What Axiom Verge 2 means for Axiom Verge 1: A story/in-universe analysis [spoilers]

Axiom Verge 2 didn't pick up the journey of Trace in his quest to get back to Sudra to further his understanding after his first visit, but through the adventure of Indra we learn more about the universe and more about Trace's journey through Axiom Verge 1 as a result...but what were those lessons?
That's what we'll go through in this video and look back through the story of Axiom Verge 1 knowing what we know from Axiom Verge 2.
These are just my thoughts/theories, it's left very open-ended in spots

[@graham5327]

Hiyo Just want to say thanks again for watching/listening to my shite and bumbling attempts to discern the brilliant and complex universe Thomas Happ has built so far I think it's great that there's so many different perspectives as to what means what in this story, and I'd really recommend reading what others have to say here and on Reddit. Feels like this is a really intelligent fanbase, far more intelligent than I am anyways haha so it's fascinating to see the different viewpoints and perspectives as to what means what, I think that's a great measure of an immersive universe which I think if nothing else we can all agree is what Thomas Happ has created here and that's why I love it: that immersion, that openness to infer or postulate what things mean in a deep story that extends far beyond what we're used to

[@Astrovite]

These are honestly some of my most favorite games of all time. Thomas Happ is an inspiration.

[@crisnmaryfam7344]

These instantly became some of mine as well. Right up there with some of the greatest games of all time. Im honestly amazed after the first one hit and was an instant cult classic that SquareEnix or someone of that caliber hasnt offered Thomas some insane amount of money he cant turn down to come work for them. The way he did these two, they could have teams of people just working for him and make some of the greatest games ever. Axiom Verge is forever burned into the history of gaming as one of the greatest like Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, illusion of Gaia, Breath of Fire, The Zelda Series, Skyrim, Diablo 2, Mario Rpg, I could go on and Oooon, Point is this single man, made a game that Easily Rivals some of the ones the greatest teams with near endless amounts of money have created.

[@ZarHakkar]

15:55 What Damu says here "I was supposed to be able to turn you into giant beasts" as well as the fact that it's programmed into the game that when you walk past human NPCs in drone form they get infected and turn into the Proto-Xedurs eventually cements in my mind he is the original source of the pathogen. Plus, what bosses do you fight in Axiom Verge besides a giant wasp, a massive slug, and a giant scorpion? Although, I don't think it's something he can consciously control or even is aware of. 52:00 Looking into the files of AV2, some of the non-drone enemies you encounter are labeled as forms of Udug. Two that come to mind are the giant yellow wavy stalks that shoot out tendrils and the yellow squid serpent that phases in and out of visibility.

[@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753]

In first time I was think he was in digital world just like Digimon but they said it's different space with technology and you can see some of them not robots

[@TheTrueNehme]

I think you missed or just completely forgot that all the AV1 bosses were mutated clones of Athetos/Trace, it was even made clear at the 'aborted clone' event. I believe you also forget that both Indra/Ophelia _and_ Trace/Athetos both have nanogates, which AV2 demonstrated can give you truly incredible abilities all in the palm of the user's hand. You also find out in Hammond's final log that she couldn't reach any higher up the "tree of reality" (don't quote me on that liberal term I used, I just couldn't think of what else to call it since AV2 stated that everything branches out from and depends on A'ansur (which in itself really sounds like the word "answer", so I'm guessing it will truly be the final destination of the series.)) and that she needed a "pattern mind", which Indra learns that she and Drushka too will need one for their journey, and who do we learn in AV1 is a pattern mind? Yes, it would be Trace. And from there my own theory is that the events of AV1 was some sort of strange plot made between the two (Ophelia & Athetos), because who else would have learned the effects of the pathogen and more importantly, how else would Ophelia be knowledgeable enough to have a complete cure? I believe Athetos was the matyr for whatever plan it was that they made together. As that gave way for _Ophelia's_ plan to use an earlier clone of Trace and Katrahaska's nanogates to "monitor" him, which had to have been a great selling point to the other Rusalki as they didn't like or trust Ophelia that much, and in the end this could have really worked to Ophelia and Trace's favor. As now they both have nanogates to utilize. I suspect in the next game we'll indeed wake back up as Trace from the sleep (that he was very likely put in by the Rusalki) and find them turning on Ophelia, who we'll clearly have to protect and likely get to play as again to battle the lying Rusalki. Edit: I forgot to talk about the 'pathogen', which I think could easily be explained as Damu's nanogates being corrupted by prolonged exposure to the breach. Which is why I believe Athetos sacrificing himself for the plot I theorized was to get the same immunity to the pathogen that Ophelia has thanks to Damu. This too heavily connects to my theory that this was a plot between the two, as it could have easily been Damu's power and Ophelia's knowledge of it that Athetos could have utilized in making his army.

