Absolum Review: A Beat ‘Em Up With Real Depth
▼ Summary
– Absolum is a 1-2 player beat ’em up with a roguelike structure, hand-drawn art, and an original fantasy setting where magic is forbidden and players battle a ruthless king.
– The combat is rhythmic and impactful, combining simple inputs with satisfying audio-visual feedback to make players feel powerful and engaged.
– It features a branching level structure inspired by Hades, offering replayability through varied paths, enemy encounters, and narrative elements that change over multiple runs.
– Players can choose from diverse characters with unique abilities and unlockable arcanas, allowing for flexible combat strategies and customization.
– While praised for its design and progression, the game has some shortcomings, including a shorter third act and underwhelming passive abilities, but it successfully adds depth to the beat ’em up genre.
Absolum delivers a surprisingly deep and rhythmic beat ’em up experience that cleverly blends the genre’s classic foundations with modern roguelike progression. For a price of $25, this one to two-player game from developers Guard Crush, Supamonks, and Dotemu offers hand-drawn visuals and combat that feels both accessible and richly satisfying.
There’s a distinct musicality to the fighting in Absolum. Pummeling a group of goblins can feel like performing on a full drum set, a punch, another punch, then an elbow leading into an overhead sword slash that sends a gnoll airborne. Watching a co-op partner leap in to juggle the enemy with a spinning staff, setting up your own magical uppercut for the finish, creates moments of pure annihilation. You’re mostly alternating between a couple of attack buttons with an occasional dodge, yet the sensation is that of a martial arts master. It’s clear the developers understand how to make every encounter, even against lowly skeletons, feel incredibly rewarding.
Dotemu, Guard Crush, and Supamonks have become guardians of the beat ’em up genre. In a market where thousands of games launch each year, recent notable entries are few, Battletoads in 2020, River City Girls before that, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge in 2022, and the celebrated Streets of Rage 4. Absolum stands apart by venturing into an original fantasy world called Talamh, a land where magic is outlawed and the four playable wizard warriors are hunted by a tyrannical king awaiting a final confrontation atop a luminous tower.
The straightforward narrative complements the game’s retro cartoon aesthetic, which channels the style of classics like Dragon’s Lair. Characters are rendered in flat, vibrant colors set against detailed, shaded backdrops, with neon pinks and acid greens making each frame pop. This visually striking approach not only looks fantastic but also makes character actions easy to follow, softening the tone of an otherwise grim storyline.
A key part of Absolum’s appeal lies in its impactful presentation. The audio design packs a serious punch, every hit lands with a satisfying thud or crack, and the controller vibrates smartly when you shatter an enemy’s guard. Flashes of light and hit-indicator effects sync perfectly with the sound, creating a cohesive sensory experience. One particularly clever touch is how enemies rebound off the edges of the screen, making skirmishes near the border feel like a chaotic ricochet.
Combat in Absolum strikes a thoughtful balance. It avoids the mindless button-mashing of some arcade classics while ensuring your character’s actions feel more substantial than your inputs. The developers have removed legacy commands like forward-forward-punch, opting instead for straightforward unlockable moves earned after boss fights. Tapping an attack button three times might unleash a flurry of sword strikes or a new dive kick, offering meaningful rewards that expand your combat options.
Additional layers come from defensive mechanics like dodging and “clashing”, interrupting an enemy’s attack by striking at the same moment. The timing for these maneuvers is more forgiving than in competitive fighters, yet they still require practice to master consistently.
While not overly technical, Absolum presents a genuine challenge. Building lengthy combos is easy, but enemies deal significant damage and health pickups are rare. Similar to Hades, entering a boss fight with low health feels punishing. Fortunately, the game includes sliders that let you adjust incoming and outgoing damage, giving players direct control over the difficulty.
The playable characters themselves are a major highlight, each bringing unique mechanics to the fray. Cider is a wooden cyborg ninja with an extending arm attack, Galandra wields a sweeping broadsword, Brome the frog wizard can eventually telekinetically manipulate objects, and Karl is a dwarf who headbutts through levels like a cannonball. Every character has six unlockable Arcanas, special magic abilities powered by mana. These can be used creatively: sniping distant foes with Karl’s blunderbuss, extending combos with Galandra’s uppercut, or controlling space with Cider’s landmines. Mana regenerates quickly, encouraging frequent use rather than hoarding.
One of Absolum’s smartest design choices is adopting a branching path structure reminiscent of roguelikes. You’ll face major decisions, like choosing between two different islands in the second chapter, and smaller ones, such as starting your journey on a beach or in a goblin-infested forest. These choices, combined with brief narrative moments that unfold over multiple runs, keep the experience fresh. Revisiting a pirate ship for the fourth time might trigger an unexpected sea monster attack, for example.
Levels also change subtly between attempts. In the dwarven mines, you can toss enemies into a furnace, using their remains to power an elevator to a hidden area. Enemy types and numbers are shuffled in each segment, reducing repetition. This flexible structure significantly boosts replayability, stretching a potential six-hour game into a twenty-hour adventure.
Despite the variety, the game could benefit from even more content. A additional island would make the world feel more expansive, and the third act feels notably shorter than the first two, lessening the impact of the finale. While Absolum shines in two-player co-op, single-player can feel somewhat lonely despite the option to hire AI mercenaries temporarily.
The Hades-inspired ritual gems, which grant elemental passive abilities, are a bit underwhelming. Some, like triggering chain lightning after a combo, are useful, but others, such as creating tiny waves when you jump, feel ineffective and are difficult to understand initially.
Ultimately, Absolum is a beat ’em up that introduces meaningful depth and progression to a genre historically slow to evolve. It may not offer the sheer variety of a dedicated roguelike, but it integrates enough complexity to push beat ’em ups into exciting new territory.
(Source: PC Gamer)
