Fight as the outcast heroes of Talamh in a fierce battle to retake magic from Sun King Azra’s grasp in Absolum, an original roguelite beat ‘em up by Dotemu.
Absolum is a 2D beat-em-up roguelike where you fight through a large adventure to beat the Sun King. He is pleasantly surprised that it pairs a very strong combat core with rich roguelike elements, which he normally sees as a trade-off. He finds it skill-heavy, rewarding, full of content and great to look and listen to. Flaws are minor: stun-lock, drop RNG, unclear hitboxes and thin tutorials. He places it as the first A tier of the video and highly recommends it.
Liked
Combat is extremely satisfying, with flashy combos and clash slow-motion moments
Multiple characters with unique move sets and combos
Boons enhance attacks, specials and throws and can add new moves, so the same character plays differently each run
Varied boon effects (roses, fire, wind, bubbles) without feeling overwhelming
Skill-heavy and rewarding as mastery lets you trivialize bosses that once crushed you
Strong sense of adventure: story, quests, exploration and a world that feels new each run, plus good meta progression
Great replayability, enjoyable-looking co-op, fantastic music, sound and visuals
Disliked
Easy to get stun-locked, especially early on
Some enemies can take half your health in one combo with little recourse
Drop RNG from barrels (money, health or nothing) can be punishing early
Some hitboxes are unclear
Wants more tutorials on combos and tips, especially in the mid game
Top 10 of 2025 (#6)
Absolum is an adventure beat-em-up roguelike where outcast heroes try to take magic back from the sun king. He notes that good beat-em-ups are rare these days, and rarer still as roguelikes. He says it balances strong core combat with real roguelike components better than most. The world is large, with many levels, biomes, unlocks and side quests, and the pacing is strong. He calls it one of his favorite action-adventure roguelikes in recent years, and he keeps checking for updates while waiting for the full release.
Liked
Very enjoyable core beat-em-up gameplay with satisfying combos and varied ways to approach fights
Unusually good balance of strong combat and strong roguelike components
Roguelike elements make each run feel unique
Massive world with many levels and biomes that immerses the player
Constant unlocks of new zones and side quests, with lots of content to discover
Great pacing with plenty of meta progression and things to do after every run
Disliked
No real criticism given; he notes only that it is still in early access awaiting full release
Implicit genre caveat: games with strong core gameplay usually have much weaker roguelike elements, which Absolum avoids
What players say
A hand-drawn, Hades-style roguelite side-scrolling beat 'em up with four playable heroes and two-player co-op, made by Guard Crush Games (Streets of Rage 4) and Supamonks and published by Dotemu.
Absolum is very well received by both critics and players: Metacritic sits at 87 on PC (52 critic reviews) and PS5 (22 reviews), 89 on Switch (11 reviews) with only one mixed and none negative, and Steam shows about 92% positive across roughly 10,800 reviews (Very Positive). Praise centres on tight, satisfying combat, gorgeous animation and art, a strong soundtrack, and build variety. The main critic dissent is IGN's 70, which argued the roguelite structure does not serve the beat 'em up well. Players who dislike it mostly cite enemy-stacking and elite-enemy design in late game, hitbox and verticality problems, and online co-op instability. It is not early access: it launched in 1.0 on 9 Oct 2025, got the 1.1 'Threads of Fate' update in Feb 2026, full cross-platform multiplayer in May 2026 and another fix/tweak patch in Aug 2026. It has been nominated for The Game Awards 2025 Best Independent Game and won two Pegases awards.