[@NorthenTasawwuf]

Cool!

[@NorthenTasawwuf]

About nanogates, I'm thinking the last tech, the "phasing" form as nano-cloud, or maybe that one that makes her cybernetic (nanogates) is sufficient kind of "nanocloud" shedding that her eventually traveling the breach makes her infectious...? I think we are blaming the wrong tech here, or rather that it is plausible the pathogen has two components: breach and her nanogates/nanobody - duma is just a vehicle to traverse and cross into the breach, which connects the two. (Caveat: I may recall the various 'tech' wrongfully)

[@woogha]

I have a theory. It's a bonkers one but hear me out. What if Trace isn't normal sized in AV1. Same for Athetos. What if Rusalki are the size of people or only slightly larger? Evidence: Boss 1 from AV1 vs the size of the infected people in AV2. The size of the breach attractor between the two games. The scale of the breach worlds in AV2 vs Sudra from AV1. Ophelia's appearance at the end of AV2 looks similar to a Rusalki. Also the diagram of downstream works show's them to be literally smaller. I genuinely think there is a scale difference between the two games.

[@armandogavilan1815]

Loved the first one, bought it for the switch little time ago and became hooked, was sad for the mixed reviews on 2. NOW after playing it I can say that both are equally good with their pros and cons each, I am expecting a third, this guy know how I like my games, gameplay, music and storywise, what a boss.

[@chancyboy4eva943]

Who wants to bet Indra’s search to give the boy a body results in the catalyst that Athetos uses for the plague?

[@theuncalledfor]

>shows Axiom Verge 1 intro >plays Omni, the Axiom Verge 2 intro theme YOU'RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE

[@theuncalledfor]

It took me forever to make the connection between that one dead person in AV2 and Elizabeth Hammond, partly because I'm just generally bad with names, and partly because the note says that the person writing it wasn't a Pattern-Mind, and after everything we learned about her throughout the game, I was _convinced_ Doctor Hammond had to be a Pattern-Mind. I had to revise a bunch of things I thought I knew once I made that connection.

[@theuncalledfor]

I absolutely love the Breach in AV2. It's so intact and lively, and the music there is so energetic and joyful. Contrast with the ruins on Kiengir and the often sad music there, and a lot of what was said about the Breach begins to sound like a blatant lie. Seeing as there is no omniscient narrator, I find it important to try to read between the lines in Axiom Verge, how much of what we heard is a lie and how much is true? We can clearly trust the information about the tree-like structure of the Worldstream, and it seems almost crazy to doubt the "spadix" analogy for A'ansur, seeing as, if it was a lie, surely they would have claimed to be the root of the tree, rather than a mere node on the way there.

[@theuncalledfor]

It's pretty clear to me that Indra is Ophelia. It seems likely that the other Rusalki are also humans from Earth who were converted into machines. The entirety of AV2 is set probably hundreds or thousands of years before AV1, though the exact timeline is not entirely clear and it could theoretically be merely a few decades. I see some hints that it's a lot longer than that though.

[@anguset]

A couple of things: I don’t think the time flow difference in the breach is perceptible if you are in it, so I don’t think it could have maddened Athetos. That would seem to eliminate the point of the time flowing differently, if it still felt the same… Secondly, on the strain, mentioned around 45:28, maybe it’s because the Kazakhs including Drushka were developing into Rusalki by themselves, while Indra arrives at a similar outcome (though she differs in being able to survive the breach) through her own escapades, rather than the multi-generational accelerated evolution of Drushka and her kin. At that point, they are different strains, though they shared common ancestry with humanity. Enjoyed the video, good to see people covering the story that’s developing

[@neuronoc.7343]

Honestly, I think Veruska is Drushka's new identity. The latter gets more cephalopod-esque at the end of AV2 and even has a squid-like body in AV1, and their names aren't too different.

