Accessibility Gone Wrong: The ‘Axiom Verge 2’ Approach

Accessibility is a popular topic recently; that is, providing options to help players be able to complete a game regardless of skill or ability level. Normally I don’t have any qualms with trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – in fact, it should be actively encouraged to include such options. A problem arises, however, when the core experience is hampered by these seemingly small changes. 

This isn’t something I expected to be writing. Axiom Verge 2 is a game I was excited to see announced as I enjoyed the first game, and waited patiently throughout the year for the sequel’s release. Unfortunately, Axiom Verge 2 has taken some lopsided steps in an attempt to provide accessibility, and in doing so appeals to neither its core fanbase nor newcomers.

The Bare Axiom

The most common accessibility setting players will be familiar with is a difficulty slider. In years past, the only form of accessibility was this difficulty setting, a vague idea of how easy or hard the game would be. Axiom Verge 2 approaches this problem in a similar way. In the options menu are a few sliders – the primary ones being for damage dealt and damage received. Enemy damage can be varied from nothing to double, and player damage can also be varied from nothing to a whopping four times as much. I have seen something similar in Persona 4: Golden, but this feels like it was just thrown haphazardly and the game wasn’t really balanced around it.

Nowadays, there are a bevy of other accessibility options present in games, such as customizable controls and color blind mode. Axiom Verge 2 does feature a few additional options such as a game speed multiplier and an option to reduce flashing patterns, a common occurrence throughout. In fact, during my time writing this, an update was released that added an additional option to this menu – platform contrast, to help discern background from foreground. These all are steps in the right direction, but problems arise when the actual gameplay is taken into consideration.

Bosses No More

The most divisive “option” in Axiom Verge 2 has to be its handling of boss encounters. A staple of any game, especially metroidvanias with a combat focus such as this, are those boss fights. They are meant to be a skill check as well as a satisfying trial to overcome. Some of my fondest gaming memories involve the big baddies found in the likes of Dark Souls and Cuphead. 

In Axiom Verge 2, bosses are optional.

According to a developer interview, this was a conscious decision because many players would get stuck on a boss and stop playing, never reaching the end of the journey. I can see why that would be the case, as our very own Flora has had the same kind of problem in games she has played. The end result in Axiom Verge 2, however, is too many steps taken in the opposite direction. The vast majority of boss encounters have no boundaries, letting the player walk on by as if there isn’t a threat in the room. There is no lore or even boss music, simply a big enemy in a room that is easy enough to walk past. Of course, there is a minimal reward to actually fighting the bosses, but even then the challenge has been toned down drastically and they can all be taken down simply by getting close and spamming the attack button (unless you changed the previously mentioned damage sliders). By the end of the game, I found myself skipping the boss fights entirely as there was no good reason not to.

There are actually two mandatory bosses, placed to progress the story at around the halfway point and at the end. In both cases, to compensate for an actual challenge being present, there is a respawn point inside the boss arena. The boss keeps all damage taken, giving a guaranteed win with enough persistence. Without the possibility of failure, these couple of bosses lose all impact they would have otherwise had, considering their plot status. Because of this, the developers have successfully alienated fans of the first game who went in expecting a decent challenge.

On The Verge

One would think from the lack of challenging boss encounters that Axiom Verge 2 was designed to be straightforward and accessible to everyone. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Aside from the aforementioned boss fights, combat is actually fairly difficult. Enemies do not pull any punches, taking multiple hits to take down while being unrelenting in their assault. Being limited to mostly melee weapons (a ranged boomerang option exists but is quickly outclassed as ranged upgrades are few and far between while melee upgrades are more common) makes for risky fights when an enemy gets close. 

Unlike boss encounters, the common enemy tends to block the only path forward, making engaging with them a necessity. I found myself dying repeatedly trying to rush my way through, expecting it to be a cakewalk. Save points are relatively common, but not common enough to compensate for extended periods of frustration, especially in the “breach” segments of the game, where obstacles tend to be more difficult to avoid and health is more limited.

Exploration is actually fairly complicated for the genre. The only direction given is an unreliable compass and occasionally a marker on the map noting where the next destination is. Getting to that marker can prove to be an ordeal, oftentimes requiring going in the complete opposite direction to earn a new powerup. Later on there may even be two markers at once, with no indication of which must be visited first.

What makes Axiom Verge 2 more difficult to traverse than, say, Hollow Knight, is the alternate “breach” world. At certain places on the map are portals to the breach, a completely separate second map that can lead to new upgrades or even new areas in the main world that would be inaccessible otherwise. By the end of the game, those breach portals can be manipulated in such a way to reach practically every spot on the map. 

Personally, I had a blast figuring out the solution to some of these more intricate puzzles, but that is the crux of the issue here. There is no hand holding, no way to get a hint as to where to go next. This conflicts with the entire purpose of the open boss arenas and difficulty sliders, creating a challenge of a different sort. A simple solution could have been to have an optional navigator of some kind, but as it stands, the accessibility options really only matter for combat. This alienates those same players the game is trying to attract. 

Proper Accessibility

There have been plenty of modern games with good accessibility options. Celeste is the gold standard, offering a variety of options such as extra dashes or unlimited stamina to customize the experience. While it does mark your save file if any options are enabled, it is still a fantastic step forward for accessibility while simultaneously being a difficult game. The key point here I want to emphasize is that Celeste is still challenging despite these options being available.

Axiom Verge 2 disappointed me in its mishandling of its accessibility features in combination with its gameplay. It could have been so much more, but in trying to appeal to everyone, it ended up feeling all over the place. It could have easily taken a page from Celeste and kept the in-game difficulty intact throughout, but instead tried to forge its own path. An admirable approach, but instead of being remembered as a beacon of accessibility, Axiom Verge 2 will be known as a cautionary tale on what not to do.

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