Before I completely gush about Absolum for approximately 3000 words (grab the popcorn for this one), we’ve got to set the stage by talking about 2020’s Streets of Rage 4. Developed by Lizardcube, Guard Crush, and Dotemu, the revival of Sega’s classic beat-’em-up series rode an impeccably fine line of casual arcade fun and technical depth. The result was a game that Destructoid alumni Chris Moyse called “an absolute triumph,” and Streets of Rage 4 went on to sell 2.5 million copies in its first year. A follow-up to such a success was inevitable, but rather than move on to another Streets of Rage, the parts that made up Streets of Rage 4 were divided into two distinct evolutionary paths.

Lizardcube and Sega would join forces once more to release Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, which carried forth Rage’s gorgeous artstyle in another heaping dose of Genesis-era nostalgia. It’s a flashy romp that I generally enjoyed, and I could definitely feel Rage’s influence in the game’s combo-heavy combat. Meanwhile, Guard Crush and Dotemu seemed to look at the tight underlying mechanics of Streets of Rage 4 and asked “how far can we go with this?” I can only surmise that the game’s Mr. X Nightmare DLC, which introduced a roguelite survival mode to the mix, was merely a testing ground for what would eventually become Absolum.

Both Shinobi: Art of Vengeance and Absolum deserve to coexist as followups to Streets of Rage 4, but I’ll cut to the chase: Absolum is my favorite of the two. This is a dream roguelite for beat-’em-up sickos that I hope to keep playing long after this review is published, because even after 30 hours worth of consecutive solo runs, all I want to do is jump back in the fray and throw more magic-infused punches at fascists.

A SOLEMN STORY

Absolum takes place in the medieval fantasy world of Talamh, a once peaceful land that fell into rampant fear following a great cataclysm. This unrest created the necessary conditions for the tyrant Azra to take power, promising peace while providing only violence and devastation instead. As one of two (eventually four) rebels led by the enchantress Uchawi, you must use forbidden magic to carve your way through Azra’s overwhelming forces and bring hope back to the world. It’s a tough job, but fortunately, Uchawi’s magic ensures that death is never the end of your journey.

That’s a good thing, because at the start of my journey, I died a lot. I’d divide Absolum into two phases: Progression and Mastery. In the early game, I approached the game similar to the way I’d play classic brawlers like Turtles in Time or Final Fight. I focused on weaving my basic attacks with my strong attacks, and my metered mana attacks were reserved for getting out of sticky situations. Absolum doesn’t offer a ton of attack options out the gate, but combat still felt great at this stage. Hits have a hefty weight without slowing down the pace of battle, and enemy health bars are just big enough to reward pulling off long, satisfying combos. It’s not the most expressive combat system I’ve seen, but every tool in a fighter’s toolkit feels unique and meaningful; that’s more than enough to keep me on my toes in the heat of battle.

For the majority of my first eight hours of play, my runs through Absolum rarely left the game’s first act. I just didn’t have the health or power to make it that far, and the first major boss felt like an impassable obstacle. However, in retrospect, I realize that this wall is by design. Similar to the Sega Saturn classic Guardian Heroes, Absolum places players in a static world with several branching paths. Each path contains quests that usually require exploring different routes across several runs, so each death becomes an opportunity to complete those short-term goals. Maybe I could finish up a quest that will allow me to purchase permanent upgrades back at my home base, or perhaps I’ll unlock a totally new level I’ve never seen before. 

Absolum really sells the feeling of adventure with its roguelite structure, yet it never loses its identity as an arcade-style brawler. While many people looked at early trailers for the game and assumed it would be an unofficial Golden Axe sequel, it’s more closely aligned with Capcom’s Dungeons and Dragons beat-’em-ups in spirit.

I will say that I did feel a small disconnect between hours six and eight of my total playtime. This was the section of my quest where it seemed like all my progression was locked behind that Act 1 wall I just couldn’t clear consistently. I thought I was just grinding at this stage, but in actuality, this was a necessary part of my journey. It was as if the game was saying “try new things, change your strategy, dig deeper,” which was the moment when Absolum turned from a fun retro-inspired romp into one of the best brawlers I’ve ever played.

ABS OF LUMBER

Despite Absolum’s simple controls, there is vast depth and variety hidden beneath the surface. Each of the four characters play completely differently from each other, to the point that it took me several dedicated runs to get comfortable with them. The amphibian wizard Brome became my early-game main, as his powerful ranged attacks kept me out of harm’s way in sections I struggled with the most. I later picked up the knight Galandra, whose gameplay finally clicked when I realized she was the queen of deflecting enemy attacks with her massive sword. Then there’s the rogue Cedar, who can juggle enemies with such rapid strings of button presses that I almost felt like I was playing a character action game.

This is all layered on top of a vast array of unique run-specific upgrades, which always changed the way I played without flattening the qualities that make the characters so distinct. These are fairly simple and limited in the starting hours, but as more options are unlocked by exploring different paths, I really appreciated how much I could customize my playstyle. Maybe I want my attacks and dodges to spawn throwable items I can spam in dire situations. Perhaps I’ll go all-in on upgrading my special attacks, which I can combo with perks that recover my mana whenever I launch an enemy in the air. 