[@anguset]

@@neuronoc.7343 The note ‘English’ from AV1 is a Rusalka note, written by someone who remembers English and brings up evolution, as Drushka would, and also mentions dreams, linking it to Veruska. I think you’re right.

[@anguset]

Wait, I found a problem. ‘Reply: The Outsider’ seems to be written by Veruska, but ‘The Outsider’ mentions Drushka separately. It’s not definite, but it shows there must be a bit of overlap between Drushka and her cohorts’ interests and mannerisms.

[@qxz9p]

I would recommend you re-record this video after writing out a full script and not stream-of-consciousness-lore-dump all the info. It’s really hard to follow when you keep going on tangents that feel like they’re going somewhere only to stop mid thought and return to what you were talking about previously.

[@matthewcarter919]

Ya seem to have not looked at any of the community analysis or translations. The rulsaki are kazakhs, who came from russia and were modified. Druska I believe was one of them. Rulsaki means mermaid in kazakh, further the way they all talk (except ophilia) is how kazakh looks when translated into english. That is basically outright said in av2 since the portal to Sudra is IN their base.

[@Glenningway]

I was wondering why a couple NPCs turned into those things, I didn't see the gradual change. One moment the guy on the beach was upright, then after a story point I went back and "it" was attacking me. The other two NPCs in the first area are still human so I didn't want to talk to them after I became Nano-Indra.

[@feverpyretic]

These videos help me so much. The Axiom Verge universe is my favourite rabbit hole and you help explain things that I cannot quite comprehend. Thank you so much!

[@chrissybot0.148]

Thank you very much for this! As an AV lover I've been waiting for a deep dive in to both stories. Great work!

[@cosmicfool3334]

I laughed so hard at this comment 😂 if you don’t know why don’t worry just know you chose an interesting choice of letters

[@MajinErick]

Tom Happ is one hell of a writer.

[@JedrekVRoscoe]

And developer, sprite artist, and composer.

[@SirLancedHerLot7]

Really? Cuz I wanted more of AV 1 out of 2… now it’s just muddy water and I almost hate 2 because of it…

[@JedrekVRoscoe]

@@SirLancedHerLot7 I think there are supposed to be 7 different planned games in the whole game universe, each being different, but tangentially relate, all circling a grander meta plot that we are just barely unraveling. Think of it like each game painting different portions of a larger mosaic.

[@SirLancedHerLot7]

@@JedrekVRoscoe okay thanks for that info, but really… 7? A little excessive, I mean the concept is really cool but in reality when 2 was released way after 1 and then the delays.. how the F does Tom think he’ll manage 7?!? I mean GTA barley has 7 iterations 🤪

[@JedrekVRoscoe]

@@SirLancedHerLot7 yeah, it’ll be a challenge for sure, especially since he is literally just one guy doing every part of the development of the game. At least this way he can 100% tell the story he wants to without any oversight, but we are at the mercy of his time schedule. There is an excellent documentary about Tom and his development of Axiom Verge, and the challenges he faces in terms of being a solo dev with a family and a child with special medical needs. I wish him luck. Maybe he’ll be able to open a full studio and hire some help, get the games going faster.

[@NorthenTasawwuf]

The Goodbye note kind of seems to be Dr. Hammond herself and I wonder if the one she describes isn't actually Trace. Dr. Eschenbrenner (German for ash burner). The question of patternmind aside, I'm also curious about the truth value (or degree of truth) of the dream and the intro in AV1 (as well as the ending) from, so to speak, Trace's perspective, and if it is coherent with AV2 (from Indra and, so to speak, Hammond's (inferred) perspective).

[@planetzdr]

Thank you for making this because I knew both games were connected just not how exactly

[@MrSatured13]

Imma save this video as its late but checking the first few mins is definitely what i wanted to watch as i just finished axiom verge 2 and there were a lot of question i had from the game and my memory of the first game. Just wanted to say as the first comment of it that you really good at talking!

