Let me preface everything I'm about to say by stating that I absolutely love most parts of Absolum. I love the gameplay, the ability to play it co-op, each character feels unique with fun move sets, the incredible immersive atmosphere that includes music by legendary Dark Souls and Elden Ring composer Yuka Kitamura, and the intriguing setting that keeps me pushing for one more run. That being said, I still wish it weren't a roguelike and kept a more linear progression like a regular beat 'em up.
It's no secret that the core mechanic of a roguelike makes indie or smaller games thrive. It adds a ton of replayability and an addictive sense of progression if implemented correctly. While Absolum nails that "one more run" feeling a good game within the genre should strive to instill in players, there's one thing in particular that irks me: the character abilities progression system.
The core appeal of Absolum is its combat: it is, first and foremost, a beat 'em up game, a really good one at that, as it has the team behind the incredible Streets of Rage 4 working on it. The roguelike elements are there to enhance replayability. You can craft different types of builds. Maybe you want damage over time using Fire, or want to go for a crazy Necromancy build that spawns demonic minions every time you dodge an attack. Some boons are underwhelming, but the vast majority are thoroughly enjoyable. You'll also get access to Arcana moves, which are special attacks that require Mana to be utilized, with each character gaining access to six in total. You can equip one to start a run and gain a second Arcana move during one.
Beyond that, among the many upgrades you can acquire during a run are specific abilities tied to your character. These are incredible and really enhance the gameplay in very unique ways. Sadly, they are not a permanent upgrade, forcing you to return to basic combos every time you want to boot up a new run, which is, unsurprisingly, annoying for a game that has all this amazing gameplay potential buried behind roguelike mechanics.
Take Galandra, for instance. She's your standard sword-user. Basic grounded attacks, big sword special movie, basically a character designed to help learn the basics of Absolum. She can get access to some incredibly fun abilities: one turns her aerial heavy attack into a spinning move that lets you juggle opponents even more than usual, comboing into grounded or Arcana moves. She can get a dive kick, a ghost sword companion that attacks enemies automatically.
Another one of my favorite characters, Cider, can get access to a literal Izuna Drop, made famous by one Ryu Hayabusa of Ninja Gaiden fame. All of these dynamic and cool abilities are locked behind the randomness of a singular run rather than being incremental upgrades that reward players for experimenting and leveling up characters like a good old-fashioned beat 'em up.
And I hear you asking, isn't that par for the course when it comes to roguelike games? To that I say: yes, you are correct, that's perfectly normal. However, very few have such a unique twist on it like Absolum, where combat is at the forefront much more than others.
Think of Hades 2, perhaps my favorite roguelike and an easy candidate for GOTY. Combat is inherently fun without any Daedelus Hammer upgrades in the game. All of the weapons come with unique distinctions that can feel more empowered with the right boons, without ever giving the impression they lack that extra oomph, like characters tend to in Absolum.
The Sister Blades work perfectly without the added range or doing extra damage by hitting enemies from the back. You can basically do a run with the Moonstone Axe and the Aspect of Thanatos without even needing a Hammer. Right out of the start, each weapon just feel good to utilize, depending on your preferred style of play, that is.
Absolum is still a must-play gem, one I wholeheartedly recommend, but the forced repetition via the roguelike mechanics just has me yearning for a more classic beat 'em up experience, one in which difficulty ramps up and forces me to use every tool in each character's arsenal to explosive results without needing to pray to the RNG Gods I get the exact upgrade I want.
And that's it. Stick with us at Gfinityesports.com: your go-to source for all things indie games.