Few games represent a genre boom the way Axiom Verge serves as a poster child for indie Metroidvania games. Thomas Happ’s tribute to classic Metroid launched in 2015, and the sequel had been a long time coming. Axiom Verge 2 finally launched last year across a wide variety of platforms, including PC, but at the time it was an Epic Games Store exclusive. Now, it seems, the exclusivity is about to run out.
The Steam page for Axiom Verge 2 went live today, promising an August 11 launch on Valve’s platform. As you could probably guess, that marks the one-year anniversary of the game’s original launch on Epic (and Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4). There’s no price yet listed on the store page, though the game costs $19.99 USD on Epic.
I adored the original Axiom Verge, and while the sequel didn’t capture my heart to quite the same degree (Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth turned out to be the Metroidvania king of 2021 – outside of Metroid itself, anyway), it does provide an engaging, labyrinthine story, a fascinating set of hacking mechanics, and a massive world that’s both challenging and fun to explore.
Check out a trailer below.
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