Absolum review: How I learned to love a co-op beat ‘em up roguelike

Absolum comes from modern beat ‘em up royalty. The three-studio team of Guard Crush, Supamonks, and Dotemu brought us recent classics like Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Now, with Absolum, they have created an original IP, and it’s a roguelike.

Absolum is set in a fantasy world where the practice of magic has been outlawed. A tyrannical emperor has seized control of much of the world and executes anyone practicing the arcane. The playable characters are the last of the resistance, venturing out into the dangerous world to defeat the empire’s top generals and weaken the grip on the world. When you do eventually die, your magical patron can bring you back to try again, tying the roguelike elements into the story perfectly.

Balancing Repetition

Combining a beat ‘em up-style game with roguelike elements feels like a recipe for repetitiveness. Interestingly, this past weekend, I visited a friend who had an old-school X-Men arcade box in their basement. We played the first few levels, and while it was fun, my friend explained how the box wouldn’t let you save your progress, so he has played through the first two or three levels dozens of times with various people. This is a common complaint I’ve had with games like this. The gameplay is repetitive, and even when going from level to level, it doesn’t introduce much else other than a unique boss fight.

Then there are roguelikes. I’ve played plenty over the years, and each has found its own way to keep things fresh on every run. But even with the best roguelikes, there is repetitiveness. Even though most are randomized in some way, it’s not entirely new scenarios and mechanics. Most roguelikes will have the player facing off against similar challenges and facing off against particular bosses again and again until the player learns how to win, upgrades themselves in the right way, or gets lucky.

Absolum does not handle this perfectly; there is certainly some repetition. However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how often things change. As you go on more runs, new enemies begin to appear, new side quests offer different goals, and more and more branching pathways open up to bring variety to the environments. Throughout the game, there is an overarching goal and story, but nearly every run can be unique if the player decides to explore the options given to them. That’s not to say that there won’t be many similarities, though. You’ll often be facing a lot of the same enemies in a lot of the same environments. And while the variety of boss fights does increase as you explore and progress, there are several “checkpoint” bosses that can feel somewhat repetitive. Overall, some of the issues you might expect are present, but they are not nearly as significant a concern as they could have been.

An Eclectic Cast

There are four playable characters in Absolum. You start with Galandra, a sword-wielding elf-like character, and Karl, a brawling, musket-toting dwarf. This thankfully gives you two different characters right away, so when playing co-op, you don’t have to be the same character. Cider is the next character you unlock, and she is a mysterious masked figure with a prosthetic leg and a grappling hook hand, which she appropriately uses to grapple enemies. Later on, you are able to unlock Brome, a frog wizard. I’m not sure I need to elaborate more on how awesome that is.

Every character has a quick basic attack and a strong attack. For example, both Galandra and Karl will use fisticuffs for the basic attack, then Galandra will bring out the sword for the strong attack, and Karl will use a headbutt. These attacks allow you to charge up a stronger attack, which will eventually have multiple options as you upgrade your characters. This can vary from a powerful area of effect or a strong single-target strike, depending on the character. Finally, you will also unlock an ultimate attack that you can only use a certain number of times per run. The only customizable option is the charged-up attack, but, as any good roguelike will have, you can unlock various temporary power-ups and attack options throughout a run.

Like most beat ‘em up games, you can make some solid progress by moving to the right position and mashing buttons. But, perhaps more than any other beat ‘em up I’ve played, taking the time to learn the character, their combos, and using them in the right situation will get you much further than any button mashing. As opposed to other beat ‘em ups, where you can lose a life and come right back to the fight, Absolum has a very finite number of revivals. For much of the early game, you only have one life, and eventually, you can upgrade this, but even then, you’ll still only come back with less than full health in your second life. It’s the kind of advantage you’ll find yourself saving for the region’s last boss.

Absolum also takes great advantage of the roguelike nature of the game to tell a compelling story. Within the world of Absolum, also known as Talamh, the players have a magical patron who will gladly resurrect them whenever they fall in battle. This is exactly the kind of magic that the enemy is trying to snuff out, so the use of it is not only helpful but an act of rebellion linked to the main antagonist. The very first mission of the game involves saving the player’s faction’s patron from imprisonment. The patron is Uchawi, a perpetually pregnant being who, appropriately, is able to rebirth her protégés whenever they fall in battle.

The Problem with Progression

One area that I do find disappointing is the progression. While overall I still find the moment-to-moment gameplay enjoyable and surprisingly non-repetitive, Absolum falls into the classic roguelike pitfall of locking certain permanent upgrades behind an in-game resource. This means that you’ll need to go on runs to increase your character’s health, do more damage with certain techniques, and unlock other abilities. For me, at least on some level, this feels like a somewhat cheap way to balance the game’s difficulty.

Rather than having an equal chance of beating the game on the first run as the last, and relying on the player to learn more about the game, how to play, and how to win, the player starts off at a disadvantage. I do admit that this likely works best for weaving a story throughout this game, so it must have been a tough balance to strike. But even if it was the best choice to make in Absolum’s design, it still doesn’t feel great to have to unlock more hit points. I guess you could argue that the best player would just never take damage in the first place.

But this is a game that will defeat you. It’s not the most challenging game in the world, and even with minimal experience, you can probably reach the first boss. But the length of each run means the damage will accumulate over time. There are opportunities to heal, but they only restore so much health (this can also eventually be upgraded). This is not the biggest complaint, and it could have been much more frustrating if the team hadn’t managed to avoid the other classic roguelike pitfall of repetitive runs. Playing through the same moments over and over, waiting to accumulate enough resources to upgrade, would have been far more frustrating.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I had a great time with Absolum. I enjoyed playing the demo at Summer Game Fest earlier this year, but even with how great that demo was, I didn’t grasp just how much fun the full game would be. The team has struck an impressive balance of storytelling and new content to pair with the player’s progression.

Aside from the combat and action, Aboslum also stands out visually. Every sprite, from the playable characters to the NPCs to the enemies, is excellently detailed. Even the world map and the environments stand out. The branching paths are easily distinguishable, to the point where I could look at a screenshot and know immediately where the players are on the map. While you’ll often be returning to certain areas, this helps make the game feel less repetitive.

Absolum shines with its two-player co-op, both local and online, making the Nintendo Switch a perfect console to launch on. It’s also available on PC and PlayStation, but the ease of local co-op on the Nintendo console, plus its portability, makes it a highlight. But if you don’t have a Switch, this is also a perfect game for the Steam Deck, as an alternative portable play option.

Overall, there is a lot to enjoy about Absolum. The combat is addictively fun, the optional side quests really expand the exploration options, and I find the world compelling and worth learning more about. Absolum is a game I highly recommend to anyone, even if you don’t think roguelikes or beat 'em ups are for you. This is the kind of game that will change your mind.