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While beat 'em ups have had a bit of a resurgence in recent times – with the likes of River City Girls, Streets of Rage 4, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge being lauded – it's a genre that has fallen out of favor in the modern era, with many players dismissing its stylings as mindless button mashing. I've remained a fan, but it's clear that it needs to evolve to capture a bigger audience; which is precisely the mission statement Dotemu described to me when introducing its brand new IP, Absolum.
After the success of the aforementioned Streets of Rage and Ninja Turtles revivals, Dotemu is venturing into the unknown with its first ever brand new IP. The studio is once again teaming up with Guard Crush Games (who co-developed Streets of Rage 4) and is working with French animation house SupaMonks. Inspired by the likes of Sega's Golden Axe and Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, Absolum is a fantasy beat 'em up in the vein of Dotemu's previous licensed games but with a Hades-flavored twist.
When presenting the game, the team at Dotemu mention that one of the core facets of the beat 'em up genre is replayability, so the choice to become a roguelike is a natural fit. The game plays out very similarly to Hades, where you'll have a brawl on a specific screen, nab an item, and then head out to the next area. Then, once you inevitably eat it, you're reborn in a central hub with the chance to give yourself permanent buffs to make the next run a little bit easier.
However, I'm most impressed by how the game evolves from run to run. Each area has a map and multiple branching paths as standard, but your actions in one run can open up new pathways. At one point, an NPC gives me a quest to battle the Goblin leader to allow them to repair the bridge, and after dying to it a good four times, once I finally beat it, a new path opens to me via the mended bridge. Experimenting with paths also opens up other unique experiences, like battling two minibosses as opposed to the usual one before reaching the area boss.
Brawl for all
Four characters are available, each with their own way to crush goblin forces from screen to screen, fitting into the usual Warrior, Brawler, Mage, and Thief fantasy archetypes (although we only had access to the former two). Both characters feel wholly unique; Galandra wields a massive sword, which is used for heavy strikes and complements it with quick punches, while Karl is a full-blown brawler with massive punches that hit like a tank and the ability to throw enemies across the arena like they're nothing, all while wielding a massive gun.
However, unlike other progression-based games in the genre – like Shredder's Revenge and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – you don't level up these fighters to unlock new abilities. Instead, you'll be offered an Inspiration after each boss encounter, which grants you access to a new tool for your kit. These included a Lariat AOE combo ender (in tribute to the GOAT Mike Haggar) and an enemy slam attack out of a grab for Karl.
Meanwhile, each screen cleared will present you with a new item. These can range from typical rewards like cash and items for use in the hub, but you also have the opportunity to pick up Rituals, which add buffs to your pre-existing moves. These include water bubbles that turn your enemy into a grenade, fire that deals damage over time, and a thunder effect that builds up before unleashing chain lightning at full charge. It's very reminiscent of the god buffs in Hades, but it works shockingly well for the beat 'em up format.
One of my favorite aspects of Absolum's combat is that you can keep smacking through foes non-stop if you've got the skills. There's no block button to speak of; instead, your dash works as a parry, meaning the best course of action is often to actually run headfirst into danger. This mechanic shines especially bright during the bosses where you'll find yourself timing multiple dodges in a row to parry the bosses massive blows. However, this doesn't trivialize things at all; Absolum can get pretty brutal difficulty-wise (one of my notes taken during the session was "I'm shitting the bed here"). Game designer Gauthier Brunet tells me the game is balanced for solo players, so things may be a lot easier if you play co-op (which was unavailable during my preview session).
Art attack
I can foresee this one taking over my life for a bit upon release
Lizardcube – who headed up the art direction in Streets of Rage 4 – isn't teaming up with Dotemu and Guard Crush this time around, with French animation studio Supamonks taking on the art direction instead. Thankfully, the studio has crushed it because Absolum looks absolutely gorgeous. Everything in the game is hand-drawn with an art style influenced by French and American comic books, and it looks fantastic in motion. In fact, it sounds like Supamonks may have been the final piece of the puzzle, as the game's art director, Maxime Mary, revealed that the animation studio actually asked the team to speed things up to allow for more fluid animation, resulting in the satisfying combat in the game today.
Even with three talented studios all working together, one of the most striking things from my time with Absolum is the soundtrack. Beat 'em ups have a reputation for coming with a banger of an album. Yuzo Koshiro's Streets of Rage, Anamanaguchi's Scott Pilgrim, and Jake Kaufman's Double Dragon Neon: it's a genre which breeds top tier OST's.
Dotemu – whose last brawler Shredder's Revenge, came with a Raekwon and Ghostface Killah banger – has enlisted Gareth Coker (Ori, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown) to produce the soundtrack. Something you'll notice about the soundtracks mentioned above is they are all very synth-heavy, so with Absolum's fantasy setting, I truthfully was a bit skeptical that Coker's style would fit in with the high energy of battle – but I was incredibly happy to be proven wrong.
Absolum doesn't have a release date outside of a vague '2025', but I can foresee this one taking over my life for a bit upon release.
Besides Absolum, here are the new games of 2025 you should be keeping an eye on ahead of launch
