.imgur.com/8kbwiEp.png]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/28d750ffcdd2b7c3d6cba45023ea120e.png]]

* {{Retraux}}: Uses a graphical style that fluctuates between the 8- and 16-bit eras of gaming. The glitches and breach incursions are intentionally reminiscent of {{NES}} graphical errors. The secret areas you can enter even make the screen fuzzy.

* AmbiguousEnding: TheStinger found in two of the Multiple Endings. [[spoiler:While Trace attempts to find a way back to Sudra, Athetos confronts him and tells him he cannot escape his fate. One ending has Athetos also shoot Trace, telling him to wake up.]]
** [[spoiler:As the game's wiki points out, the background of the credits shows Trace collapsed in front of what appears to be one of the Rusalki, Veruska. Veruska's title is "The Dreamer", which taken into account makes you wonder if the ending is real at all.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' fans will be on the receiving end of this for pretty much the whole game: you will see pretty much every single obstacle you would find in a Metroid game (breakable walls, small gaps, ledges unreachable by jumping) but when you come to an item and think "This must be when I get the power bomb/morph ball/space jump", the game will provide an entirely new solution to those problems.

* BittersweetEnding /[[spoiler:EarnYourBadEnding]]: Finishing the game with HundredPercentCompletion (Or just beating the game normally on the Wii U version) presents you with a few extra scenes after the credits, showing that [[spoiler: Athetos somehow appears on Earth, healthy and hale but still aged, and shoots Trace with a pistol after telling him to "wake up".]]

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: Early on in the game, it's possible to see a hallucination version of Trace enter the uppermost door in one of vertical corridors in Zi. It serves as hint that he's already began to suffer from the effects of pathogen that Athetos has released, and it finally kicks in full force when Trace enters Ukkin-Na. This also foreshadows that Trace is a clone of Athetos/prime Trace.]]

* Foreshadowing: [[spoiler: Early on in the game, it's possible to see a hallucination version of Trace enter the uppermost door in one of vertical corridors in Zi. It serves as hint that he's already began to suffer from the effects of pathogen that Athetos has released, and it finally kicks in full force when Trace enters Ukkin-Na.]]
** Which also foreshadows that Trace is [[spoiler: a clone of Athetos/prime Trace.]]

** Which also foreshadows that Trace is [[spoiler: a clone of Athetos.]]

'''''Axiom Verge''''' is a 2D indie retro-style {{Metroidvania}} game developed by Thomas Happ. Initial development began in March 2010 as a hobby and was announced in 2012 for commercial release. The game was released in Spring 2015 initially for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, with a UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita version planned that was finally released in April 2016. Just before that, it was announced that the game would also be released for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/WiiU.

* BittersweetEnding /[[spoiler:EarnYourBadEnding]]: Finishing the game with HundredPercentCompletion presents you with a few extra scenes after the credits, showing that [[spoiler: Athetos somehow appears on Earth, healthy and hale but still aged, and shoots Trace with a pistol after telling him to "wake up".]]

The game serves as a loving {{homage}} to several games of the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]], [[UsefulNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 8-bit]] and [[UsefulNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 16-bit era]], drawing inspiration from classics such as ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster'', among many others. It also adds its own unique touch by utilizing the glitches and bugs found in games of that period as a game mechanic, allowing players to uncover new areas, the ability to "hack" and change enemy behavior and bypass obstacles. The entire game (including art, code, game and sound design) was developed solely by Happ over a period of four years.

* BulletHell: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with the first boss, Xedur, whose bullets can easily be avoided. Played more straight with the Sentinel [[spoiler:and the skippable boss ]]in the final area.

** You go into a boss fight room [[spoiler:only to discover you control the boss while an AI shoots "you"]].

** Athetos's card hints at [[spoiler: the Rusalki hiding things from Trace.]]

* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler: Sudra suffered a Planetary Species Extinction because Athetos released a pathogen that wiped out most of the Sudrans and made whoever survived crazy]].

