I’ve been looking forward to sitting down with Absolum ever since I first clamped eyes on it. As you can see from the attached images, this is a very nice looking game, with Disney-quality graphics and great animations.
It’s a collaborative work between Dotemu and Guard Crush Games, who worked together on Streets of Rage 4, and the animation specialists at Supamonks. That might sound like too many cooks, but this triangulated approach has brought out the best of a promising game. Here’s what you need to know…
What is Absolum?
Beat ’em ups aren’t usually cup of tea, however, over the years I’ve played a bunch and I’ve even enjoyed a few of the finer entries. My issue with the genre is often to do with variety and repetition, but Absolum’s approach to this challenge has resulted in one of the most replayable side-scrollers… ever?!
Set in the rich and wonderfully realised fantasy world of Talamh, players take control of one of four playable characters and must advance through a busy map full of branching pathways.
Talamh is in the grip of war, and you’re part of the last stand that is rising up against the rampant evil that now holds sway. Together, this motley band of mages, fighters, and floating frogs must find and destroy the big boss man, a powerful king called Azra who has this chaotic world under his boot.
First and foremost, Absolum is a beat ’em up, and you’ll spend most of the game heading from right to left, taking down small mobs using an evolving toolkit of powerful moves. Yet Absolum is also a roguelite, and so each new run allows you to build on the lessons of old.
Much like you can in games such as Hades 2 – an easy reference point as everyone is rightly talking about and playing it at the moment – you’re able to take some of your progress forward into the next run. Here it works via a trio of currencies that you earn as you go, and an ever-expanding assortment of trinkets.
The progression system is powered by gems, seeds and fruit, and using these three resources you must unlock new abilities, upgrade existing ones, while always working to grow your base stats. Then, as you advance through the game, the trinkets that you’ve unlocked will appear in chests and as rewards.
Branching paths through a rich and storied world
One of the things that I like the most about Absolum is the game’s striking visuals. The locations you visit are all handcrafted and not procedurally-generated, but to offset this feeling of repetition, you are constantly presented with new pathways to explore. I’m well into double figures in terms of hours played, and I’m still finding new ways to advance through the world.
There’s an element of persistence to the world that you don’t typically get in this genre, and honestly it was a breath of fresh air for me. Obviously I’ve got nothing against well realised procedurally-generated environments, but there is also something really nice about exploring a handcrafted world that’s full of secrets just waiting for you to discover.
The path you choose will determine the enemies you come up against, and there are quite a few to deal with. Goblins come to battle mounted on little raptor-like beasties, packs of dogs will swarm you, and groups of guards will come at you in unison, spears brandished as they move like a wall of spikes.
Finally, your path also means some variety in terms of the mid-game bosses. There are certain enemies that you’ll have to face at pinch points in the campaign, but others are determined purely by the path you’ve chosen to take on that specific run.
Capable combat and chaotic combos
The standout part of this game isn’t the excellent audio-visual design, nor the structure of the missions – it’s the combat. There are four different characters and after trying each one, I’m impressed by how distinct they feel from each other.
Each one of them has a powerful ultra attack that you can use once per run, however, there’s a special attack that you can use with much greater frequency. In fact, this special can be changed at the start of each run, and like in Hades, you’re given a resource bonus for picking a specific weapon for the next attempt.
You charge your special attack using the mana that you earn from combat and from drinking potions. Using these powerful moves at the right moment is utterly essential, especially during the boss battles. There are other basic and heavy attacks, you can throw objects and enemies, and you’ll be spending a lot of time juggling your foes like an angry clown, but in my experience, the careful deployment of those special moves can make all the difference in a pinch.
As you progress you can also imbue your various moves with additional powers, such as bolts of electricity or a trial of fire that ignites those around you. This new powers unlock slowly over the course of a run, so as not to unbalance things, but I think the overall pacing works.
As a result, the roguelite part of the equation feels a little more muted than other aspects of the game. To be clear, I’m not saying that this is bad at all, in fact I really like the setup here, but the impact of your decisions on your build just doesn’t feel as pronounced as it does in other games. The combat system is the main course, and the roguelite abilities, well, they are more like the cherry on top.
But is it a knockout?
With four different characters to master, multiple damage types and spells to learn, and a range of trinkets that open up new tactical options for each attempt, there are plenty of ways to make every new run feel distinct.
Absolum is a highly engaging beat ’em up and I’ve not even touched on the co-op side of things, which works well both online and locally. In fact, I’ve had a tremendous time battling through Talamh over the last week (mostly on my own, to be fair) and I think most of my fellow rogues will enjoy it too!
The slightly muted sense of in-game build development isn’t a big problem because the gameplay around it is absolutely excellent. The roguish elements are more than enough to keep each run feeling fresh and exciting, but I’m actually glad that the developers let the gameplay do most of the talking, because while it’s a perfectly good roguelite, Absolum is an excellent beat ’em up, and it stands next to BlazBlue: Entropy Effect among the very best in the business.