[@graham5327]

Haha I am absolutely shite at talking (as you'll find out 😂) but thank you :)

[@weegar]

it's more likely that Amashilama or another Arm with no human intelligence is the source of the pothogen, since the note "Bounty List" describes an arm similar to Damu "An Arm that would let the Wielder turn into a mouse" and the one that "makes people and animal fall ill" as two separate Arms. Damu doesn't have any other ability other than allowing Indra to control a drone that can traverse the breach, which other mechanical beings can do the same so long as they're analog in design. though there's evidence that Amashilama is actually the source of the pathogen. when she resurrects Indra she makes changes to her body, making her more dense so that she sinks in water and making it impossible for her to drown again by removing her need to breath, she also is able to recreate Indra at save points when she dies which calls back to some of the notes you find, specifically "The Eternal Arm" and "Weekly Meeting Notes 2/27/2053" as they tell of how Ludari, Amashilama's brother, heard a story of how their grandfather was forced to seal and bury an powerful Arm that was indestructible and that could make changes to things, his emotional state at recalling the story hints that it was Amashilama and the Weekly Meeting note confirms it was her due to one of the Arctic team members hearing a voice at a Dig sight where you find her.

[@theuncalledfor]

Friendly reminder that the Arms and their Wielders in general cannot be true-killed unless with a Breach bomb or similar. Amashilama's ability to reconstitute her Wielder at the save points is likely not unique, but a feature of all Arms, hence why the save points were even built in the first place.

[@iggnifyre6333]

I like your write up a lot but there's an important reason graham in this video says Damu is the source of the pathogen. This isn't written in a note anywhere, but rather it was datamined. People looked at the code of the game to figure out what triggers the NPCs to start turning into the mini Xedur's, and found that they only start becoming Xedur's after touching them as Indra AFTER obtaining Damu's arm. As in, only once Indra has Damu does she spread the pathogen. That hints at either Damu being the source, or the breach being the source, as when yiu obtain Damu is also the first time you travel into the breach.

[@weegar]

@@iggnifyre6333 that's only the case because acquiring Damu is required to traverse through the breach portals, which is a major game mechanic and carries more importance for gameplay than story. you can't always rely on key gemeplay mechanics being part of an overarching plot point. setting trigger flags has always been a key point of games, and they're not always related to plot or story progression, like don't get me wrong, you can have trigger flags to progress the story but sometimes games don't require them unless you manually trigger them by doing optional stuff. but lets say for a moment that going through the breach is what causes the pathogen to arise, it would still have to be Amashilama who becomes the source of it all, since she's also there with you when you traverse the breach portals for the first time, she's the only one that goes on a rampage after going through the breach for the first time and shows new and strange abilities after separated Indra from her body. Every change Damu goes through is because of add-on gear/additional Arms that you acquire to upgrade him, his control is limited and never goes beyond what he's capable of, while Amashilama suddenly goes rampant and starts traveling as a swarm of nanites and destroying terrain that she comes into contact with, something that she was never capable of before, or if she was, kept it hidden from Indra the entire time.

[@bio1804]

😊

[@jameskelso5095]

Awesome recap and production on the video. One other thing I haven’t seen noticed around (I could be wrong here given AVs plot nature) is the fact that they talk about submarine tech being brought into the base by Hammond corp , eventually falling into the Kazakhs (drushkas) hands…..perhaps this technology was the starting point for rusalki bodies?? They maneuver through the air similar to submarines in water, both contain weapons, tube-like construction….. Maybe they studied and refined this tech in the “time valve” chamber in the emergence??

[@krysto2012]

The hardest part to establishing anything resembling a timeline in the AV series is that there are very few points of reference and time in different regions pass at different rates. Drushka explains that the giant gate in the Emergence separates a portion of the world where time passes much more slowly, allowing those outside it (like herself) to observe evolution on a greater scale. It is, in all likelihood, that the Rusalki are an offshoot of the Kazakhs who have advanced hundreds, if not thousands of years beyond. Elsenova might not literally be Drushka, but given her full name is Zhansaya Korshunova, there's a good chance they might be related via distant ancestry. The distrust of Drushka might, therefore be warranted, she does put herself in a rather lofty position of steering the course of humanity, they might view her with the same level of reverence AND skepticism one might have of a deity separated from her original team by thousands of years of history.