Players love
Fluid, punchy combat with light/heavy chains, arcana specials and three defensive tools (dodge, deflect, clash) that reward timing; often compared favourably to Streets of Rage 4
Hand-drawn art and animation (Supamonks) widely called among the best 2D visuals of the year, with a soundtrack praised as memorable
Four heroes (Karl, Galandra, Cider, Brome) with distinct movesets and six arcanas each, so runs feel different and builds can get absurd and overpowered
Boon-like Ritual system with real synergies (water/tornado combos, thrown coins, thorn daggers, summons) that encourages experimentation
Excellent two-player couch co-op, repeatedly described as the best way to play, including parents playing with kids
Branching routes, secret areas, side quests and NPC stories give exploration and narrative texture beyond a plain arcade brawler
Boss fights described as deliberate and not just damage sponges; assist and difficulty options make it accessible to older or casual players
Good value at $24.99 for most reviewers, and runs well on Steam Deck
Common complaints
Online co-op reliability: many negative Steam reviews cite disconnects, crashes mid-run and broken matchmaking, some saying it got worse after the crossplay update; no rejoin once dropped
Late-game and Corrupted Biome encounters flood the screen with enemies, teleporting-in attackers and projectiles hidden behind big enemies, plus bloated enemy HP pools in co-op, which many find unfair rather than hard
Hitbox and verticality complaints: enemy and boss attacks seem to reach past their animations or hit across the whole depth plane while the player must align precisely
Elite and super-armored enemies and shield enemies are seen as unengaging and punish defensive play; dodge is widely called weak compared with deflect and clash
Visual clutter and unclear telegraphs, plus a few reports of poor PC performance and softlock/stuck bugs
Some quests make the game harder with little or no reward (for example extra enemies or boss changes added permanently)
Co-op UI quirks: both players' inputs can hit the same NPC dialogue and trigger unwanted map changes; co-op lacks the solo difficulty sliders
Can feel tedious
Meta-progression grind and repeated runs through the same stages and bosses, especially for people who would prefer a one-shot arcade mode
Getting the true ending takes many runs and was called stretched out by some reviewers
Linear, mandatory stat upgrades in the meta tree rather than new options
Corrupted Biomes and elite enemies turning late runs into cheese-build checks
Having to wait for startup frames to clash or dodge instead of freely cancelling out of combos
Some players say the roguelite layer is weak: in-run upgrades mostly gate moves and meta upgrades are flat stat bumps (the most-upvoted negative reviews call it a great beat 'em up but a poor roguelike)
What's unique
One of the few roguelites built on a true arcade beat 'em up foundation, from the Streets of Rage 4 co-developer, with fixed level layouts but randomised rituals and branching paths
Mounted combat: riding and taming creatures adds a different combat mode and is upgraded with elite mounts in 1.1
Clash mechanic (strong attack just before being hit) alongside dodge and deflect gives a parry-flavoured defence layer uncommon in brawlers
Persistent world with quests, NPC side stories and secret routes across runs, tied to a soul-tree meta progression and a harder true ending
Mystic Ordeals (custom run modifiers with shareable codes), Boss Rush and Horde modes added post-launch
Character-locked quirks: each hero's arcana and pickups (for example thrown objects as grenades, air-dash builds) can reshape how they play
Players want
Fix online co-op stability, allow reconnecting to a run, and only spend revive perks once both players are down
Balance rituals so weak or junky options and dominant elements (water, chaos) are more even and fewer boons feel like filler
Make dodge and defensive options more reliable against wide AoE, super-armor and shield enemies, and tidy hitboxes and telegraphs
Offer difficulty adjustment in multiplayer and reduce stacked late-game enemy spawns
More content and variety: levels feel repetitive across runs to some, the game is short for completionists (under 10 hours to clear everything for one reviewer), and fans ask for DLC, sequels and maybe four-player co-op
Stronger narrative integration; some critics found the story thin compared to the worldbuilding
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Roguedex
Tier list Part 5 (2026)
Absolum is a 2D beat-em-up roguelike where you fight through a large adventure to beat the Sun King. He is pleasantly surprised that it pairs a very strong combat core with rich roguelike elements, which he normally sees as a trade-off. He finds it skill-heavy, rewarding, full of content and great to look and listen to. Flaws are minor: stun-lock, drop RNG, unclear hitboxes and thin tutorials. He places it as the first A tier of the video and highly recommends it.
Liked
Disliked