Absolum 1.1 — Stylish, Brutal, Simplistic
An elf, a dwarf, a frog, and a marionette enter a bar… And beat everyone up
2025 has been nothing short of a great year for the folks at Dotemu and their partners. They gave us Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound in July, Absolum in October, and finished the year strong with MARVEL Cosmic Invasion. But it seems like they weren’t quite done yet with one of these cuties. Yes, I’m talking about Absolum. They released the 1.1 version this month, which primarily adds new end-game content.
I’ve played the game in its entirety on this patch. After almost 47 hours to get everything in the game, I should know a thing or two about it. Huge thanks to the Absolum community, especially Kilroy and ThatguyLFS. They’ve been trusty co-op partners and a well of knowledge about the game before and after the 1.1 patch.
Story
Spoiler-Free Synopsis
The world is in shambles after The Cataclysm. This event unleashed a huge amount of raw magic and changed the fate of the people of Talamh forever. What happened? Why did it occur? That’s not something I can say.
What I can tell you is that two important factions tried to solve the crisis that came after. One is the Root Sisters, a group that believes in the free use of magic and its natural connection with the people. The other is the Crimson Order, which is hellbent on controlling magic at all costs and stigmatizes every magic user who doesn’t follow their rule.
You can probably guess whose side we are on. Yep, we’re part of the sisterhood, lads. They are led by the high enchantress Uchawui as they mount a rebellion to dethrone the Sun King Azra, the leader of the Crimson Order. But of course, obtaining an audience with the control freak king is not that easy. We need to adventure through the regions of Talamh. Beat a crap ton of the king’s supporters and minions. And eventually reach the capital city of Asterios for the final showdown.
And even after all is set and done… There might be more than meets the eye.
Characters
The story focuses on 4 protagonists and their relationship. We have the elven knight Galandra, whose city of Yieldrim was absolutely destroyed and filled with undead during The Cataclysm. She’s portrayed as a painfully beautiful character. Behind her every word of confidence lies a world of hurt, as her city is the one that took the biggest loss. The look in her eyes, the way she glances around, the pain in her words tell the story of a character that has… seen things. She’s almost like a war veteran, haunted by what happened in Yieldrim.
At the opposite pole, we have Karl, the dwarf. And let me tell you, he’s not the typical dwarf that you see portrayed in the mass media. As someone who’s lived for hundreds of years, there’s a certain wisdom in the way he carries himself. He mourns the losses of The Cataclysm in a melancholic way — what’s done is done, yet he can still remember the good days before and dream of a future. His outlook on fighting, eating, drinking, and being in the company of his friends is different from that of traditional dwarfs who are drunks and warmongers. Ironically, he’s this larger-than-life character who sees and understands the bigger picture.
Cider is a living marionette who has no idea about their past, except for the fact that they’re a master thief. All they know is that they feel a connection to the various places that they visit as they journey through Talamh. And that perhaps one of them holds the secret to unlocking their memories.
Brome is part of the only race that’s attuned to magic from their birth, the Mowlai (the frog people). And who doesn’t like magic? You guessed it. Azra. And what do we do when we don’t like something and want to prove a point? Mass genocide. Brome is a rather desperate and deeply emotional character compared to the others. While the other 3 remained loyal to the Root Sisters, he abandoned them and went rogue when he heard what his people were going through. Even so, he realized that no man… frog can stand against an army. Driven by both necessity and this hard, cold fact, he rejoins the group. But not without being scolded and reminded now and then about what he did.
Although not a playable character, Mother Uchawi is the current leader of the Root Sisters. Her mystic powers are able to rebirth our heroes, should they die in combat. She is absolutely driven to defeat Azra and free Talamh from his iron grip. Yet you can’t help but wonder if there’s more to her than meets the eye. Except for the fact that she’s 6 times the size of a human being and has a giant baby in her belly.
Except for the main cast, there are quite a few supporting characters. Both with us or against us. Some of them have fixed locations in our base. They have a story and scars of their own. Some of them roam the continent as allies or enemies. Pretty much like everyone involved in these events, there’s more to them than what they let on. We have an entire fantasy cast of humans, goblins, lizards, undead, and everything else you can imagine.
What feels particularly fulfilling is that they don’t feel empty. They don’t exist only to serve a mechanical purpose for the gameplay. They have depth, they have a past, and a personality that goes beyond the screen.
From all the genres where I could find meaningful characters, a roguelike beat ’em up was the last place where I expected them to show up. And y’know what? Congrats to the people at Dotemu, Guard Crush, and Supamonks for showing people that it’s possible.
