Hands On: Absolum – Dead Cells Meets Streets Of Rage 4 In An Effortlessly Stylish ‘Rogue ‘Em Up’ – Nintendo Life
GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpJust one more runWhat would you get if you crossed Dead Cells with Streets of Rage 4? Well, to save you the hassle, we’ll tell you. You get Absolum, a ‘Rogue ‘em Up’ from developers Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, and Supamonks which we recently got the chance to play via a streamed preview build. It takes the slick, stylish, and accessible combat mechanics that you might expect from a classic beat-‘em-up title and adds in unique runs with branching pathways, permanent upgrades, items, and quests.Trading in the urban environments of Streets of Rage for lush, colourful landscapes that look like they’ve been plucked straight from Tolkien (or, perhaps more aptly, Golden Axe), Absolum sees you take on the role of one of four rebels in a quest to defeat Sun King Azra, an all-powerful entity that rules the fantasy land of Talamh. In the short preview build, we had access to two of the four playable characters: Galandra, an agile sword-wielding fighter and Karl, a brutish dwarf whose rifle lets him damage foes from a distance.The game wastes no time getting you into the action, and it’s clear that Dotemu and Guard Crush have used their experience with Streets of Rage 4 to craft a combat system that feels instantly satisfying yet deceptively deep. We played with an Xbox controller for this preview, and you simply tap ‘Y’ (‘X’ on Switch) to dish out a quick melee combo, ‘X’ (‘Y’ on Switch) to whip out your weapon and deliver a heavy attack, and ‘RB’ (‘R’) to unleash a powerful special ability that’s guaranteed to send multiple foes flying into the air.Fights are introduced frequently as you make your way through the environment and, in true beat-‘em-up fashion, the road ahead is blocked until you defeat all enemies. What’s different here, however, is that some successful bouts result in optional upgrades for your character, and it’s here that Absolum really leans into its roguelike elements.Like Dead Cells and Hades, the upgrades are often presented in groups of two or three, giving you the option to choose which one sounds more appealing and best fits your playstyle. You could opt for something that adds a burn effect to your basic combos, or maybe you’re more keen on a deadly bolt of lightning manifesting from a perfect dodge.We can only imagine the possibilities that will be on offer with the full game, but even with the relatively short preview, the added abilities had a tangible impact on combat, making you feel noticeably more powerful as you make your way further through the levels. Of course, it’s still no cakewalk, and death may come swiftly if you’re not careful or happen to find yourself unexpectedly overwhelmed.Again, taking inspiration from Dead Cells, each death results in a new run of the game’s world, letting you take stock of your situation, recover your health, purchase a few handy items, and finally set out on a fresh adventure. The layout changes with each run, but thanks to the remarkably stylish art design and gorgeous fantasy world, you’d be forgiven for thinking that every playthrough has been lovingly hand-crafted each and every time.The preview ended with a pretty formidable boss with its own big health bar displayed at the bottom of the screen. Whether playing on your own or opting for a co-op session with friends, these boss battles seem designed to have you take full advantage of your skills and abilities to achieve victory. It’s thrilling stuff, and we have to admit that we had our asses handed to us a few times before vanquishing the demo’s big honcho.In terms of presentation, the visuals certainly take some inspiration from the hand-drawn approach seen in Streets of Rage 4. Here though, it’s a bit more stylised and abstract, almost like it’s been pulled straight from an Image-produced fantasy graphic novel. There’s a moment in which the protagonists are running in the foreground, completely blacked out like silhouettes, while in the far background an explosion destroys a stone bridge under the hazy light of the rising moon. It’s a gorgeous-looking game, for sure.The same can be said for the audio design. Typical fantasy tunes really bring your combat encounters to life, while every swing of your fist and swish your sword is amplified by wonderful, punchy diegetic sounds. A few more quips or comments from the characters as you work together to take down your foes might be welcome, but we’re equally satisfied if they remain stoically silent.The preview version we played was bereft of any unsightly bugs or performance issues, though we obviously can’t comment yet on how it might hold up natively on the Switch, although given the solid state of Streets of Rage 4, we have high hopes. We’re excited to see how this one shapes up later this year.Absolum is scheduled for Switch and other platforms in 2025, although no specific release date has been announced just yet.What are your thoughts on what you’ve seen so far? Excited to see more? Let us know by leaving a comment down below.About Ollie ReynoldsNintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.Comments 16Looks great! Will await more info of its release…..Beautiful looking game, and I’m getting Castle Crashers vibes. In fact, this is the game you’d probably get if you mixed Lord of the Rings with it. With Dotemu behind it though, it’s not a game to dismiss. Looking forward to a demo!Thanks for the Hands On, this looks great indeed, looking forward to seeing/hearing more of it (including a review here on Nintendo Life hopefully) and will definitely consider giving it a try myself at some point!This looks really cool here’s hoping it doesn’t fall into the trap that almost all rogue do where the bosses have a bazillion HP and effortlessly spam bullet hell and full screen AOE shockwaves but I’m guessing it will as it’s as ingrained into as genre as much as irreverent tone and humor. Guard Crush working on it though is a great sign though, SOR4 has incredibly solid fighting game style fundamentals that made its rogue survival mode a joy to play.Yet another game that looks kind of cool but it’s a roguelite. Let’s hit one million of games boys, we are almost there!@JagGentlemann It’s a popular genre just like metroidvanias, open world games, shooters, etc. There’s more tools than ever for developers and even people with no experience to make their own games so it’s natural that we’ll see a lot of different projects. Considering that people are getting more ridiculous with how much content they expect from their games, rogue-like/lites are an accesible way to compete in the current market.Oh boy, this looks amazing!@JagGentlemann I definitely relate to this. It’s not my genre either, and I’m always disappointed when I see roguelite / roguelike on a game that otherwise looks great! But after playing the highest rated games in this genre and utterly despising them, I’ve learned to just stay away from this subgenre entirely.If nothing else, it practically cuts the Switch’s library in half, so it feels less overwhelming! lolRogue em up eh? I’m assuming Rise of the Double Dragons would fit this bill as well.Looks awesome; on my radar for sure! Plus, Sega, it’s about time you hire these guys to do a Golden Axe game in the style of Revenge of Death-adder…Wishlisted on Steam. Keeping an eye on this.Oh great, “’em up” is going to be the new “-like.” Can’t wait to see this overused nonstop.Oh dang that looks good. The art “style” is similar to SoR4, while the art direction is different. I’m ok with that, but let’s not make that the only thing Dotemu can do. If this has the same quality of game play as SoR4 this should be really good. I still play survival in SoR4 at least once a week. So good.Digital Foundry did a video about SoR4 digging into the technical aspects of the genre. Did a really good job explaining thing. It’s honestly why I have I hopes for this title on just that video.My friends and I are big fans of the ‘survival’ modes in both TMNT: Shredders Revenge and SoR4 so I have no doubt that a full game with those sensibilities by the same dev team is a no brainer for us. Looking forward to seeing more in the future, and I will have to add this to my wishlist right away.@Ray64 That’s not how “em up” is being used here, though. It’s part of “beat ’em up” – games like streets of rage, double dragon, etc.Looks really nice and I think the genre should work well with the rogue elements. Think of it as a very hard beat em up that lets you start over with new abilities and advantages. The best part is the co-op, though. I’ve been gravitating towards the beat ’em ups as a potential family game to play, but I think I’d start with Turtles. 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