* BigBad: Athetos[[spoiler:, or rather, the original Trace.]]
* BittersweetEnding /[[spoiler: EarnYourBadEnding]]: Finishing the game with HundredPercentCompletion presents you with a few extra scenes after the credits, showing that [[spoiler: Athetos somehow appears on Earth, healthy and hale but still aged, and shoots Trace with a pistol after telling him to "wake up".]]
** It can come up as [[spoiler: a chicle, dramatic cliffhanger to most players, but when you consider this, combined with the fact that [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture the whole game is set in circa 2105]] [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway in an hidden corner of the galaxy]] where "going back" or even "going to" was being purposefully impossible to do, shows that returning to Earth was a false promise by the Rusalki. And the scenes during the credits that show Trace still on Sudran, in a coma state makes much more sense when you remember some of the notes scattered around and the conversations between the Rusalki stating Veruska's ability to induce [[LotusEaterMachine "dream algorithms"]] on others...]] Yep, long-term FridgeHorror settles in.

* BulletHell: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with the first boss, Xedur, whose bullets can easily be avoided. Played more straight with the Sentinel [[spoiler: and the skippable boss ]]in the final area.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Dying only causes Trace to be sent back to the nearest rebirth chamber, with item collection and exploration progress saved. [[spoiler: This is used as a plot point later when Trace says he doesn't want to kill any more of Athetos' clones and wishes to try and talk to Athetos to figure out what's going on. When he refuses to cooperate, Elsenova kills him, quite painfully, and Ophelia says she will keep reviving and killing him unless he continues to help them against Athetos.]]
* EasterEgg: On the password menu [[spoiler: entering JUSTIN BAILEY puts Trace in a bodysuit, an homage to ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'']].

* ShoutOut: One of the passwords you can enter is [[spoiler: JUSTIN BAILEY, which puts Trace into a bodysuit, like in ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'']].

* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: [[spoiler: Trace is returned to Earth sans any injuries, but can't return to a normal life because he has lingering questions about Sudra. He leaves the lab and is determined to find a way back]].
* StarfishRobots: The Rusalki have faces resembling human females, but their bodies, some of which are seen in a large chamber in Edin, are not humanoid at all. [[spoiler: Elsenova is reattached to her body late in the game, and it's a long, serpentine skeleton with multiple guns built in, which she uses to destroy the breach attractor in the final battle with Athetos.]]

* WasOnceAMan: Pretty much every boss except for the Sentinel and the final boss.

** You go into a boss fight room [[spoiler: only to discover you control the boss while an AI shoots "you".]]
** Another is Athetos' [[spoiler: aborted clone. Just close the text boxes and wait for him to slowly die.]]
** See that big floating boss that can easily kill you with bullet spam? [[spoiler: As Trace says, you can just run out the door without attacking it.]]

* HitScan: The Ion Beam. [[spoiler:Also the Fat Beam, which doubles as a WaveMotionGun.]]

'''''Axiom Verge''''' is a 2D indie retro-style {{Metroidvania}} game developed by Thomas Happ. Initial development began in March 2010 as a hobby and was announced in 2012 for commercial release. The game was released in Spring 2015 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, with a UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita version planned for release in 2016. The game was also announced for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/WiiU.

'''''Axiom Verge''''' is a 2D indie retro-style {{Metroidvania}} game developed by Thomas Happ. Initial development began in March 2010 as a hobby and was announced in 2012 for commercial release. The game was released in Spring 2015 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, with a PlaystationVita version in the works.

** The secret worlds have a structure and visual style taken directly from the numerous out-of-bounds areas from ''Metroid'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{MetroidIIReturnOfSamus}}]]Metroid II''.

'''''Axiom Verge''''' is a 2D indie retro-style {{Metroidvania}} game developed by Thomas Happ. Initial development began in March 2010 as a hobby and was announced in 2012 for commercial release. The game was released in Spring 2015 for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Playstation4}} Playstation 4]] and {{Steam}}, with a PlaystationVita version in the works.