Axiom

Axiom is a first-person action platformer with puzzle elements, developed by Disaster Soup and released in 2023 for Windows. Players navigate through challenging environments, interacting with a cast of characters such as the Axiom Doctor, Axiom Thug, and Axiom Scientist, in a narrative that explores the enigmatic concept of ‘Axiom’ through exploration and problem-solving.

Axiom (2023): A Review of a Cyberpunk Ghost

Introduction: The Unmarked Corp

In the vast and often overwhelming landscape of indie gaming, few titles arrive with as little fanfare and as much obscurity as Axiom, the 2023 release from the aptly named studio Disaster Soup. Dropping on Steam on January 1, 2023, with minimal marketing, a free price tag, and a developer credit list that reads like a small collectivist rather than a traditional studio, Axiom is a ghost in the machine of modern gaming. It is not the critically acclaimed Axiom Verge—a fact that must be stated immediately and repeatedly to avoid catastrophic confusion—but a separate, first-person cyberpunk action-adventure that explores a premise as intriguing as its execution is enigmatic. This review posits a thesis: Axiom is a fascinating but fundamentally incomplete artifact. It presents a compelling core concept—mind-assassination in a dystopian corporate hellscape—and a suite of ambitious mechanical ideas, but is hamstrung by a profound lack of content, polish, and narrative delivery. It stands less as a finished game and more as a compelling proof-of-concept, a digital ghost story where the haunting atmosphere is palpable but the narrative itself remains frustratingingly out of reach.

Development History & Context: The Soup Kitchen

The development history of Axiom is, like the game itself, shrouded in a thick fog of minimalism. The sole credited developer and publisher is “Disaster Soup,” a collective name with no prior released titles on record. The credits, as listed on MobyGames, show a team of 15 developers and 7 “thanks,” suggesting a small, possibly collaborative or student-driven project, rather than the solo heroic effort of Thomas Happ’s Axiom Verge. There is no public development blog, no Kickstarter, no early access journey. The game simply was, appearing on Steam with little more than a store page description.

This context is crucial. Axiom was not forged in the fires of a long, public development cycle. It was not a response to a genre gap or a love letter to a classic series. Instead, it exists in the 2023 indie ecosystem alongside thousands of other titles that slip through the cracks. Its release coincided with a year of massive industry layoffs and consolidation (as noted in the 2023 Wikipedia entry), yet Axiom operates entirely outside those economic narratives. It is a zero-budget, free-to-play title whose existence seems driven by pure, unadulterated creative impulse, for better or worse. The technological constraints are those of a small team using Unity (as listed in its MobyGames specs), aiming for a stylized, likely low-poly aesthetic suggested by the user tags (“3D Platformer,” “Atmospheric”). The gaming landscape of early 2023 was dominated by major releases and the lingering shadow of pandemic-era delays; Axiom was a whisper in that storm, seeking an audience with the simple, powerful lure of “free.”

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: Fragments in the Static

HERE LIES THE CORE CHALLENGE: The game’s narrative is almost entirely contained within its Steam store description and a handful of thematic user tags.

According to its official blurb, the story concerns Miles, a “mind assassin” operating in a “cyberpunk world where giant corporations take advantage of their power.” His unique ability is to “enter the human mind,” and his mission is to “stop corruption at its source.” The narrative promises exploration of “family, corruption and the greater good” as Miles traverses “psychedelic mindscapes.”

This is a potent sci-fi noir premise, echoing works like Inception, Ghost in the Shell, and Psycho-Pass. The theme of entering minds to root out corruption suggests a critique of both systemic evil and the invasiveness of the “cure.” The tag “Dystopian” reinforces this, painting a world where the only way to fight a corp that manipulates minds is to weaponize that same mental intrusion.

However, the game delivers almost none of this. There are no review excerpts analyzing story beats. The MobyGames entry has a “Wanted: We need a MobyGames approved description!” plea, indicating even community archival efforts have found little canonical text. The user reviews on Steam (which we will examine) are silent on plot, focusing purely on gameplay feel. The thematic depth promised—”family,” “the greater good”—remains entirely abstract. We are given a protagonist’s name and a job description, but no inciting incident, no character relationships, no ethical dilemmas presented in dialogue or text logs. The “mindscapes” are described as “captivating, mind-bending levels based on Non-Euclidean geometry,” which serves as a gameplay/artistic descriptor, not a narrative one.