Heck, there are character-specific upgrades that single-handedly transformed the way I’d see a character. The dwarf Karl is great at close-range brawls, but after finding one perk that lets him freely “reload” his mana bar, he can suddenly be played as a ranged gunner who wants to optimize downtime to charge his most powerful attacks. I’m going to stop there with examples, since I could easily stretch this review another 3000 words to convey the sheer amount of options that are hidden within Absolum.

Even after my time spent with the game, I’m still learning all the nuances to optimizing each run-specific power-up. I’ve seen roguelites with more potential upgrades than this, but few match this ratio of transformative playstyles to rote power-ups. And again, this is all somehow possible within a simple pick-up-and-play control scheme that’s instantly familiar to anyone who’s played an arcade beat-’em-up before. I’m genuinely in awe of everything Dotemu and Guardcrush pulled off with such a simple foundation.

AH’LL BUST ‘EM UP

There are, naturally, some combinations of perks that can make a player character totally busted. However, I never found my playstyle devolve into repeating the same attack or two I’d invest all my upgrades into. Just as there are a plethora of tools and abilities to use, the enemy variety is just as diverse. Lowly early-game enemies can still alternate between two or three unique attacks, and mindlessly ignoring telegraphs is an easy way to lose health quickly. The best defense is typically a good offense, but health is limited enough in Absolum that I really couldn’t afford to ignore defensive plays.

Unpacking the enemy design is where Absolum transitions out of its “Progression” phase and into its “Mastery” phase. Yes, there are permanent upgrades to purchase after each run… but it’s a small pool overall. I maxed out all my upgrades in about 15 hours, well before I explored every path. It made me realize that being statistically weak for so long conditioned me to treat every enemy as a real threat, and to take risks in the name of gaining knowledge. It could feel unfair to see an otherwise successful run fail because a new enemy type I wasn’t experienced with showed up, but this just made mastering those challenges more fulfilling as a result.

I can’t count how many times that aforementioned Act 1 boss killed me, but now I have an absolute blast hard-countering its attacks and smacking it like a pinata. For the sake of science, I tried the same boss again on a fresh save file with absolutely zero upgrades purchased, and I was able to pull off a victory. The experience I had gained is easily more valuable than any stat boosts I grinded for.

That sense of gaining and accruing knowledge applies to the world of Talamh too. A mostly static world might feel like a bummer for a roguelite, but I really learned to appreciate that approach as I dug into the game deeper. Each zone feels distinct with unique gimmicks and secrets, with enough random events sprinkled throughout to keep most areas interesting. Small details, like finding a secret spot where you can usually get a health pickup, can have huge implications on whether you’ll win or lose a run. It’s touches like these that consistently rewarded my curiosity, though I do feel a little sad that I’ve probably seen most of them at this point.

ABYSSAL ULTIMATUM

Unfortunately, I do have a sticking point with Absolum’s structure that I haven’t learned to appreciate in retrospect. As I alluded to above, there are three main acts in a full playthrough, which takes about 60-80 minutes altogether. Act 1 is the most interesting in terms of branching paths—which makes sense, since it’s what players will see most by default. I did gravitate towards one or two routes after a while, as some levels seem to be categorically better in terms of awarding upgrades. This is more of a nitpick than a wholehearted complaint, but a little rebalancing would maybe ensure I didn’t almost always pick the same starting level each run.

Act 2 doesn’t have the same interconnected structure of Act 1, but it does have four mostly unique paths to choose from. Each of these comes with unique bosses and gimmicks to contend with, and there’s a bit of randomization in which rooms and segments you’ll see. Act 2 always winds up being my favorite part of a run, since it’s where I can really test the mettle of the build I put together in the first act. I’ll take quality over lifeless, fully-randomized stages through any day.

So with all this said, I can’t help but be deflated that the game’s third act is always the same. Sure, it’s a fun experience, and nothing in the first two acts is quite like it. But aside from an event that only occurs when beating the game for the first time, I saw practically no changes here over several runs. My only guess is that Dotemu and Guard Crush assumed players wouldn’t actually finish Act 3 without a lot of grinding and practice, but I reached the game’s true ending before I even finished maxing out those Progression-phase stat upgrades. Fights here that were once epic and climactic feel more routine than most Act 2 encounters, simply because I’ve seen them so often.

I felt the joy of discovering different paths start to fade once I realized they all lead to the same place. Even worse is that those Act 2 paths have pretty major disparities in difficulty. Sure, there were enough quests to fulfill that I usually had to switch up my route. But if I’m going to fight through a tough gauntlet of enemies or a full-blown superboss, there should be at least some kind of payoff afterwards. Instead, the last 20 minutes or so of any given playthrough is basically a speedrun for me now.

Act 3 is still a generally fun time, but it’s easily the lowest point of the entire game. I can understand why first clears should go that way for the sake of the story, but I really, really wish I had more endings to work for.