[@omegacanon]

YEEEESS finally a one stop spot for the lore!!

[@-Cosmons-]

Thank you for making these videos on it.

[@NorthenTasawwuf]

Great analysis! Had to re-watch your first video and now I'm checking this again more closely. That one is great too. I actually found this by looking for it and I noticed you made this seven months ago. Can't believe I haven't tried another search for seven months! 😅 but glad I was inspired to today and now I can enjoy your work! Thanks!

[@praenoncognus8287]

Aren't Rusalki vessels for Arms to operate without a Wielder? I remember some note(s?) in Axiom Verge 2 mentioning that.

[@KeyleeTamirian]

That would make Rusalki to be like that thing you fight at end of AV2.

[@omegacanon]

I'm so frickin curious about "upstream"

[@dr.infernous9342]

It means trace went to A'ansur (Up the world stream)

[@dr.infernous9342]

To the center of the universe

[@JOpethNYC]

The "eye of the universe"....

[@Daemonite]

I love axiom verge! Glad you put your thoughts and summary out there!

[@freshlymemed5680]

I would love for you to come back and have a more structured analysis on the story and its connections to the first game. But its been a blast reading all the community discussion on the game, despite not "progressing" the story of Axiom Verge 1 forward it does still give a ton of context and explanation as the game is basically a prequel. What I find the most interesting is that there are more worlds than just Earth, Kiengir, and Sudra and the whole thing with the A'ansur and the Worldstream.

[@NorthenTasawwuf]

Yes, indeed. What is a patternmind? [Edit:] I may have a suggestion though, that it may resemble one of my work hypotheses in philosophy on Platonism and I call this the ability of formlikeness - if the mind had a sense like with a sense organ, this would be it, and that is how we see with our minds, and even in a way, see that we see (or at least helps us notice this relation). It may be that I have had some small help from this concept of patternmind to better 'see' or realise, grasp and conceive of this working hypothesis as a kind of wordpicture, which we then can unpack and virtually scry and behold. This would by the way be what called as Anschauung, but I think it's just a way of spelling out Plato in a theoretical wordpicture way. My take on it is also binding the "beholdinging and scrying" to a reflective symbol-sight and recognition. Symbolic likeness is form likeness. These make patterns. Patternmind. There is however also the question if there is more to this term in the game, such as whether or not other abilities come with this that are, as it were, 'trancedimensional' (e.g. here I'm thinking about the "secret worlds" where Elsenova warns not to go).

[@ZarHakkar]

I also like to think that patternminds in a meta-sense are just people who are good at Metroidvanias. Think of it in terms of the NES Metroid, which AV1 drew heavy inspiration from. A lot of learning to navigate the labyrinthine corridors of 8-bit Zebes without a map had to deal with picking up on the patterns of individual rooms since they would repeat. Finding a bombable wall in a specific layout of room meant that all rooms with that same layout also had bombable walls, which may lead somewhere. Modern Metroidvanias don't have the hardware restrictions that require them to repeat rooms like the OG Metroid did, but they still have the DNA of reading the pattern of a room and spotting the out-of-place elements to find secrets.

[@Aicirt8]

Great video, I really like these theories

[@SECONDQUEST]

Not sure if it's been said yet, but Tom has a really cool website and like, a write up simulated beings and stuff that sorta applies to his games.

[@JOpethNYC]

The soundtrack of both games is also 👌

[@Mephil]

Damu might have turned her into a Rusalki after powering up. He said multiple times that he was ”supposed to turn people into giants”

[@iMeta4]

I have not given myself a moment to play Axiom Verge 1 yet and I have yet to procure the second release. Yet. But I plan to.

[@LogosGaming]

Axiom Verge is pure magic and Adventure.

[@slowpnir]

Well, two of the Rusalki are in the AV2

[@mightypancake2211]

So in short the Axiom verge universe is a time confusion? Since AV 2 and AV 1 could happen before or after the other. Though as we see we still don't know how old Trace ended up chasing after him. Unless the fact was it was meant to be a mental trap? But this does maybe help confirm what I could see... as the humaniod form in AV2 looks like a mini of the Rasalkie. At least that is what I could see of it. Wither Indra succeeds in bringing the boy back to flesh or not I guess is her own journey... But hopefully AV 3 gives us guns again.

