Axium

Humanity’s expansion into space had lasted centuries by the time we encountered the vicious Threx.

The Threx adopted a single, religious mission: destroy all alien life and technology.

At the edge of the Axium system, you have a chance to make your stand. Build structures to assist you in fighting off the Threx.

Controls

Control is by joystick or gamepad. If you don’t have a gamepad to hand, remember that Xbox, Switch, and Playstation controllers can all be paired to a PC. If you would like to invest in a gamepad, the 8bitdo controllers are very good.

Left stick: move
A (bottom button): shoot
B (right button): boost
Y (top button): build mode
Left/Right Shoulder: select building
Start: begin game/pause

Axium reads the Game Controller DB file which provides mappings for a large number of controllers so that they behave approximately the same (despite different layouts and button orderings). I don’t have direct experience of how comprehensive this is, but you can add mappings using the instructions in that repo.

Co-op

Connect a second controller to play co-op. The second player can join at any time by pressing start.

The players share the lives and credit balance.

Buildings

Reactor – fusion reactors provide power for up to 3 base buildings. If you lose your reactors your buildings will still work, but you will not be able to build more.
Phaser Pod – after a few moments work, generates two phaser packs that charge your shot. Phaser shots will travel through multiple enemies.
Rocket Arsenal – generates a single rocket pack. Rockets home onto targets.
Repair Bay – hosts a swarm of drones that repair your base structures. Drones cannot attack the Threx and are destroyed if theor repair bay is destroyed.