Absolum is a roguelike beat ’em up, and given the genre’s arcade roots, it’s a very sensible combination. The constant cycle of death and restarting the campaign, once fueled by quarters, is now reimagined through runs, unlockable upgrades, and character-specific quests. It’s a smart evolution that honors the spirit of old-school brawlers while embracing the resurgence of roguelikes.
Absolum was made by Guard Crush Games, one half of the Streets of Rage 4 development team. The other half, Lizardcube, recently worked on another Sega IP, Shinobi, and released the excellent Shinobi: Art of Vengeance — which we also reviewed (I was using the em dash before AI came about, so please don’t accuse me of using AI in the comments).
The game’s influences will be obvious to fans of Vanillaware’s Dragon’s Crown, Treasure’s classic Sega Saturn exclusive Guardian Heroes, and Sega’s popular Golden Axe. You can immediately recognize the hallmarks of those classics woven into Absolum’s combat and aesthetic. But perhaps its closest spiritual sibling is Streets of Rage 4’s survival DLC, expanded here into a full-fledged campaign. If you enjoyed that mode, Absolum feels like a natural next step, offering a deeper and more varied experience with four distinct playable characters, each boasting unique playstyles and unlockable specials/selectable “Arcanas” (read: special moves).
Each run introduces a fresh mix of rituals, passive bonuses, and boss-dropped inspirations (basically another set of special moves). These enhancements vanish after each run, bringing the roguelike element into play while encouraging experimentation. Side quests scattered throughout the campaign add another layer of depth, often requiring specific characters to unlock their full narrative and gameplay potential.
For fans of these genres, the game is very compelling, but it does have some minor shortcomings. Some players may find the pacing of persistent unlockables a bit sluggish, and those deeply familiar with the Streets of Rage 4 DLC might feel a sense of déjà vu. Still, Absolum delivers a very strong entry in the beat ’em up pantheon and is clearly the best the genre has seen since 2020’s Streets of Rage 4. Guard Crush has a surprise hit on its hands; the game’s quality justifies the 200,000 copies sold in its first week and the 90% positive Steam reviews.
- beat em up genre well suited to roguelike elements, due to its arcade origin of dying and having to put quarters in to restart or keep going.
- Clearly takes inspiration from greats of the genre: Dragon’s Crown, Guardian Heroes on Sega Saturn and Sega’s classic Golden Axe franchise.
- Game feels a lot like Streets of Rage 4’s survival DLC expanded into a full campaign mode, if you played that and enjoyed it (I did) you will love this.
- Features four playable characters with different playstyles, characters have unlockable specials and “Arcanas”
- Through each run you can acquire different rituals, passive bonuses or items that alter your attacks as well as inspirations after defeating bosses which expanding the set of skills. These are lost after each run.
- Game features side quests throughout the campaign, often these require using specific characters to fully experience
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- Some complaints about pacing of the persistent unlockables.
- Some might say it’s too similar to the SoR4 DLC if they spent a lot of time with that DLC. I still enjoyed it.
Spencer joined us in early 2015, previously a console centric gamer he switched to PC a few years ago. He later helped push for an increase in Japanese content on PC with the #SEGAPCPorts campaign. Previously he ran a SEGA fansite as well as co-hosted a gaming podcast. He thinks Duke Nukem 3D is the best FPS of all time, his text message alert on his phone is literally Duke Nukem saying “Let God sort ’em out.”
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