[@JOpethNYC]

Have you played Hyper Light Drifter? I feel like you would make a good video about that game as well....

[@simonhansen5038]

Many Metroid fans didn't like Trace because they found him to empathetic. I guess they prefer their cold and calculating bounty hunter rather than an emotionally unstable scientist.

[@brainstormsurge154]

An important bit of lore that's implied is that the worldstream phenomenon doesn't just give birth to worlds within worlds, or that of worlds that are downstream in an endless fractal pattern, but that the thoughts and consciousness of the worlds connected are influenced by each other and moreso the worlds downstream from their upstream ancestry. That the worlds are connected with The Breach as the in-between of all things and bridge between worlds is part of that but another result of it is that, supposedly, the connection of consciousness causes the development of technology which I'm not sure on the details of but perhaps it's some kind of resonance effect which causes what people refer to as an epiphany or a breakthrough. When thinking of it that way the very start of things is the epiphany that Trace had to create his new Theory of Everything that eventually led him to Sudra. If this is something that Trace kept in mind then some of his reasoning for genocide makes more sense. Not justified, but it sheds light on the subject. As for being told that Sudra is meant to keep the breach in check it's coming from unreliable and frankly untrustworthy sources. It would think it more likely that the Sudrans used the Breach Attractor in response to the war they fought against the Udug/demons. Whether that was to try to ward them off or, like Trace surmised, it was to cut off both the upstream and downstream for fear of their own technology bringing about their destruction. Something that also had the consequence of trapping the Rusalki. Another consequence of enveloping Sudra in The Breach, at least from current information, is that Sudra became a dam, a bottleneck and otherwise a blockage in the stream of consciousness that normally flows through the worldstream. Something that would cause innovation and enlightenment to be stifled and otherwise throttled. That begs the question of how was Trace able to have his epiphany on something as profound as his Theory of Everything, seeing as Earth is affected by the blockage since it's downstream of Sudra, if that was the case? There's two possibilities. One, is that it could have something to do with him being a Patternmind and two, it could have something to do with his lab accident, or it could be both. Perhaps that lab accident caused a brief but meaningful connection with the upstream and its origin. Since we don't completely understand what a Patternmind is it could be that his lab accident caused Trace to become a Patternmind which allowed to him to have his epiphany. Something that could have been a consequence of connecting to the origin. The other factor is that I imagine this blockage of consciousness could be likened to a trade embargo. It would be similar to how China cut itself off from all trade with other countries when it was pretty much the most technologically advanced civilization in the world but because of this they eventually fell behind due to being unable to trade not just goods but ideas and technologies. It's implied that downstream worlds are more effected by such blockages due to factors that are not entirely clear at this point. My best guess is that upstream worlds advance faster due to being closer to the origin of consciousness which itself gives birth to the worldstream. Being obstructed from the upstream means the connection to the origin is weakened and so it affects it far more even if it has it's own downstream worlds to draw upon. It might be likened to trade sanctions that are meant to cause economic damage but instead it causes intellectual hampering and inhibits technological advancement. I could see that it's not just technology but what might be called self-actualization, spiritual growth and self-awareness. To have insight to one's self and the world around them. With this in mind it makes more sense on why Trace did what he did. Not just to free the stream of consciousness in order to benefit Earth but also to be able to travel up the worldstream so he could eventually reach the origin. Since the origin is the birth of the worldstream then it stands to reason that once you reach it there are an infinite amount of other worldstreams you could travel to and down. Being in one worldstream would be like living on one tree when there's an infinite forest to explore. With Ophelia, I can't imagine her not having some kind of agenda to do with her past self's daughter and/or Dr. Hammond. What that is at this point it's hard to say. If there's some kind of afterlife created by panpsychic phenomenon, or at least something strange that's implied by the ending scene of Axiom Verge 2, then I could see Ophelia is involved in it somehow by the events of the first game.