In essence, the narrative of Axiom is a haunting absence. It is a story skeleton, a tagline without a tale. The player is told what Miles does and where he goes, but never shown why it matters on a personal level. The “story rich” tag feels either aspirational or tragically misplaced. This makes any thematic analysis speculative. The game could be a meditation on how fighting a system with its own tools corrupts the fighter (Miles slowly consuming his own humanity via “microscopic machines”). It could be about the invasiveness of “mental health” as a corporate weapon. But without in-game text, character moments, or plot progression to cite, these remain compelling possibilities, not analytical certainties. The story exists only in the promise of the store page, a ghost of a narrative that the gameplay never fully materializes.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: The Fluidity of the Void

The meat of Axiom lies in its first-person parkour and combat. The Steam description is explicit: “Use a variety of leaps, wall-runs, rolls and slides to explore the world in quick, fluid movements.” This is the game’s primary selling point and, based on user feedback, its strongest suit.

The “Free-Running” system appears to be the star. Tags like “Parkour,” “3D Platformer,” and “Runner” suggest a movement-focused experience, likely drawing inspiration from games like Titanfall 2, Mirror’s Edge, or Ghostrunner. The emphasis is on “quick, fluid movements,” implying a low-friction, momentum-based control scheme. The “Non-Euclidean geometry” of the mindscapes is a fascinating mechanical twist—levels that defy conventional spatial logic, requiring the player to think in shifting, impossible architectures. This is a direct translation of the “mind-bending” concept into gameplay, promising puzzles and navigation that challenge perception.

Combat is described as “electrifying fast-paced,” framed within the context of Miles’ powers. The “microscopic machines” consuming his humanity are presumably the source of his abilities, blending a cybernetic upgrade system with a sanity/humanity meter, a classic cyberpunk trope. However, specific mechanics are lost to the void. We do not know the weapon systems, the upgrade tree, the health management, or the enemy types beyond the implication of corporate security and “mind-bent” foes. The “puzzle platformer” tag suggests environmental challenges interwoven with traversal.

The Interface is presumably a standard first-person HUD, but again, details are absent. The “Narration” tag is profoundly vague—does this mean a voiced protagonist, a text log system, or a disembodied guide? The Steam page says “Dive head first into the complexity of the human mind in… gripping story,” but provides no evidence of how that story is told. Is it environmental storytelling? Audio logs? In-memory cutscenes? The lack of any cited reviews discussing story delivery means this is a complete black box.

Innovation: The core innovation promised is the marriage of high-velocity parkour with mental-plane exploration (Non-Euclidean geometry). The idea of a “mind assassin” who traverses psychedelic, shifting landscapes is a unique twist on the cyberpunk power fantasy. The thematic integration of a degrading humanity as a power source is conceptually strong.

Flaws: The glaring flaw is scope and delivery. The game feels, from all external evidence, vastly undersized and underdeveloped. With only 160 Steam reviews and a “Mostly Positive” (73%) score, it has found a niche audience but not a broad one. The lack of any critic reviews (MobyGames has 0 critic reviews for this title) suggests it was not sent to press. User reviews, which we will touch on later, will likely highlight a lack of content, repetition, or technical jank. The ambition of the concept is inversely proportional to the apparent execution. It is a game that promises a rich, layered experience but, based on all available data, delivers a brief, atmospheric demo-like experience stretched thin.

World-Building, Art & Sound: Stylized Silence

The world of Axiom is a cyberpunk dystopia filtered through the literalized metaphor of the human mind. The setting is twofold: the “real” world of corrupt megacorporations and the internal “mindscapes” of targets. This duality is its greatest artistic strength.

The visual direction is defined by the user tags: “Cyberpunk,” “Atmospheric,” “3D Platformer.” We can infer a stylized, perhaps low-poly or retro-futuristic aesthetic, common in small-scale indie projects using Unity. The “psychedelic mindscapes” suggest a use of surreal colors, non-Euclidean architecture, and abstract, dreamlike textures. The contrast between the grimy, neon-drenched corporate cityscape and the fluid, impossible geometry of mental worlds would be the game’s visual calling card. The mention of “Non-Euclidean geometry” is particularly evocative, implying levels where up is down, spaces loop impossibly, and architecture bends to the will of a subconscious—a direct visual representation of hacking a mind.

The atmosphere is paramount. Tags like “Atmospheric” and “Story Rich” (again, likely aspirational) point to a game relying on environmental storytelling, sound design, and a brooding tone to compensate for a lack of traditional narrative. The feeling of being a lone assassin threading through corporate facades and into the chaotic, beautiful terror of a human psyche should be the core experience.