Narrative Quality
What makes Absolum’s writing such a delight is the worldbuilding and the moral ambiguity of its universe. It’s hard to pinpoint who is right and who is wrong in a world thrown into chaos. How certain people and factions try to survive the aftermath, cope with the situation, minimize the damage, and save what’s left is so inherently human. Again, it’s not about who’s right or wrong. It’s more about how a civilization thrown into despair tries to rebound. Some people vouch for a more delicate approach. Some believe that full control is the only way to restore order in a crisis. And of course, there are those caught in between.
What adds spice and flavor to the game are the many side quests and characters that you can randomly come across during your runs. These encounters are usually very scarce, which adds to the element of surprise. You never know who might show on your path, give you some rewards, upgrades, etc.
Each protagonist has a main quest. You will have to revisit Talamh quite a few times if you want to find out about their past and what lies ahead for them.
If I had to critique anything, it’s how easy it is to spot the loose ends and flaws in the writing. If you look at the story as a whole, you need to connect the dots to understand the meaning behind the meaning. But at the same time, you can identify the story beats that lead nowhere. Maybe because they’re leftovers of ideas that they didn’t manage to flesh out. Or maybe because we’ll get more content that will allow them to make sense.
All in all, storytelling is a mix between trails of breadcrumbs. Some lead you to answers. Some lead you to a dead end.
Actors Performance
Absolum’s cast mixes acting professionals who are classically trained, who appeared in TV series, people who’ve been part of big gaming franchises, and even folks who’ve touched all three. The first name that will probably ring a bell is Samantha Béart, since most of you know them for their role as Karlach from Baldur’s Gate III. And they’re doing a great job in this one as the voice of Cider.
But my absolute favorite has to be Emily Barber, the voice of Galandra. She makes the story of the elven knight so much more believable. I felt part of Galandra’s emotional journey due to her performance. You could relate to her as someone who lost everything. Some who tries to keep it together. Someone who breaks into desperation at times. And ultimately, someone who finds peace.
And here comes the kicker: this is her first role in a video game.
Gameplay
Important Mechanics
Absolum tries to keep things as simple as possible for a beat ’em up, with an easy-to-understand toolkit for each character:
- A 3-hit combo sequence on your basic attack.
- Your Skill is synonymous with a slower heavy attack. If you time it right, you can Clash with enemy attacks. This staggers them and you can lay on them to your heart’s content.
- A dash that you can direct to a different lane to avoid attacks. Or, on the contrary, a forward dash that deflects most enemy attacks. This offers you a small Punish window.
- Two Arcana abilities that cost mana in exchange for huge damage or utility. Timing an Arcana right can also result in a Clash, much like a Skill. In general, the window to Clash is much more generous for Arcanas than for Skills. The downside being that they cost mana.
- An Ultimate that deals a crap ton of damage and makes you invincible while you cast it.
Something that you can only obtain during runs (at first) is Inspirations. These are passives unique to each character. They can provide simple damage bonuses. Or they can fundamentally change how a character works. For example, Galandra has an Inspiration that can increase her damage by 10% for 10 seconds after she kills an enemy. But she also has an Inspiration that modifies her Skill from a simple sword strike to a 3-hit combo.
You’ll get a selection of two Inspirations to choose from after select boss fights. Completing each character’s quest will give you a chance at a special Inspiration called Arcana Mastery. This one changes how Arcana abilities work. I’ll take Galandra as an example again. Her Necrotic Wave sends a wave slash in front of her. When upgraded, she sends two waves instead.
However, your bread and butter for powering up are the Rituals. You’ll usually have a selection of 2 them (and later 3) at the end of each zone you clear. These can add elemental properties to everything from your character’s kit, except for the Inspirations and Ultimate. You can add:
- Fire that… well, burns your enemies.
- Water, that revolves around pushing your enemy around, locking them, or getting mana back.
- Gale, that revolves around tornadoes, Sonic Booms that create air projectiles, critical damage, or aerial combat.
- Bramble, which focuses on creating throwable projectiles or projectiles that get fired as you cast your abilities.
- Static, which lets you chain lightning that hits all the enemies or create electric balls that shoot at enemies.
- Necromancy, which can give you shields or spawn minions.
There are a few others, but I won’t spoil those for you since they’re a bit more unique. However, these Rituals work differently from other types of ability power-ups from roguelikes. Looking at you, Hades and the gang.
For example, nothing is stopping you from adding any number of Rituals to your basic attack if you have the chance to. There are also combined Rituals that affect two elements, if you want to get even crazier. Why is this enjoyable? Because you can pull off some nasty interactions. In other words, it’s less about making a sacrifice for the better option. It’s more about leaning into that power fantasy.