[@EnderCrypt]

this was a great video

[@CrossFireKitty]

I'm playing Axiom Verge 1 at the moment and making a "semi" guide as I am sure I keep missing things. Sometimes I find it amazing and other times a bit tiring. ;) I haven't actually played very much of Axiom two but I think when I make some maps, that will help. I find their method of having squares, often doesn't help me at all. That is to say, I put them down on graph paper but without the small details I draw in, I wouldn't remember much of the map at all. Might be my slight dyslexia though ;) Still, I subbed as once I play the second game, I want to see what you think and also, I admit, you do have a nice voice :) not to be weird.

[@graham5327]

AV1's map I think is far superior to AV2 and AV1's map has a I think a very satisfying flow, and I really enjoy the backtracking with later abilities. I have to admit I really don't care for AV2's map, I dislike it, which makes going back to AV1 so satisfying. I actually like the map squares, you can (mostly lol) tell where the end of a room is/isnt and you have an indication for each area when you've got all the map squares (and the items). I have to imagine plotting that out in your own map is really satisfying, love the sound of that :) love creative stuff like that, even when you could just look up the map you're going out of your way to make something yourself. I think that's great :) haha ah thank you :) actually recorded this when I had Covid and my throat was needles 😅 was it my thoughts on the AV2 you were curious about or the map?

[@CrossFireKitty]

@@graham5327 I Know you have a video for the first one too :) so I'll check it out. The map is good for AV 1. I think it's mostly my dyslexia that makes it difficult. I notice also in Kur, there is a box that is in the path to the grapple hook area, where the box isn't complete so I figure there must be something there but when I went there, I didn't find anything. but maybe that changes. The issues I have with the squares is actually that I don't remember when there is a glitch wall, or a place that was too high, or a block to a door to go down, so I end up running around the map, going, "where was that place I could not get through??" ;) But after playing the beginning maps 1 -4 , for my map making, I'm getting where I don't even need the maps ;) so...eh. Not sure you'd want to see it, but this was my map for KUR www.deviantart.com/spikedpunchkitty/art/Kur-Axiom-Verge-an-almost-correct-Map-996041400 But really when one is playing a game, it is good to see what others think and also to find creators that do not have 1000's of subs and try to support ;) at least if you think they do a good job. KZbin usually shows me the ones that have 1k plus and more often 10k or even 100k plus. You wonder how you can be seen sometimes ;) OK, no going to go on about that ;) and I'm sure both of your thoughts on the game and the map are interesting :) I just like analysis kind of stuff in general, as long as it doesn't ramble too much, like this response. ;P

[@adamclark6524]

You said Indra turns into Ophelia between game 2 &1, but 2 can’t be a prequal to 1. 1 takes place in 2005. 2 takes place in the 2050s. So Indra was Ophelia first, unless she time traveled.

[@knight_ki11er]

In AV1 we play not as Trace from 2005 but as clone of Trace with memories from 2005. AV1 takes place probably hundreds of years later of AV2.

[@adamclark6524]

@ But at the end of the game, Trace clone was sent back home to live Trace’s earthly life, in his time. Did they time travel?

[@knight_ki11er]

@@adamclark6524 No, he most likely was put in dream "world" by Veruska. You can see him lying unconscious on her body in the credits.

[@YoYoD4]

Just finished Axiom Verge 2, what a pleasing surprise, downloaded it randomly and really enjoyed it, no help from YT through the game, took me 26 hours. When will the next game will be released?

[@chancyboy4eva943]

Why is Athetos infected when trace isn’t and they’re both patternminds?

[@Gnidel]

Trace is infected too. That's why there's entire section where he hallucinates.

[@chancyboy4eva943]

@@Gnidel doesn’t the plague transform your body? Trace never transforms

[@jakevuckturd1201]

I fell in love with axiom verge 1 and it's story, but I wasn't super enthralled by axiom verge 2 and stopped playing it part way in. Would you recommend playing the second one? Or is it just nowhere near the level of the first?

[@exister6652]

I played through the first twenty minutes of 2 and found it bland, then went back to it recently and binged the whole thing in one night. It's very good, better than the first by a good bit I'd say. It for sure has a slower start however

[@flakdampler11]

Better than the first one in terms of story and exploration for sure. Definitely worth it.