A BANGER SOUL

Before I wrap up this review, I want to do a bit of analysis into something I don’t normally associate with brawlers: the story. As Dotemu’s first original IP, the team has put a surprising amount of muscle into fleshing out the narrative of Absolum. In fact, the game’s getting its own animated adaptation at some point. It isn’t really cutscene-heavy, so story-adverse retro gamers have nothing to worry about here. That said, it’s clear that the lack of an established license opened up the story design in a way that probably wouldn’t have been possible if Absolum actually was just another Golden Axe.

On one hand, I didn’t think the overall narrative landed as well as it could have. Absolum uses lore as a reward for exploration and discovery, drip-feeding character backstories and world building across multiple runs. I get that this is working within the roguelite framework, but this also created a situation where I rolled credits before I even knew the full extent of my characters’ motivations. There were still some powerful moments that I got swept up in—Dario Coates pours his entire soul into voicing the wizard Brome. But I do think the game’s structure does the overall tale a disservice. The fact that Absolum almost immediately lays into its own in-game terminology without explaining some of its lexicon didn’t help matters either.

That said, I find myself forgiving these shortcomings, as the underlying themes of the story are incredibly meaningful and purposeful. At its core, Absolum is a game about tyranny. Rebels fighting an evil king is a tale as old as time, but Absolum goes for a darker and (sadly) realistic take on the concept. We see people with destructive ambitions take advantage of fear to gain power, and in turn they sow fear via propaganda to ensure they stay in power. They justify their actions because they are convinced there is no other way, so no cost is too great to see their bloody path to the end. The villains truly believe themselves to be heroes, and they’d sooner stop time itself before facing whatever challenges the future could hold.

ABASHED SOLDIERS

Meanwhile, the playable characters aren’t traditional, altruistic heroes. Rather, they are the last remnants of peoples and civilizations that were razed to the ground as a direct result of that tyranny. They fight for hope, yes, but the desire for revenge is what brought them to their breaking point. Tyranny is bound to fail because it is fundamentally unsustainable, and Absolum is unapologetic in showing that revenge is fully justified, if not outright necessary. The protagonists carry the legacy of countless others who have tried and failed to change the world before them, and they openly struggle with how much they enjoy inflicting violence upon the people who have functionally destroyed their lives.

Absolum ends on a relatively ambiguous note, so I can’t firmly say what it does or doesn’t mean for the world of Talamh. However, I will say the tone offered a poignant counterbalance to that desire of revenge that drives the protagonists. We can, if we’re not careful, perpetuate cruelty in an endless cycle. Returning hope for the world means we need to carve a future that is kind in the face of unimaginable evil. Monsters aren’t born, but rather, they are created. So after the fighting is done and the battle is won, we have to remember how to love again. It’s the only way to face the future that tyrants are so eager to avoid.

I applaud Absolum for not only taking its story seriously, but actually going out of its way to make a meaningful statement with it. It would have been incredibly easy to fill the game with fourth wall breaking jokes and bad puns, especially in a genre known for excuse stories. Even if I think the execution could have landed better, I’ve spent enough time contemplating the text here to really appreciate what the writers were going for. I hope that animated series can dig even deeper into these themes that Absolum so carefully establishes.

ABSOLUTELY MOMENTOUS

In the grand scheme of roguelites, Absolum does maybe fall a tiny bit short of the heights seen by the best games in the genre. The lack of variety in the final act is a genuine bummer, and it does seem that there isn’t a ton of motivation to keep playing after seeing all the levels and clearing every quest. To be clear, I’ve gotten lots of high-quality entertainment out of Absolum, especially considering this is a $25 video game. It just also feels like it’s one really good expansion away from achieving the level of endless replayability that games like The Binding of Isaac or Hades pull off.

Still, even if this is all Absolum ever will be, it accomplishes more than enough to deserve your attention. I actually showed it to my family of retro-enthusiasts for a game night, and to say it passed the vibe check is an understatement. Everyone wanted a turn to see the different paths they could take, and even my nephew with no attachment to 90s arcade games begged his dad to preorder it. There is a genuine magic at work here, and I mean… I’ve racked up over 30 hours with it in the span of a couple weeks while predominately playing solo! I can’t imagine a worse way to play a beat-’em-up like this, yet I completely fell in love with it despite that. 2025 has been a year from hell, yet Absolum managed to put a wide smile on my face as I played it. I cannot think of a more enthusiastic endorsement than that.

Absolum is a spectacular follow-up to Streets of Rage 4. Dotemu and Guard Crush have crafted a roguelite brawler that is the epitome of “easy to learn, hard to master,” with surprising depth that is only matched by its incredible variety. I do hope more is added on top of the game’s foundation, as I don’t think we’ve seen the full potential of these underlying mechanics just yet. Still, this is easily one of the best beat-’em-ups I’ve ever played, and it offers more than enough entertainment to deserve both your time and money. Dotemu took a big risk by betting on a totally original IP with Absolum, and I sincerely hope this is only the beginning of our adventures in the world of Talamh.

8/10

NOTE: I’ve scored this based on Zoey’s metrics for Maximum Utmost. Games don’t get 8’s here unless I love them!

This review was conducted using a Steam key provided by the publisher’s PR.