It’s finally here!

After six years of development, Axiom Verge 2 is live and ready to play on Windows PC, PS4, (PS5 will launch at a later date), and Nintendo Switch, thanks to a stealth drop announced during Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase earlier today.

 "I pretty much started working on Axiom Verge 2 as soon as Axiom Verge 1 came out,” said Tom Happ, who developed the original Metroidvania masterpiece and this sequel on his own. “In fact, I had a little trouble finishing up the first game because of all the ideas I wanted to work on for the sequel! It's been a labor of love for the last six years, and people have been asking about it pretty much since the first game came out. I'm excited that everyone will at long last get to play it!"

If you somehow slept on the original Axiom Verge, the good news is that you can play these games in either order because, while they both take place in the same universe, their storylines don’t directly overlap.

Axiom Verge -- credited with bringing modern sensibilities to the Metroidvania genre -- told the story of a scientist named Trace who found himself on a planet called Sudra after a lab accident.

The 2D pixel art action-exploration game won a slew of awards when it hit in 2015, including not a few Game of the Years. You can pick it up right here for $19.99.

In Axiom Verge 2, players take on the role of Indra, a billionaire behind the international Globe 3 conglomerate. While visiting a research facility in Antarctica, she finds herself transported to an alternate version of Earth. 

This time around, developer Happ decided to create two worlds in one. What that means is that players can transition between two versions of the map as they play, accessing an alternate dimension that’s ever-present behind the overworld map.

In story lore, this is done by traversing the nebulous storms of the breach to travel between universes. As you’d expect, there’s more to this, but we’ll leave that for you to discover.

In play, it means that you’re getting two games in one, and, as Happ explains, this layered approach unleashes a vast range of opportunities for non-linear exploration and the ability for players to discover how the world is connected to the overworld.

Because of its alien origin, the breach looks a bit more like Sudra than Earth, with blockier tiles and more organic enemies than robotic.

While Happ says this twin-worlds approach to the game was his biggest challenge in developing Axiom Verge 2, it certainly wasn’t his only one.

He also wanted to address some of the issues players had with difficulty. Instead of simply having players choose between the typical difficulty modes of easy, normal, and hard, he’s letting players adjust separately the damage they do and the damage the enemies inflict. He’s also made boss battles entirely optional--they’re there for people who love the challenge but avoidable for people who just want to keep on exploring. Beating a boss grants you rewards, but they won’t stop you from completing the game.

Axiom Verge 2 also tinkers with the combat found in the original. This time around, players will be much more up-close in her fights.

There’s a lot here, but we’ll leave you to discover it through gameplay. And what’s even more amazing is the fact that this is the product of a single developer.

Happ started work on the original Axiom Verge in March 2010 as a part-time hobby, creating all of the art, code, music, and game design before releasing it five years later.

In the six years since, a lot has happened, not all of it sunshine and rainbows, as Happ noted in his blog.

“It seems that every triumph was offset by an equal and opposite tragedy. The medical malpractice that left my son with a permanent neurological disability. The LA fire that burned down a lot of my neighborhood and nearly burned down my house just days after I bought it.

“Of course I could shake my fist at the universe and ask what I’d done to deserve such treatment, but in all honesty, what I really feel the most is gratitude. Gratitude toward the fans who have voiced their support for me and my family on social media, emails, and in-person at different gaming events. Gratitude for the financial stability that has enabled us to weather these storms and provide for my family. Gratitude for the knowledge that there are so many people out there who share my love for Axiom Verge.”

There’s an excellent short documentary about the making of the original Axiom Verge and Happ. You owe it to yourself to give it a watch.

In the meantime, you can pick up Axiom Verge 2 right here, for $19.99, and if you purchase it by August 18, you get 10 percent off.