Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge is the work of one developer, Tom Happ, who built every aspect of the game over five years. The result is an action-adventure metroidvania consciously paying tribute to obscure 1980s side-scrollers (Bionic Commando, Blaster Master, the original Metroid) while introducing mechanics those games never quite managed.

The glitch weapon is the design's signature. A glitch tool you acquire lets you corrupt enemies and environmental elements directly — turning hostile creatures into harmless versions of themselves, breaking through walls that would otherwise block progress, exploiting the game's own logic for puzzle solutions. Combined with traditional weapon and ability acquisitions, the result is a metroidvania moveset unlike anything in the genre's standard catalog.

The story is intentionally surreal. A scientist named Trace wakes in a labyrinthine alien world after a lab accident, with no clear sense of whether the place is a distant planet, the far future, or a virtual simulation. Biomechanoid constructs, demons of his own psyche, and the deadly fallout of an ancient war fill the world. The game's title is its thesis: life, afterlife, real, virtual, dream, nightmare — it's a thin line, and Axiom Verge is the place where it blurs.