Absolum Is A Fantasy Roguelike Beat-'Em-Up That Looks Great And Plays Even Better
While the genre isn't as prolific as it once was, beat-'em-ups still tend to follow in the mold of Final Fight and Streets of Rage: You're a muscle-bound mayor or a martial arts expert or occasionally a mutated turtle, and you roam the streets left-to-right beating up punks and punching trash cans to find turkey dinners. Absolum, the latest from veteran studios behind Streets of Rage 4, promises a fresh roguelike twist alongside an inventive original fantasy setting, and the result is a remarkable blend of influences and mechanics that left me wanting more.
Absolum is the first original franchise from Dotemu and its co-developers, Guard Crush Games and Supamonk, and it's immediately clear that the studios have thought deeply about how to breathe new life into the classic formula. While you do still move from left to right taking on bands of assorted enemies as you go, the newly-coined "rogue 'em up" variation means you're expected to fail out of levels and progressively build up your strength, all while discovering branching paths and quests. Imagine Golden Axe meets Dead Cells.
The Golden Axe comparison extends to the setting, which is refreshingly fantastical for this genre. Absolum takes place in the world of Talamh, where a magical catastrophe has led to an imperial crackdown on all sources of magic and wizards who wield it. The Sun King Azra is on a brutal campaign to conquer every magical land and snuff out the practice. You're part of a small band of resistance fighters following a mysterious and ethereal mystic Mother who uses a forbidden form of magic. While many fantasy stories can get bogged down in too many proper nouns, the little I've seen so far strikes just the right balance of introducing a few fantasy concepts to pique curiosity without overwhelming the player with loads of lore.
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