[@perro79]

Starts off a bit slower. But Its just as good or even better. Story is very different tho. I'm thinking we need an Axiom Verge 3 to tie it all up.

[@brendantoungate8287]

Seeing as how you like the story from AV1, then 2 is *definitely* worth playing. 2 expands on the story quite a bit. Just be prepared to not be super into the combat, IMO. AV1 was far more focused on weaponry and overcoming enemies; the combat is de-emphasized in 2 considerably (which makes sense for the story).

[@graham5327]

Honestly I had the same thought as exister said. I stopped playing after about half an hour and didn't come back to it for months because I honestly hated the gameplay and I don't like how the map is laid out. I do think it gets a fair bit better the more you go but the early game is such a grind. Overall I much prefer AV1's gameplay and honestly it might not be close for me. AV2's gameplay just wasn't my cup of tea, especially after playing AV1. AV2 it became more about the story and lore than the gameplay, at least for me anyways

[@netsendjoe]

From what I've read up on, Tom Happ basically has an entire story for like 5 or so more Axiom Verge games. I'm convinced that at the end of AV2, Indra decides to go by the name Ophelia (because she originally drowned) and evolves into her Rusalka form seen in AV1. I think that future AV games will reveal more origins of the remaining Rusalka, while expanding and explaining more lore. There are tons of Sumerian references throughout the games that give details and hints that can only be left to speculation; I'd expect this to continue. Considering how the games are out-of-order storyline-wise; I feel like there would need to be another taking place after AV1, but would most likely be the final if the games do all eventually come to fruition. Axiom Verge tends to take gameplay elements from retro games, AV1 was described as a Metroid-vania while Tom has said AV2 had inspiration from Prey, The Legend of Zelda, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Shadow of the Colossus.

[@StiffAftermath]

Did Indra, as an aged Ophelia, use Trace (able to control reality)and the pathogen (mutator) to remake Damu as Athatos in Sudra at the start of Axiom 1?

[@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753]

It was supposed to be like trace was saved everything when back to earth like all those mutant robots and aliens they back into human and like nothing happened same what's happened to scaler in 2004 because it's the same idea he back into normal human on earth but with different time before any problem happened like he was fixed the future so we don't know if this mother in ending about life after death or when the man changed the time she back into human with her dugther like nothing happened because the fate key was behind trace not her even himself said why (I should be chosing in this alien mission ) but In time the alien world was saved too but sadly it will be cool if this happen to real life and the saved gaza from the Zionist mutants

[@StiffAftermath]

@@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753 dude, please. Punctuations.

[@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753]

@@StiffAftermath what's that mean 🤔

[@StiffAftermath]

If you want crazier lore similar to these themes, Warframe is bonkers!

[@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753]

Love this game but the story wasn't beasd off metroid but from scaler ps2 a human boy had father called Dr.leon when he go to alien lizerd word both of them mutated into lized but when the alien lizards 🦎 go to earth they becom into normal human even the music style and the place similar to scaler at the same time in 2004 when he made metroid fan game in 2004 , but axiom verge never said they're in earth in different Different dimension btw in scaler true ending the boy and his father back to earth as human but in different time like if they neve go to the lizerd world which same axiom verge true ending when when he feel all his adventures like a short dream but it was actually not .

[@Lucasbbw]

Axiom Verge 2 sucks compared to 1, I missed most the awesome music and a protagonist I could relate to. The plot has become messed as fuck too, I think it lacks both coherence and cohesion.

[@gigas115]

33:39 I don't think insanity made him change his mind. It may have been familiarity, or apathy towards Earth because he was disconnected from it for so long.

[@oceanmanly]

I wish i could enjoy AV2 by myself, but pixel art and some changes in difficulty makes me feel strange about this game. First AV was really good. Really fucking good. I dont blame Tomas, I know his trouble. I bought his games to support him. But Still I kinda dissapointed of AV2.

[@gregorywiederecht]

My issue was that there seemed to be either too much story or not enough. It feels like either we needed a lot more character building and development for everyone, or we needed a lot less. Judging by the choice of a nonlinear game, we probably needed more of the latter. But on the other hand, considering all the plot threads and escalating complexity, we would have been better served by the former.