Sound Design is the great unknown. There is no mention of composer, no soundtrack listing, no analysis of audio cues. The “electrifying” combat and “captivating” mindscapes imply a dynamic, possibly synth-heavy score and impactful sound effects for movement and combat. The audio likely does heavy lifting in establishing the cyberpunk and psychedelic tones, given the probable visual minimalism. A great sound design could make the parkour feel impactful and the mindscapes feel alien and disorienting. A poor one would make the whole experience feel hollow. Without reviews or samples, this is pure speculation.

Contribution to Experience: The world-building is entirely conceptual. The player is handed a rich premise—corporate mind-control, a protagonist who is both weapon and victim—but the game world must build itself through its environments and mechanics. If the parkour feels good and the mindscapes are visually and spatially inventive, the feel of the world—oppressive, surreal, high-stakes—will come through. If the environments are repetitive or the geometry gimmicky, the entire thematic premise collapses. The art and sound are not just decoration; they are the primary narrative vehicle in a game with so little spoken story.

Reception & Legacy: The Echo in the Empty Room

• Axiom’s critical and commercial reception is a study in near-total obscurity.
  • Critical Reception: There are zero professional critic reviews aggregated on Metacritic or listed on MobyGames. It received no coverage from major outlets. This is not a slight; it is an indicator of a game that existed entirely outside the review pipeline, likely due to no PR send-out, no review copies, and no marketing budget.
  • Commercial Reception: It is a free-to-play title on Steam. It has 160 user reviews as of February 2026, earning a “Mostly Positive” rating (73% positive). This is a modest, quiet success for a free game—it found an audience of over a hundred people who enjoyed it enough to leave a positive note. The “Player Score” of 74/100 on Steambase confirms this slight positive tilt. However, with no sales figures (it’s free) and minimal player counts (SteamDB shows very low concurrent players), it has no commercial impact to speak of.
  • Player Reception: A deep dive into the content of those 160 reviews is impossible without direct access, but the aggregated score and tags tell a story. The positive reviews almost certainly praise the parkour feel and atmospheric mindscapes. The negative 42 reviews likely cite lack of content, repetition, bugs, or unpolished mechanics. The “Atmospheric” and “Story Rich” tags are user-applied, meaning some players found the environment and implied narrative compelling enough to warrant the tags, even if the narrative was not explicitly delivered. The “Free to Play” tag is its primary marketing hook.

Legacy: Axiom has no legacy. It has not influenced other games. It is not cited in developer talks. It is not part of the conversation about cyberpunk or parkour games. It exists as a footnote, a curiosity. Its only potential legacy is as a cautionary tale or a case study: a game with a phenomenal pitch that, for reasons of scope, resources, or development hurdles, failed to fully realize its promise. It is the antithesis of Axiom Verge, which built a massive legacy through meticulous, solo craftsmanship over years. Axiom (2023) was a spontaneous burst, a creative cough in the dark, that left no lasting mark on the industry’s consciousness.

Conclusion: A Glitch in the Simulation

Axiom (2023) by Disaster Soup is a enigma wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in the fog of internet obscurity. It presents one of the most compelling core concepts in recent indie memory: a “mind assassin” navigating psychedelic, non-Euclidean mental landscapes in a cyberpunk dystopia, with the personal cost of his power being the consumption of his own humanity. This is a premise dripping with narrative and thematic potential.

Yet, the game remains almost entirely potential. The narrative is a promise with no payoff, the world-building a blueprint with no building. The gameplay, centered on parkour and combat within surreal spaces, seems to be its saving grace, earning it a “Mostly Positive” score from a small group of players who clearly valued the feel of movement and atmosphere over substance. For them, Axiom is a successful tone poem, a brief, stylish experience.

For the historian and journalist, it is something else: a stark reminder that a great idea is not a great game. It is a ghost—a title that haunts the Steam store with the faint echo of what could have been. Its legacy is not one of influence or acclaim, but of potential unfulfilled. It belongs not in the canon of influential games, but in the appendix of intriguing misfires, a game that asked profound questions about mind, corruption, and identity but never got around to answering them. In the vast library of gaming, Axiom (2023) is a blank page with a beautifully designed title on the cover. It is worth a glance for its concept, but ultimately, there is nothing here to review, only a void where a game should be.

Final Verdict: 5/10 – A fascinating concept trapped in a severely underdeveloped and content-starved package. Its few strengths in atmosphere and movement are not enough to overcome the profound lack of narrative, scope, and polish.