By Nick Tan

Copyright shacknews

Showcasing the expertise of developer Guard Crush Games and publisher Dotemu in the beat-’em-up genre, Absolum is an impressive fantasy side-scrolling brawler with a roguelike twist. Both companies were a part of the team behind Streets of Rage 4, and Dotemu has been responsible for publishing other successful revivals like TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. But this time around, instead of creating a game for an existing license or franchise, they have decided to push the envelope by pursuing an original game. And on that front, Absolum is a creative and technical powerhouse that pushes the genre forward.

Reborn from the classics

Taking a page from classic beat-’em-ups, namely Capcom’s Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow of Mystara and Golden Axe, Absolum features four heroes tasked with saving the world of Talamn from the tyrannical Azra and his Crimson Order soldiers. The mystical Root Sisters were the caretakers of magic, but under their watch, an explosive cataclysm felled an entire city. In the aftermath they were blamed for the disaster and Azra rose to power, preying on the people’s fears and shackling anyone with magical power — including our motley crew of heroes — in the name of order. Only a few now remain to resist his reign of oppression, but with the power of rebirth under the Root Sisters’ domain, only a few are needed.

Freeing Talamn is easier said than done, however, as it will take multiple runthroughs to reach and defeat Azra and his Betrayer Kings. After rescuing one of the Root Sisters dubbed ‘Mother’ in the opening prologue as either the dwarven brawler Karl or the sword-wielding dark elf Galandra, the heroes are meant to be defeated and then reborn in the main sanctuary. Players can then select either character at a campfire before venturing into the forested land of Grandery, one of several realms that players will need to conquer in their journey toward the towered city of Asterios where Azra awaits. Along the way, the heroes will meet new playable characters, including the masked rogue Cinder and the frog wizard Brome, and find numerous branching paths that may lead to other fonts of power.

While the overarching story is standard fare for a fantasy storyline, the way that it is told is interesting and bolstered by strong dialogue and voice-work from the cast. Figuring out the timeline and how each character’s lives have been impacted by Azra is done in piecemeal fashion. At optional points during a level, Mother will provide a few lines of what happened in the area. The four heroes will also give their perspective on Azra, his Betrayer Kings, and various sections of the map, particularly when traveling within their native realms. Karl has some choice words if he delves into the dwarven mines, Galandra has painful memories of her homeland, and Brome struggles to repopulate his village in Jaroba. (As a fan of Chrono Trigger and Battletoads, I wholeheartedly stuck with the amphibious Brome for the majority of the game, and I never looked back.)

That said, the overarching good-versus-evil war between Mother and Azra could have more depth. While the Root Sisters feel some guilt over the cataclysm, they don’t delve into how they would prevent it from happening again in the future. Azra, even after the heroes learn why he thirsts for power, could have been less one-dimensional, given that he has an understandable cause for wanting to control magic. Also, there could have been a codex or some way to reread the major points of the narrative as well as gameplay tips that are unlocked in the museum at the sanctuary.

Nailing those tech hits and air combos

Similar to other modern roguelites like Hades and Dead Cells, Absolum is a game of inches. Progression is about getting as far as possible in each run, and even if the heroes fall early, any radiance they earn (effectively, their high score) are turned into upgrades at the sanctuary for unlocking additional special moves and making magical rituals more powerful. Any crystals collected along the way are spent in an extensive skill tree that eventually gives the heroes more health and extra lives, greatly adding to the rewarding gameplay loop.

Reaching Azra requires becoming proficient with the game’s technique-driven system, which borrows numerous elements from the fighting genre. In addition to learning the attack patterns of each enemy and boss, players are encouraged to perform multi-hit combos that juggle foes into the air and bounce them against the wall of the screen. Each successful hit on an enemy, or any breakable object for that matter, builds the mana meter that is spent on magical arcana attacks that can deal major damage and get heroes out of a sticky situation. While dodging an oncoming strike is a safe option, parrying it with a heavy strike will leave enemies momentarily stunned and wide open for a punishing combo. After several runs, heroes will unlock an ultimate skill that can turn the tide in one fell swoop.

In addition to technical skill, players will need to have a little luck when it comes to item drops. After clearing a section of the map or defeating a boss, heroes are offered passive effects in the form of elemental rituals and trinkets. The variety of rituals is limited to the fire element at first, which can add burn damage on strikes and leave blazing trails along the ground, but this eventually expands to numerous other elements as players unlock crystal ritual shrines. Some of my favorites are water rituals that trap foes in bubbles and time rituals that create past echoes of the hero’s attacks, leaving behind ghostlike traps that distract and damage enemies if they get too close.. Coupling this with trinkets that boost mana gain and aerial damage, I turned Brome into a badass sorcerer who would launch enemies into the air and conjure a barrage of homing missiles before landing back on the ground.

Where the combat could improve is in making it easier to distinguish the main heroes from the other characters on the screen. While the animated artstyle is fluid and well-crafted, battles occasionally become confusing when there are more than a half-dozen enemies on the board, even after toggling on the optional player outline. This becomes more of an issue in co-op play, be it online or offline, or in moments when the heroes have a lot of companions. It doesn’t outright ruin the cooperative experience, which is smooth and enjoyable, but it can make it difficult to track what’s happening.

Embrace the chaos

For replayability, Absolum offers plenty of quests, path options, and minor variations with each run. The heroes will frequently receive missions that will require several playthroughs to complete but will unlock new areas for the effort. Taverns and rest stops will typically offer a place to recover some health and purchase a hireling, but there will sometimes be a boss fight, a portal, a new character, or a reaction by the NPCs to a quest the heroes have completed. Some secret areas hidden behind trees, waterfalls, or hallways might get closed off on a second pass, so players will need to stay on their toes. There’s also an extensive epilogue after defeating Azra that, to keep it vague, alters the world of Talamn.

On the downside, this variability narrows as players reach the final areas of a runthrough. Compared to the initial realm of Grandery, the path in the city of Asterios (and another unlockable realm before that) are much more straightforward. Given that players are encouraged to finish the game multiple times, these ending sections become more of a slog with each completion.

Fighting its way through

Dotemu and Guard Crush Games have not pulled any punches with Absolum. Its fluid, hard-hitting combat system is a blast to play, and piecing together the best build to crush foes with 100-hit combos never gets old. Every runthrough in the fantasy world of Talamn is challenging but fair and replete with new paths to discover. Despite a few minor flaws, Absolum takes a bold step toward modernizing the beat-’em-up genre with an original story and technical prowess.

Absolum is available on October 9, 2025 for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5. A PC (Steam) code was provided by the publisher for this review.