19:27 What's bizarre about this issue is that Super Metroid effectively solved it over two decades ago, with the X-Ray Visor upgrade that let you scan rooms quickly to find various "secret blocks" rather than try all your items on every single wall, floor and ceiling. And even if you didn't get the visor, the Super Bombs had a similar function as a secondary effect.

Best part of this video was no mention of the word "Metroidvania"

It's odd... I distinctly recalled Matthew's voice during my own playthrough of Axiom Verge, telling me that the save rooms never hold any secrets. Yet I checked them all anyway. Maybe this kind of conditioning is already rooted too deeply?

Never stop making these videos.

Finally ESA gets some attention..thank you.

I'm not sure anyone ever talks about it, but your sense of humor absolutely destroys me. Maybe it's because I come into videos with the mindset for really wonderfully written criticism. So when the humor does happen, it really takes me. I still chuckle when thinking about the Demon's Souls shortcut clip. Anyway. As always, wonderful video. I greatly admire your work.

I love both, but for some reason ESA holds a special place in my heart

I wasn't ready for such density of content.

I watch this video at least once a month because ESA is an absolute masterpiece and I feel like the game needs more attention - and because you are hands down the best channel on KZfaq and I always feel like I come away a little smarter even after repeat views of the same video. Thank you.

I'd love to see Matthew's take on Hollow Knight

Spot-on analysis, Matt! I think Axiom Verge really captures the feeling of a delve into the unknown better than pretty much any other game in the genre since Super Metroid. Haven't played much of Environmental Station Alpha to judge but your critique got me more interested than I had been before.

It feels so unusual to get another video from you without a several month gap in between. ...and I'm not complaining.

Man, I had the song "Amnesia" from the Axiom Verge soundtrack stuck in my head for weeks after playing the game, thanks for putting it back in my head Matt.

Have you ever seen a video title so perfect it made your eyeballs instantly pop out, and get all goopy on your shirt?

Hand't even heard of Station Alpha before this video, now it's definitely leap frogged Axiom Verge on my 'to get' list. Top-notch work.

If you are baffled by the generational place of Station Alpha: I'd say it's roughly Gameboy Colour or so - rather than "between" SNES and NES. At least the style, which looks very much like "hand-held", the colours and some effects look tendentially more complex.

Have you played around with the idea of the aspect ratio of ESA being deliberate for game feel? Not necessarily to hearken back to retro games, but instead as a way of constricting what the player can know. These days that ratio can seem foreign and limiting which can emphasize the discomfort of the environment. Similarly, the lowbit art style could feed into this as well; it's enough to discern what's around you but so little that you can never fully understand. I think it restricts video games as an art form when we write these things off as missed opportunities or as a negative when it comes to building an experience.

These two and Rabi-Ribi are like a trifecta of great mid-2010s Metroidvanias all with their own strengths and weaknesses

A week early video AND about 2 games, we're too spoiled

re: shared dna/code metal gear went over this. they're called memes.

So happy to see you uploading semi regularly! You are still the best at what you do.

Never heard of Environmental Station Alpha (Was already getting ready to purchase Axiom Verge on the Switch). I'll come back to this video when I've played both. Thanks for the recommendation and I hope that you continue to do comparisons that include lesser known games.

I like this format, it's insightful and brings a new perspective to the table. Really helps you stand out from all the other video-essayist reviews. Looking forward to the next time you do one of these. Kind of reminds me of NakeyJakey's "Games that should Bang" series. While I love Jakey, I feel like his concept on having a discussion on two games at once could use a little more focus and deeper plumbing.

I actually had never heard of Environmental Station Alpha before this video. Will definitely add it to the list.

Would love to see a similar comparison between Axiom Verge and Axiom Verge 2. It's really tempting to be disappointed by how different the sequel is, but I think the fact that it Verges its Axiom so dramatically is really interesting.

oh wow, i never noticed that the environment animations in axion verge sync to the beat. but once you mentioned it i realized id kinda felt it all along. how cool. excellent stuff as always.

Solid video talking about two excellent games. The thing in this video that I cannot possibly agree with any more is the whole "regular looking walls are actually breakable/walkthroughable and have secrets hidden behind them". I cannot stand that either and I wish devs stopped doing it. Give a visual clue or something, it doesn't have to be obvious but at least something so I don't have to spend a good majority of the game running around, pushing into walls and shooting every block to make sure there's nothing hidden. It's irritating and it's been a thing for far too long. You can still plaster your game with secrets without having to resort to such a stupid mechanic.

why hasn't youtube notified me of this upload, it came out 16 minutes ago?

