Absolum review – this near perfect blend of beat-em-up and roguelite action proves tough to put down

Ahead of Marvel Cosmic Invasion's release later on this year, Absolum has come along to potentially steal the 2D beat-em-up crown thanks to beautiful visuals and rewarding structure.

One of the worst things about beat-em-ups is that they end. I suppose this is true for almost every video game, but it’s especially the case with this particular type where, due to its arcade origins, the emphasis used to always be on killing you quickly to suck as much coin out of you as possible. And even then, true classics like Golden Axe and Final Fight aren’t as long as you remember either. It’s for this reason I’m shocked it’s taken until now for someone to come along and give the belt-scrolling genre the true Hades style roguelite treatment it deserves. Enter Absolum.

Taking the concept of kicking arse across a 2D plane and slowly empowering you with short- and long-term upgrades while giving you countless reasons to try and try again seems like such a win. Absolum definitively proves that this unique genre fusion can work, executing the formula near perfectly by giving you more than enough motivation to embark on endless runs using a variety of randomised skills.

Complete with well-drawn characters, meaningful upgrades, and an utterly gorgeous art style, after more than a dozen hours I’m still finding reasons to not put this fantasy roguelite beat-em-up down.

Of course, none of this would mean a thing were the core beat-em-up mechanics of Absolum not satisfyingly snappy. It’s a bloody good job they are then. Spamming basic and light attacks always offers a wonderfully crunchy sense of feedback when playing. Genre combat cornerstones such as juggles, grabs, and aerial combos also never failed to make me feel empowered when dispatching Azra’s evil forces ravaging Talamh.

Better yet, with four playable characters to choose from – ranging from a cold-as-ice knight warrior to a staff-riding frog wizard – different alternate and ultimate abilities are present to help support a range of different playstyles if you’re willing to master them.

Like all the best modern roguelites, though, Absolum also offers ample reason to keep on heading back through Talamh’s biomes in search of a fight. It’s here where the game’s simple yet effective approach to progression comes truly into its own. At the end of every run you’ll increase your level of what’s called Radiance, you see, at which point you’re gifted one of three currencies you can then use to better enhance your long-term buffs and improvements.

Some apply to specific characters, yet most apply to all, incrementally upping your chances of getting further each time to take on the Sun King at his castle. It’s a moreish routine that’s all too easy to fall into.

Absolum never fails to delight with the buffs you can control at the end of runs, but those you can’t during them too. These primarily make themselves known with all kinds of trinkets, items, and character-enhancing elemental modifiers called Rituals that spice up each attempt.

There’s your standard fire and ice augments, sure, but easily my favourite are those that reward my specific mid-run tactics and actions, such as how throwable thorn daggers will appear if I dodge well enough, or how timing a deflect perfectly could see an undead skeleton ally spawn. Absolum constantly surprises with the way it rewards your skill, despite also catering to those who like to button mash.

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Out of the frying pan

There are only four true biomes in Absolum to explore, beginning with the forest-like Grandary, then either the swamp-filled Jaroba or spooky Yeldim, and finally Azra’s chosen dwelling of Asterios. I was initially concerned that having so few would make undertaking new runs grow tiresome fairly quickly, but ensuring this isn’t the case are the different enemy types and optional missions strands found within them. There’s never just one correct way to fight through a biome, essentially, and in fact you’re encourage to explore different hubs and spokes in amongst the natural randomisation so as to take on every boss, camp, and side objective.

All of this will no doubt sound unsurprising to players more than familiar with the indie scene’s recent bout of roguelite genre greats. The likes of The Binding of Isaac, Hades, and Dead Cells all perfected this balance of satisfying progression loop and semi-randomised structure so that Absolum could, in a way, pick from the best. The developers have then transplanting these learnings onto the bones of a 2D beat-em-up that not only plays great, but looks pretty gosh darn amazing too.

I myself tend to prefer sci-fi over fantasy when given the choice. Absolum had me hooked from the get-go with its graphical style despite this, visually sitting somewhere between a Joe Madureira graphic novel (complete with thick black outlines) and Rankin/Bass’ animated Lord of the Rings movies from the 70s. This overtly cartoonish art style could have so easily leapt into the kiddish, but it works remarkably well in tandem with the exploration of adult narrative themes and excellent voice acting to keep proceedings serious.

If there’s one drawback to Absolum it’s that it does skew a tad on the easier side. As although I’m still enjoying my time repeatedly beating away Azra’s forces, by the time I hit the three or four hour mark, making my way through the first two biomes of Grandary and Jaroba became trivial.

Long-term buffs from the Soul Tree such as death defiance and increased critical hit chance often have a habit of being too generous on a run by run basis. Then there’s the fact that dodge and deflect are mapped to the same button, which isn’t ideal when waves of enemies begin to surround and my character suffers from choice paralysis. This mechanical nuance takes some getting used to.

In the realm of modern 2D beat-em-ups, Absolum easily earns its place as one of the most satisfying, rewarding, and stylish I’ve ever played. By making the most of a small but cool suite of characters classes that play uniquely enough in their own right but can be enhanced further during runs and offering multiple story and structural excuses to explore each biome slightly differently each time, Dotemu has crafted the brawler genre’s answer to Hades.

Those are big boots to fill. And while Absolum might not quite reach the godly level of Supergiant’s roguelite classic, it’s attempted stab at coming incredibly close is both deadly and effective.

Rating: 4/5