Get The Gaming Copywriter’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
There’s enough enemy variety for each biome, with many native creatures trying to murder you at every step. And if that wasn’t enough, you can also come across armored or Elite versions of them. This adds more thought to your combat than just blasting through waves of enemies that can’t fight back. It encourages you to use your entire skill set, get proficient at Clashing attacks for windows of opportunity, and reminds you that there’s a grab mechanic that bypasses all defenses. Standing near an enemy automatically grabs them, and you can perform a throw that leaves them on the ground and vulnerable.
An important element to keep in mind is the map. Once you become familiar with where you can find what, you can start planning your route. Besides getting the best resource, there’s another aspect that makes planning crucial. I’ll tell you in a bit.
The last few elements that you can encounter inside runs are:
- Random food drops from enemies to replenish your health.
- Trinkets that are either dropped by enemies or sold at shops to improve your stats.
- Pets that you can mount. As long as they have stamina, you can attack with them and be safe, as not many attacks will hit you.
- Sections with secrets that require a bit of cleverness every now and then.
- Hearthroots that act like safe points where you can replenish some of your HP, craft a Trinket, or improve the rarity of a Ritual.
- Havens, which are essentially safe zones where you can heal, buy mercenaries, and shop.
The meta progression outside the runs revolves around the Spirit Tree. This is essentially your skill tree. You can improve stats like your HP, damage, critical chance, number of revives, etc. All the upgrades cost Crystals, a resource gathered during runs or when you level up your Radiance. Radiance is synonymous with XP in Absolum. The more levels you have, the more crystals you’ll get. Bear in mind that your Radiance level is capped at 999.
You can also unlock new Arcanas and Rituals for each character. The resources for these are locked behind leveling up, as well.
What makes gameplay fun
Remember how I mentioned the ability to add as many Rituals as you want to any of your abilities? This can snowball out of control as soon as you hit the mid-game. Just to give you an example, I combined Fire, Static, and Gale and their duo Rituals for my basic attack. The result was a cyclone of doom that would shoot lasers and set enemies on fire. All I had to do was a simple running attack, and everything would just die. Even the rewards would spawn with explosions that would make Michael Bay jealous.
Remember how I said maps are important? This becomes even more true with the Threads of Fate update. This patch adds Corrupted Zones marked on your map. What this means is that choosing to go into one of them will guarantee Rituals as rewards for each room you clear. But the rooms will also be tougher. The enemy density will be higher. And creatures from other regions (including elite versions) will teleport through rifts to make your life miserable.
To be fair, saying this is a fun element might be controversial within the community. Before 1.1, these rifts would spawn at random and bring fewer enemies along. Now you know the regions where they’ll appear, with the downside that they’re a tougher challenge.
Many players complain about this change, as they consider the difficulty spike way higher than before. On the contrary, I enjoy the risk-reward element and the ability to control it. If you plan to go into Corrupted Zones, you know it won’t be just a walk in the park. But you also know that learning how to manage them will give you rewards that far outweigh the pain. And if you really want to avoid them, there’s no shame in picking a different route.
Another change brought by the Threads of Fate update is the Mystic Ordeals. What do they do? They require you to complete runs under certain restrictions. For example, you can choose an Ordeal that slowly depletes your HP but gives your attacks lifesteal. Or one that increases the number of enemies, their damage, their speed, and pretty much turns them into cold-blooded murder machines.
Again, this sounds like going through unnecessary pain for no good reason. Why the heck would I consider it fun? Because you can customize your loadout to prepare for these challenges. This is not really a secret, but there’s a hidden room back at base where you can buy any of the Trinkets you’ve found with Crystals. All in all, you can even the field against the restrictions of any Ordeal if you plan smartly.
Completing Ordeals also gives you access to new character skins and unlocks new sections of the Spirit Tree. You can also create custom Ordeals of your own and make the challenge as hard or as easy as you’d like. In other words, totally worth it.
A lovely accessibility option is the addition of the Assist menu. If you play alone or in local co-op, you can tweak how much damage the enemies deal or how much damage you do. Wanna make things tougher because you’re a maniac? You can. Wanna make things easier and enjoy the power fantasy? You can.
But what makes the game truly fun is the co-op element. Playing with someone online or in couch co-op is so much more fun than just doing solo runs. I couldn’t go back to playing alone after doing a few runs with the people in the community. Experiencing crazy builds along with someone else and feeding each other’s build with even more nonsense feels sooo much better. The community is also made up of great people without ego problems. I’ve asked the folks I’ve played here and there, and I’ve only heard about one case where someone had an unpleasant experience. If you’re looking to play with someone and don’t have friends who own the game, going on the official Discord is an excellent choice.