I know the wait is long for these videos but the quality of these videos is always worth the wait.

Both these game are so underrated and I’m glad you’re giving them the attention they deserve. Great video

In regards to your issue with secrets behind walls at the very end, I think ESA handles it much better than AV. Like you said, AV has several different ways to check for hidden items, while ESA has only a couple. Plus, AV's secrets are usually little nooks in rooms you'd already go through, while ESA's tend to have their own spot on your map. Lastly, ESA's map is much denser than AV's, so if you see a hole in your map in ESA that's its own prompt to check it out, while AV's map is full of massive holes. To AV's credit, many of the secrets are housed in side paths, but the benefit of that is mitigated by the many gaps that do not contain secret side paths.

Love the end bit about DNA lol. Great video as usual!

What's wrong with a game having teleporters? We could wax about how ideally every game would have some insane movement options that makes backtracking engaging but I don't see the issue in offering a convenience to the player that they can choose to use. Maybe they want to figure out if trekking to their destination is faster than taking a teleporter. It also allows them to more freely explore stuff without feeling like they might be wasting a whole lot of time. There's probably other level design and movement tricks that one could implement but in their cases maybe they had more important stuff going on and this is a better compromise than reorganizing the whole game map or drastically changing gameplay. It just seems like a weird point to pick on when it's not like the games let you just warp to any point from any location which would actually break things. It's another option of traversal in an exploration game... kinda like how a double jump is just a tool too. Another thing I'm not really agreeing with is the ratio thing. If I see a black space on a screen, I usually just ignore it cause I'm focusing on the area that is presented to me and in ESA's case it feels completely in line with the aesthetic. It's one of those things where I feel that it would lose something if it had more fidelity where that kind of presentation could feel constricted.

I've never heard of Environmental Station Alpha before, and looking at the end credits it seems to be a Finnish indie game too. :o

5:13 The logical part of my brain: "Matthew is making some great points here" The dumb part of my brain: "PARRFECTLY SQUARR"

Excellent video. Great perspective. I would never have thought to compare these two games this deeply, and now it seems so obvious I almost feel stupid.

He's back baby!

Excellent video Matt, loved hearing you praise each game for their strengths, it was very interesting!

Watching this video was a treat as is every time this quiet channel recieves it's next upload. On a slightly different note I'm reminded why I subscribed to Matthew and what makes his critiques and comparisons so enthralling. While more popular game critic Joseph Anderson spent this time writing his latest scathing 2 hour epic on whatever popular title will get him views relying mostly on saying things for shock value or blabbing on about some inconsequential biased "flaw," Matthew spent his time making a far shorter but more concise comparison on two less popular titles that was built upon legitimately interesting analysis. It says a lot about his channel and how it differs and ultimately surpasses so many of his peer's content. I was imediately delighted to see this video uploaded and was not disappointed in the final product. Great video as always!

I love Environmental Station Alpha since it's second half is basically more La-Mulana then Metroid (And La-Mulana is my favorite game of all time). Axiom Verge is cool, but it ends when ESA is only begins, it's a much deeper and more epic of an adventure. In the end - i'm just happy ESA gets more attention because of this video, it's a really special game.

5:30 "That's exactly the kind of axiom Axiom Verge follows.." [applauds]

I think you are unfair with ESA on two points. First: You mention the use of teleporters and how you dislike their inclusion, but I think they were a good choice for ESA, and very well implemented. The first reason is because ESA's exploration is one-way in a lot of places. You could say that the world should have been designed so that teleporters weren't necessary, but I would disagree; some of the points of no return add a lot of tension to the exploration, where you have to stay alive until you reach either a save or a teleport. The second thing teleporters do in ESA is enable certain puzzles, like the one to get the Tri-Shot, as well one in the Research Outpost. Even if there weren't these good reasons for the teleporters, I'd say they are well implemented regardless. They are sparse enough that they do not completely eliminate backtracking, as they do in so many other games. The second place where I'd say you are unfair with ESA is your final point about rooms hidden behind normal looking walls. I haven't played Axiom Verge to completion (didn't vibe with it), so I cannot defend it on this, but ESA properly telegraphs its hidden rooms, at least as far as I can remember. Take the one you used in your video as an example. You can enter the hidden room from the room below to add it to your map, upon which you will see that it is also supposed to be connected to the room to the left of it. If you go to that room you won't see a opening, so you can easily interpret that there should be a hidden path. Now, I can't be entirely sure every hidden room in the game is as well telegraphed as that one is, but I don't ever remember having a problem with one in my playthrough, so I imagine they were all telegraphed well enough. Otherwise, great video as always. Props for not truly spoiling that much of the endgame content for ESA. I imagine there would be some people who might get the first ending, think they're done, and watch this video despite the spoiler warning. You really did leave a lot for anyone who watched to discover for themselves, which is great.

