I absolutely adored Street of Rage 4. It was one of the most enjoyable reinventions of a beat-'em-up, and it is still a game I revisit when I have an urge to beat up bad guys. That's why I was so excited about Absolum, a new game from the same team. Moving from a standard beat-'em-up to the roguelike genre had me somewhat concerned, but after playing through the game, I can confirm that Absolum might be a different game from Streets of Rage 4, but it's every bit as fun.

Absolum is set in the mystical land of Talamh. A magic cataclysm rocked the land, allowing the terrible Sun King Azra to take over. He blames the wizards of Talamh for the disaster, so wizards are now shunned and feared. The few survivors who've managed to avoid being killed or enslaved now are part of a resistance against Azra's rule. These talented mages set out to slay Azra, aided by the powerful sorceress Uchawi and her ability to revive the mages at every failure.

Absolum is a more plot-heavy game than Streets of Rage 4 was. Each character and each environment have their own little plot, but it's rare for cut scenes to last more than a few lines, and they primarily exist to provide flavor and context for the world you're exploring, almost in a Hades-like fashion. I don't think it quite manages to capture the engaging charm of that game, but it also doesn't get in the way. It's mostly a way to add more "texture" to the bad guys you're beating.

At its core, Absolum is pure beat-'em-up goodness. Picking up and playing the game is incredibly simple. Every character has two attacks — a standard strike and a more potential but slower special attack — and the attacks for each character. Galandra, the most straightforward character, is a tall sword-wielding elf who uses her fists for regular attacks and a slash of her massive sword for her specials. Cinder, on the other hand, is a clockwork-enhanced warrior whose normal rapid strikes are punctuated by a wire-arm grab that can drag enemies closer or allow Cinder to close the gap on them. My favorite was Brome the wizard-frog, who could create a massive AoE explosion with their special attack, which was fantastic for both offense and defense.

In addition to their regular attacks, every character has special Arcana attacks. You can select one at the start of the game and unlock a second random one, with the game rewarding you for selecting a specific one at the start of runs (like Grave Thirst in Hades). These Arcana attacks are special moves fueled by a mana bar that refills as you deal damage, and the attacks have a variety of effects. You can do a powerful close-range uppercut slash, a long-distance thrust, fire an energy beam, create a distracting clockwork puppet for enemies to attack in your place, and more. Your Arcana attack can significantly change how your character plays, often adding more offensive or defensive options.

One of the more interesting mechanics in the game is the ability to dash and clash with enemy attacks. Dashing allows you to move forward, up or down quickly. While this can be useful for dodging some attacks, its biggest advantage is that, when timed correctly, you can actually an enemy's attack by dashing into it (a "deflect"), nullifying damage and allowing you to keep the combo going. With proper timing, you can become an unstoppable force, assuming an enemy doesn't do a powerful glowing red attack. You can also clash with enemy attacks at the exact right moment by using a special attack or Arcana abilities, which leaves them staggered and can trigger specific rituals. The downside is that it's riskier; if you mistime it, you're going to eat an attack to the face.

The dash and clash mechanics lend the game an incredibly enjoyable feel. At first, I was unsure about the lack of mobility, but once I got into the flow of things, I felt absolutely unstoppable. I launched into a super-long combo across an entire screen of enemies through proper use of deflecting and clashing with attacks. The game has a mechanic in place where combos get broken if they go on too long (you're rewarded with bonus damage, though); it prevents you from one-touch-of-deathing bosses.

Assuming you don't count a specific part of the DLC, the big difference from Streets of Rage 4 is that Absolum is a roguelike. This gets represented in two ways. At the end of every screen, you'll get a reward. Sometimes, the rewards are resources you can use to unlock new Arcana or upgrades back at base. Sometimes, they are trinkets that give you passive bonuses, and sometimes, they are rituals, which are one of the biggest areas that change between runs.

Functionally, rituals are like boons from the Hades games. Each one is themed after a specific kind of element (fire, water, wind) or occasionally something more esoteric (necromancy is a personal favorite). When you find a ritual, you're offered a choice between different upgrades that are applied to one of your abilities. Rituals do things like add a fire attack to your hits, allow you to build up a static charge that creates chain lightning, makes attacks drop throwable items, or more. They can be upgraded and get stronger to amplify their effects, and each character also has a specific set of unique rituals that can change how their attacks work, such as letting Cinder cling to walls or allowing Galandra to drain mana from enemies.

This does lend an interesting different element to each run because it can significantly change which element of a character's kit you focus on. If you get a lot of skills aimed toward your special attack instead of your strike attack, you might end up prioritizing the special attack. If you get buffs to your Arcana, then it can be worth looking at trinkets or rituals that let you build mana faster. It's a nice way to help keep characters feeling unique, combined with the way you can swap out Arcana for each run.

The other big roguelike element is that the game is actually split into multiple paths. You're frequently offered the chance to go in one direction or another, which can unlock mini-quests or hidden areas that change earlier areas in some fashion, including unlocking new paths. These new paths can lead to different bosses with different rewards, unlock additional trinkets, or provide a fresh experience.

To see some of this, you'll need to die, which the game is built around. Again, think Hades, where death is expected because it unlocks new features and gimmicks. When you start the game, you get exactly one life, and healing is quite difficult to come by, so all but the most skilled of beat-'em-up players will probably die. Repeatedly. Dying means you can upgrade your characters, including purchasing stat upgrades to health or the ability to revive upon dying, and you get to challenge the zones again — perhaps by taking a different route than you did last time. It's a nice way to capture the old-school feel of playing a beat-'em-up on a single quarter without making it feel too punishing.

The roguelike elements in Absolum can be feast or famine. While the core mechanics are strong enough that you don't need a single upgrade to get through the game (and it still feels great to play), the existence of the upgrades means that the difficulty curve can be wildly inconsistent. Getting damage reduction or bonus health can be a big shift, and once you're able to spew out armies of skeletons every three seconds and you get some power-ups under your belt, your base power skyrockets. I had at least one good run where it felt like I'd lucked into a god-build as opposed to mastering gameplay mechanics. This is also what I expect to be the most make-or-break element of the game, even for fans of Streets of Rage 4. I enjoyed the variety of upgrades, power-ups and new abilities in addition to the constant shifting of different builds, but if you enjoyed the consistency and solid structure of a standard beat-'em-up, the roguelike elements will work against all of that.

That aspect aside, Absolum is an absolute dream to play. It is smooth, full of depth, and it's easy to pick up and play, but there's room to master all kinds of mechanics. It's consistently engaging, and while it doesn't quite capture the narrative strength of Hades, the constantly shifting levels keep the gameplay fresh. I rarely felt disappointed in a death, but I was happy to get the chance to try it again. This was some of the most fun I've had with a beat-'em-up since Streets of Rage 4.

Absolum is also a gorgeous game. The hand-drawn sprites are fluid and absolutely delightful to see in motion, and each of the game's many and varied backgrounds shine with flavor and life. It's just a beautiful game that manages to execute everything almost perfectly, and it runs like a dream, even on the Steam Deck. Likewise, the music and voice acting lends a lot of character and atmosphere to the game, making the act of playing it an absolute joy.

Absolum is pretty much everything you could want in a roguelike beat-'em-up. It's engaging, constantly varied, fun to play, gorgeous to look at, and it's pretty much a nonstop good time. The only way I can see a fan of the beat-'em-up genre not liking Absolum is if they don't like roguelikes. Even then, I could see it melting some hearts. It's a delight from start to finish, and the game is nearly impossible to put down.

Score: 9.0/10