Finally picked this up earlier in the week and started playing yesterday...I was up until 3am. Absolum isn't just good, it is exceptional and I'm kind of blown away. When I first saw the trailer for the game a few months I thought "eh, maybe I'll try it out sometime". Well, the time is now and if I were to summarize this game in one sentence it would be: it is essentially Hades in 2D beat-em-up form. However, I have more than one sentence to share lol.
The beat-em-up genre is one that formed the core of who I am as a gamer. Going all the way back to Double Dragon, Final Fight and TMNT in the late 80's with games like SoR, Battletoads, The Simpsons and X-Men stealing my time (and quarters with the latter two!), in the early 90's. Over the years I've enjoyed other notable releases like Castle Crashers, Dragon's Crown (the GOAT) and Scott Pilgrim but overall haven't spent nearly as much time with this genre as I used to. Stuff like Mother Russia Bleeds or the latest TMNT didn't capture me in the same way. SoR4 was fantastic but I ultimately stopped playing after clearing it once with each character.
I believe Absolum is this generation's Dragon's Crown with the same level of replayability, sense of discovery, beautiful art and satisfying gameplay that persists even after a couple of dozen hours spent with it. I'm not saying it's as good as DC but it's the closest equivalent since DC released with that same addictive hook and anticipation of seeing what cool stuff the game throws at you next. It's arguably more addictive here given the rogue-like structure and enticement of "just 1 more run!". Next thing you know half the day has passed.
But let's get the pink haired elephant out of the room. Absolum has a certain...aesthetic with some of it's characters/presentation. I found it mildly off-putting for about the first hour but then it all melted away, easy to ignore when the combat feels this electrifying, when the animations are this spectacular, when the OST is this godly. Absolum is a joy to play and a pleasure to listen to so that when a character occasionally says something eye-rolling you quickly forget it once you are back in the combat mix. I'm fundamentally against this kind of shit so if *I'm* saying the game is good enough to ignore it you can take that to the bank.
Combat is where it's at. All 4 of these characters sing in battle, I love all of them, another rarity in the genre where I'll usually just stick to a couple of fighters and not bother with rest (after trying them out once). Galandra is who you start with and she feels so good to play that I didn't even try any of the other characters for the next 5 hours lol. Each one has multiple special moves to permanently unlock and equip in addition to their light/heavy and ultimate attacks. Getting new moves from defeated bosses is an interesting design choice as they will reset after the run. On one hand it would be fun to have Cider's triple air dash from the start, on the other hand it's a cool surprise when I find Karl the Dwarf's (Mike Haggar inspired) spinning fist and it forces the player to choose moves based upon their current run build. Vertical dodge counters is something genuinely new in the genre (afaik), Clash and deflect feel great, the combat is pretty much perfect.
This is where the Rituals and Trinkets come in to mix things up. Much like Hades there are lots of crazy combinations to discover making each run feel unique and experimental. Light attack finisher puts the enemy in a water bubble, water bubble is stacked with Ritual that also sets them on fire, enemy is stuck in the corner getting juggled to kingdom come with a flurry of moves, combo meter rising, it's a beautiful thing. Crystals for permanent base unlocks means you are always making some kind of progress, any criticisms with unwanted Rituals applies to every game in the genre with a similar power-up system, happened in Hades, happened in Dead Cells, it is what it is.
The map is fairly large with myriad branching paths and secrets to find. You have mounts, you have mercs you can hire for coin, you have a charming old shopkeeper with a loyalty stamp card! Throwables, food pick-ups, barrels/fences/boxes/rocks to to smash up (and strategically use to keep your combo up!), it's all here. Exquisite boss design and a dreamy world that makes you feel like you are on a grand adventure, what more could you want?
Well, I wish there was even more variation. It's cool when my character says their unique line when picking up a Ritual type, next run they might say something different but then... we're done. This should be so easy, give each character literally a hundred different voice lines for each element, have it programmed to be random until all lines are heard after which it will randomize them all again for the next 100 runs. The main big boss of the first region seems to have a variety of lines he says but the first actual boss of the region has..one? Almost as if they forgot to give him more more flavour.
I wish the mercs who join you had unique, context specific stuff to say too but that is more a minor quibble. Weather day/night cycles would be another way to mix things up, certain enemies/bosses only appearing under specific conditions. Maybe in the endgame something like this opens up, I'm not there yet. As it is I can say I have found new things every single run whether it's a side quest, NPC conversation, secret etc. hope this lasts for many hours to come.
As always I'll reserve final judgment until I've completed it and spent a good amount of hours in whatever the post game is. For now I'm in love, appreciating the Easter eggs/paying homage to stuff like Street Fighter The Hobbit, Golden Axe, Ninja Gaiden etc, completely captivated by the gameplay loop and beautiful world. It's been a while since I've made one of my long, epic posts but Absolum earned it and deserves more attention, hope more people check it out
Heisenberg007
's sentiments above though, this game's meta progressions options are shitty and slow. Buying trinkets for a run after finishing out the tech tree is flawed to it's core, and they're FAR FAR too expensive. My son and I can usually finish up a run where we accumulate about 200-300 crystals in about 45 minutes. Starting the next run with a good trinket costs 200 crystals per player, and we usually just pass on it anyway even though there isn't anything else to spend crystals on. For comparison sake, the most expensive item in the upgrade tree costs like 80 crystals.