ESA is my favorite modern metroidvania. I love hollow knight but something about ESA was so captivating to me. The endgame especially.

I'm glad you mentioned the dash in Axiom Verge. That was the single gameplay element that stuck out hardest to me when I played through. I have no idea why the input method was implemented in such a strange fashion with no way of rebinding it. Rather than being a fun, punchy, responsive tool it ends up feeling very awkward to use due to the slight stutter step as you release the movement button to tap again. It could've been an awesome addition that really opened up new level and boss design possibilities in the late game, but the control method is just too finicky to take advantage of that.

Your videos keep getting better overall. Glad to see you're still creating.

I just played through Axiom Verge for the first time recently, and I loved it despite the noticeable flaws, like what you mentioned with the unclear play areas. You definitely sold me on Space Station Alpha, though.

Checking my sub box every 10 minutes of my meaningless existence finally pays off.

ESA completely blew me away when I played it last year. Such a good game.

it really is good to hear your voice again

Hey Matt I know this is unrelated but with the recent remaster of "Shadow of Colossus" just being released, do you plan to do something similar to the wind waker hd comparison vid you did a while ago?

The wall phase praise can be applied to Soul Reaver for just the same reason

Amazing video. ESA simply does not get enough love. These are 2 of my absolute favorite Metroid-like games, though I must admit I do like Axiom Verge a bit more despite its flaws. I just liked the weapon selection and controls a bit better, and the drone is awesome. ESA has a much better challenge though which is a huge plus for that game. That plant boss is incredibly challenging

Love ESA, a sequel is in the making. Post game content too esoteric IMO. Been looking at Axiom Verge's trailers since 2011 and wanted it since then but damn I have to buy it lol, still have to wait till the price gets low enough.

Thanks Matthew for putting your hard work into these videos.

While I love the sudden turn ESA took in the post-game, I really didn't like how you had to traverse the entire game map several times just to get the final ending.

nice to see your content again, i chuckled at the end credits semantic rambling.

That comment on the way you see the world changing is something I've been really wanting from Metroidvanias for a long time.

Really wish ESA would be added to the Switch console.

Yay, a new Matosis ;3 Any interest in analysing Phantom Pain yet?

Geez, you seriously have like the most relatable taste in video games to me. I don't really get into many games often, but Devil Daggers and ESA have been 2 of the few I have gotten really into in the past.

You were looking for the "meme" in the end, i think. Although more in the way Dawkins meant it and less in the way it is more commonly used today. Great video as always :)

Never heard you stumble over the right term in a video before. Found it charming though; and relatable. Thanks for another great vid

I swear it looks like the ESA credits are constantly shrinking at the end like some weird optical illusion

I'd love to see your analysis of the classic Metroid games and especially a comparison of AM2R and Samus Returns.

While I enjoy both games, I ultimately prefer ESA, Axiom Verge I feel suffered from a bit too much item bloat and way too many guns to cycle through. ESA's simplicity was more appealing to me. Plus the hookshot in ESA was great.

Always a pleasure getting a new analysis from you. Im still hoping for a proper Dark Souls 3 review from you, or even a Bloodborne one if you happen to own a console. Great work as always.

Lots of the same metaphorical DNA indeed. I'm buying Environmental Station Alpha now!

Dang, ESA actually looks pretty cool. I'll have to check that out.

Happy to see you again! Although, got to admit, i am holding my breath fro some 40 min-1 hour videos.

4:59 Don't you think they developers used a 4:3 screen ratio to give more of a claustrophobic feel or imitate a Gameboy screen?

The dashing in Enviromental Station Alpha reminded me of games like Celeste and TowerFall Ascension. Have you thought about reviewing them?

I think it's worth noting that these two games seem to draw most of their inspiration from different games in the Metroid series: Axiom Verge obviously takes from Super and the original Metroid, but Environmental Station Alpha feels more like a tribute to Fusion. This can be seen in Alpha's premise of exploring a research station where something has gone wrong, in its horror elements, and even in a few of its boss designs.