What makes gameplay less fun
While you can add Rituals like a maniac and snowball your build into oblivion… The truth is that runs will feel very similar. A bunch of crap explodes and dies everywhere with one simple swing. You might not even see everything that’s happening on the screen due to the sheer chaos and tomfoolery involved. It’s fun the first few times you do it. Not so much after you keep doing it again and again.
If you ask me, this type of situation happens because the rogue elements aren’t that strongly defined. While you can alter how any of your abilities work through the Inspiration system, the speed at which you come across them feels a bit too slow. Being able to unlock them only through select bosses will make you use your base moves most of the time. And by the time you unlock Inspirations for them to matter… they don’t matter. Because you picked up enough Rituals to unleash hell with the press of a button and a fart of your buttcheeks.
Last but not least, not all the Ordeals are built equal. One of them feels very redundant and out of place. It is called the Dead Tree Ordeal. Its restrictions disable your Spirit Tree upgrades, resembling how you would play if you had started a fresh save without any upgrades. Now, why is this Ordeal redundant? Because you have the option to buy a crap ton of Trinkets before entering it to make it absolutely easy. Or you can just toy with the Assist options instead of wasting your precious Crystals.
Bugs and Performance Issues
I didn’t come across many bugs while playing Absolum. Getting a negative score at the end of the run is one of the few. If you go too wild with your build and deal out of this world damage, you can eventually hit negative Radiance scores. What does this mean? You won’t be able to level up until you recover all that negative Radiance.
You can also get locked into animations if your build spirals out of control and just sit there watching mayhem unfold for a few good minutes before you can control your character again. You might also just die from doing too much damage. Don’t ask me how the math behind that works.
Art & Audio
Visual Style
The 2D hand-drawn art style of Absolum is simply a thing of beauty. From the character models, to the animation sprites, and the special effects. To the scenery that looks breathtaking. They all become a sight to behold when you put them together. The lower framerate for attack animations and hit reactions gives combat a certain weightiness. It feels like your hits matter, because you can feel the impact just by looking at the action.
I could go into many details. But I believe you’ve seen enough screenshots in this article by now to understand how good Absolum looks.
Music Style
This game is stacked in the music department. We’ve got Gareth Coker as the lead composer, who’s previously worked on the Ori games, Ruined King, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and Halon: Infinite. We’ve also got guest songs from Mick Gordon, who really doesn’t need any introduction. And even Yuta Kitamura and Motoi Sakuraba, who are famous for their work on the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, and the Tales of series. But I will say that my favorite one of them is Rachel Hardy. One of the things that makes her performance stand out is that she sings in the only song with lyrics, Yieldrim. The contrast between so many songs that portray a decaying world without a lyric and a performance that puts it all into words makes it all the more bittersweet.
What I’m trying to say is that we have a great balance between epic orchestral arrangements, some tasty metal, as well as calm and peaceful tunes in the resting areas. The soundtrack doesn’t disappoint in the slightest.
Final Verdict
Who is this for?
If you like a narrative that keeps you thinking about the bigger picture and the events taking place. If characters that actually feel alive due to good writing and actors who know how to make them feel real. If impactful combat and insane builds get your power fantasy going. If you’re up for a challenge. Or if you just want to experience the story and use the accessibility options to enjoy a tamer experience. If you like 2D art that takes your breath away. If listening to a soundtrack made by some of the best composers in games gets you excited. Then you’ll have a blast playing Absolum.
Who isn’t this for?
If games that are more chill and cozy are your thing. If you like combat that has more depth than using a few combos obsessively isn’t your jam. And if you enjoy a roguelite system that has a bit more meat on its bones. Then you might want to think twice before getting Absolum.
Prices & Platforms
The game is available on Steam, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Switch for $24.99. It frequently goes on sale on Steam for as low as $18.74. It’s currently discounted to $19.99 on Switch. And if you’re lucky, you can also get it for the same price when it’s discounted on the PlayStation Store. As of now, it doesn’t support cross-play. So keep that in mind if you want to get it together or play it with a friend.
If what you’ve read so far about Absolum got you excited, the game is worth its value even at full price. Even if you don’t do everything and you decide to settle just for finishing the game normally, you’ll get about 15 hours of gameplay. If you want to work towards the true ending, you can expect around 25 hours. And if you want to complete every Ordeal and get every achievement, you’ll have at least 40+ hours of enjoyment. The people I’ve been playing and talking to already have hundreds of hours on record from even before the most recent content drop. So the replayability value is definitely there.
Thanks a bunch for reading. If you’re the developer and would like to find out more subtle details and nuances, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn or via email.
Take care. And see you soon with another review.
