Absolum
Despite its excellence, it took several runs of this roguelike before I settled into it. After all, a scrolling beat ‘em up where you’re expected to get completely wrecked in the early going takes some getting used to. Once I was able to push through its elegantly erected progress walls though, Absolum had me under its spell, with the urge to play remaining strong right up until 100% completion.
Absolum takes place in the fantastical land of Talamh where a cruel tyrant has outlawed magic and ordered its practitioners to be enslaved or eliminated. Four outlaw wizards are the only remaining hope, so players (either alone or with a friend) must batter and blast their way to the capital city to depose this crackpot, lest the fate of the entire kingdom succumbs to a dire cosmic terror.
If players die en route to this finale, they’ll be resurrected to restart their journey from the beginning. This makes Absolum a tricky game at first. Failure will come quickly for beginners still navigating the timings for dodging and counterattacking scores of violent enemies. Thankfully, there’s an entire catalogue of relics and enchantments players can find to make their future runs much easier, whether they grant simple boons like damage reduction or boosted flank attacks, or something more outlandish like leeching an enemy’s life away, or enhancing your character’s aptitude for improvised weapons (very fun!).
Content and complexity is revealed steadily, not just to help players learn things at a comfortable pace, but also to drop in the occasional surprise to keep things exciting. Players can be multiple runs in before a certain NPC recommends hitting a yet unspotted hidden wall near that one cliff edge. Likewise, a boss players normally face in one arena may suddenly not be there — a much tougher foe unexpectedly taking its place. The game is a pleasure to replay because of unexpected wrinkles like these.
The brawling aspects will be familiar if you have prior experience of Guard Crush’s work on Streets of Rage 4. Players can still assail foes with punches, kicks, and dive attacks, and while grappling is downplayed in favour of dodge and parry mechanics, the character upgrade system from Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare is brought back to a much better extreme here.
Absolum’s character builds are more diverse and rewarding, and they can be crafted whenever players find an elemental “ritual” infusing their attacks with fire, wind, necromancy, and all sorts of juicy abilities conveying extra damage and utility. What’s cool is that you can focus on one element to raise its potency, or alternatively hybridise multiple rituals to smash enemies with fiery whirlwinds and electric tidal waves, or perhaps you’ll instead pursue the ability to summon an undead army and let them do the hard work. Excelsior!
The parrying system, as well as the offshoot mechanics for punishing and pressure, demonstrate a maturation of the genre, as the developers borrow the concepts and verbiage of Street Fighter to intuitive effect. Absolum isn’t just about repeatedly slamming the punch button, even though some character builds can feel pretty degenerate at times. For example, the one that allows Karl, the lovably cantankerous dwarf bruiser, to pelt enemies with pulverising blunderbuss shells might irk the purists who’d rather not trade their fisticuffs for a shooting gallery!
Absolum can be experimental at times, but the difficulty curve is smooth. Goblins and militiamen go down easy in the early stages, with the arena warlords and alien horrors you fight later being considerably stronger. The game enjoys testing you without being unfair, and there’s still much to discover after you beat the game one time. A handy world map nudges players to uncover a wealth of secret areas, and the closer you get to the final battle, the further the goalposts are moved. Players keep inching forward, block by bloody block, through a fantasy world drawing them deeper into its gripping lore with every new prisoner freed and every achievement earned.
The gorgeous visuals only aid in that mission. Things certainly look less glitzy than the developers’ previous work, as Absolum aims for a gloomier atmosphere to match its plot’s darker tone. There’s still considerable depth to the world being created, with playable characters who have their own personality quirks and backstories, including many instantly likeable side characters appearing in set locations across Talamh. The animation and sprite work is likewise top notch, with the playable cyborg rogue (Cider) being a standout on account of their dazzling aerial offence and aptitude for skull-breaking izuna drops and frankensteiners!
Absolum is an epic adventure which expertly answers a criticism I once aimed at Streets of Rage 4 by featuring several branching level paths to keep runs feeling lean and different. Not only are there multiple paths, there are multiple variants of each path, too! The variety is exceptional, and there are many hidden secrets in every level, so even when success becomes hopeless in one run, players can still achieve milestones and earn other helpful bonuses for their next attempt. Could you ask for anything else? How about a 2-player cooperative mode playable locally or online? Well, it has that, too. And one of the playable fighters is a frog!
Put simply, this is a very fun and well-designed video game, and the developers at Guard Crush Games, Supamonks & co. should feel proud for outdoing themselves here. Absolum is a big improvement over Streets of Rage 4, and is easily one of the best games I’ve played this year.
Now that’s magic!
Absolum on Steam »
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