In 2020, Dotemu made its mark on the beat em up genre when it worked with Guard Crush Games and Lizardcube to bring us Streets of Rage 4. Since that time, Dotemu has published a number of beat em up titles, but now has worked with Guard Crush Games and Supamonks to make a new original beat em up IP rather than work with an existing franchise. It is no joke to say that Absolum, the resulting game, is one of the best beat em ups released in recent years.
Absolum is what happens when you take Golden Axe, mix it with Dragon’s Crown and the Capcom D&D games, and throw in Hades-style roguelike elements. It needs to be stated that while roguelike elements are being incorporated into more and more types of games these days, it makes so much sense to do so in beat em ups which are also about replaying games. Indeed, Absolum is not the first roguelike beat em up, with such titles in the past like Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe, and Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, while TMNT Splintered Fate brought beat em up elements to the Hades Style of Roguelikes before. What Absolum does do, is combine these specific roguelike elements with beat em ups and storytelling in a unique way.
I need to repeat what I said about Absolum being one of the best beat em ups in recent years, and indeed one of the best indie games released this year, a year stacked with amazing indie titles.Absolum combines surprisingly deep storytelling with well thought out gameplay that helps evolve the beat em up genre. Forget just button mashing here, as all that will do is see to it that your run ends faster. And you will do multiple runs, because that is the nature of the roguelike, where more of the game becomes revealed each time you play and each run is slightly different.
The stage layouts may appear familiar each time you start a run, but there are differences and not just in the branching path you take. Enemies will get more creative over time, and use more innovative traps, there may be caged beasts you can free, or there may be surprising stage hazards. But that is not all as completing certain quests and objectives ( remember this is inspired partly by beat ’em up RPGs) will also affect the stages, such as opening up new routes for you to take in future runs.
You will start off with two choices of characters, but the more you play, other characters will become available for you to choose, though repeated runs will be needed to interact before they are unlocked. The different characters all feel meaningfully different and reflect different RPG classes well, and finding a character you like best will not be hard. And once you do find your desired character, you can get right to the combat, sort of.
As I said earlier, this is not a game where you can just button mash your way to victory and this is partly due to the roguelike elements. With each run, you start out with an ability or perk that can affect the gameplay, including new magical abilities such as enhancing your basic attack or your skills attack, or getting mana faster, which will be used to carry out a special attack. You also have a dash that can get a variety of abilities, like leaving fire behind you, as well as having a parry mechanic that you need to master against some of the more brutal foes.
The gameplay is a mix of a side scrolling brawler and the rooms in Hades, with each world being composed of several mini stages that will see you fight one or two sets of enemies. After all the enemies in the area are defeated, you get a reward, again like in Hades, and this can range from gold for the shops, gems for upgrades after your run, or new upgrades or abilities for your current run. Be creative and experiment with the rewards and you will end up with a great build you may not have expected.
Absolum’s combat has a good weight behind it, and the combos you can pull off are incredible. Depending on your character, you can pull off some very unique moves and you will have to approach a run with each character differently. It gets really fun in multiplayer, when each character’s unique moveset is combined to pull off some truly awesome action.
I do also need to comment on the online in Absolum which works well, and gave me no real issues, even when playing with others quite a distance away. Absolum may be part roguelike RPG, but it is a beat ’em up still and playing with others is a key part of the fun. There is just something neat about enjoying a beat ’em up with other players, and also upgrading with the roguelike elements.
With each run, you will gain various forms of currencies, and all of these can be used to upgrade your abilities for the next run, such as getting a revive, more health, more strength, more gold for shops and so on. You will get more powerful, but there are different ways to upgrade the characters, such as unlocking new special attacks, which must be done separately for each character. Of course, being a roguelike, not everything is available at the start, and will gradually be made available to you, which works well for beat em ups because of how both genres encourage replays.
Absolum has a fantastic art style that feels like an evolution of Streets of Rage 4, but much more stylized. It looks absolutely incredible in action and is a joy to look at, especially when combined with the amazing soundtrack. Absolum has some of the best music in a beat em up, and decent voice acting as well. There are some voice-over lines that feel a bit stilted, but the overall experience is still a treat.
Absolum is a game that pushes its genres forward, and I hope to see more like it going forward. I will admit that the story, which I did not discuss here, did not really land with me, but the overall gameplay is great. Some are saying Absolum is a game of the year contender, and while I will not go that far, I will say it is one of the best indie titles released this year. Check it out for some great fun, if you are a fan of roguelikes, beat em ups, or just want something bold and different.
Disclaim: A review key was provided