I haven't played either of these games, but I have played Super Metroid. Thinking about your point about secret walls looking like normal walls, Super Metroid also did this, but they always gave you a visual clue in the mini-map (as far as I remember, anyway). A room with nothing hidden would have a complete white outline, but a room with a secret would have a white line omitted in whichever direction the secret was. I don't know if Station Alpha has a mini-map or a regular map, but I'd be surprised if Axiom Verge didn't have that little visual clue in it's mini-map.

So many great points on two games and the genre as whole, great content. Environmental Station Alpha called my attention, i'll try that one for sure.

I made the Alien Script guide on Steam for ESA :D. What a great duo of games. Now I wanna replay them both, thanks!

For Christmas, I wanted a metroidvania and I had narrowed it down to a few games. Axiom Verge was not part of them, but this video still helped me feel more confident in choosing environnemental station alpha. Thanks! Why does the description say ''massive spoilers'', tho? There is some footage of what I assume are later areas, and you talk about some of the powerups found in both games, but it doesn't really feel like you're missing out on anything. Edit:So, I'm at 102% in ESA. It's indeed getting very complicated after the first ending. Still, I've manage to find a second ending mostly on my own, and I've also found a new boss behind those pillars, plus one of the rainbow keys. I also wrote down all the alien dialogue cause I've no idea yet how revealing the language is gonna work- will it automatically translate after I've done something(no idea what), or will have to make the translation myself? Anyways, it's all a lot of fun. Now, I did my final attempt at the pantheon of Hallownest of this game, which, like it's path of pain, seems a lot more easy than it's Hollow Knight counterpart(yes, I know ESA came out long before, but I bought this game because it looked like it would appeal to my Hollow Knight tastes, so I can't help but make the comparisons). Second edit:Got the usurper, maze and asteroid endings:D What a game!

I feel that this was an interesting comparison between these two games. I actually never heard of Environmental Station Alpha before this video and I really think I should check it out, especially since it seems to have a comparable loop to Axiom Verge.

I played AV a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I had ESA for a few months in my games but hadn't played it until I saw the title of your review. Stuck on some of the bosses but enjoying it so far and looking forward to hearing your opinions when I finish!

The "i" in Giger rhymes with the "ea" in Team. So it's "Geeeger," essentially.

i havent played either game but based on the review it seems by design to show difference between 8 bit and 16 bit games. i know they truly arent 8/16 bit but it is in spirit

I disagree with your assessment of Station Alpha's art direction. I do see a distinct art style despite the low res graphics.

HOLY SHIT HE WASN'T LYING!

matt, that single block wall, when you first get to the surface stumped me for far longer than it should have. I don't feel so bad knowing I wasn't alone in this mistake, however. It seems to be another reason that the phase coat is by some criteria, well-designed.

Actually, if I remember right, there is a "sercet" in one of the save rooms. But it's just a way to reach Mar-Uru.

Welcome back!

I really dislike how Axiom Verge hides story-relevant content behind the secrets. As I see it, mechanical/gameplay completionists and lore/story completionists are pretty different crowds that only ocasionally intersect.

Weird. Notifications are turned on but nothing came through my phone? Anyway, awesome to see more content! I'm so used to waiting months for more.

Great video. I found your ramble about shared code at the end very humanizing--a wonderful change of pace compared to the meat of your content. I think sprinkling a few more of those throughout the video will go a long way in making your points easier to digest for the viewer.

Quality video Matthew, many thanks from myself. Your content is soothing, intelligent well articulated honey

What a coincidence! I was just wrapping up a playthrough of Axiom Verge. I definitely need to grab ESA, now.

I'm pretty happy that someone as prolific at Matt decided to give Axiom Verge some love. I still maintain it's the best Metroid game I've ever played and it doesn't even belong to the franchise.

6:42 On Axiom Verge's bosses "..most of them are complete pushovers" Erm, yeah couldn't agree more. I didn't struggle at all, honest..

Do you have a patreon or anything? You're a video game reviewing god. Watching your content makes me feel creative, as if I'm working on a game.

16:49 Amen, brotha! This is so.

What a time to be alive.

I'm so glad to see you're back Matt WOOOOOOOO

"Until a sequel elaborates further." And we are getting one boys.

The two games share ancestry

Matthew, if by any reason you read this, you made a small cofnusion between the two games (which it's surprising is just one lol). At approximately 8:45, you are talking about Station Alpha's small health bar leading to good boss design and then that this small health bar is not necessary, and you say "Metroid has as good bosses, or even bettter, than *Axiom Verge* ". Nice video, thanks :)

Indies forget that the Power Bombs made it trivially' easy to scan a room for secret tiles, they are not bad unless you forget to make them good