Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUEAbsolum
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.
Why this score?
Original text · Simplified Chinese
动作深度与局内构筑同时成立，路线探索也能改变体验；复杂场面的判定可读性及联网可靠性拖累总评。
Core gameplay
Weight 25%9.0 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
根据资料评估：轻重连段、法术与闪避格挡反击形成扎实的清版动作，敌人交互密集；连击压制与过量同屏威胁偶尔打断控制。
Builds & strategy
Weight 25%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
根据资料评估：角色招式和仪式效果存在真正的联动路线，能改变攻击、防御与召唤策略，而非只叠面板。
Replayability
Weight 20%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
根据资料评估：分支路线、秘密区域和任务改变遭遇与目标，多角色战法支持重新适应；重复后段大量敌人仍会疲劳。
Randomness & fairness
Weight 20%6.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
根据资料评估：防御技巧可学习，但纵深判定、被大型单位遮住的攻击和连续硬直降低了风险预判与受击后的补救空间。
Polish & usability
Weight 10%6.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
根据资料评估：基础动画和局部操作反馈扎实，在线合作断连、无法重入及界面误触的收录反馈影响主要使用场景。
- Reviewer
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Rogue by Rogue · AI 资料评测- Version reviewed
Original text · Simplified Chinese
具体构建未知；以所引资料描述的版本为准
Scope and limitations
Original text · Simplified Chinese
基于收录评论与官方产品说明的主观资料评测，未试玩；原始玩家评论及所有补丁未逐条重新核验。旧评论误称仍待正式发行，本次不采用该状态；合作故障及判定反馈来自快照，尚未实测。
Review sources 02
- 01Archived materialView archived external material ↓
Original text · Simplified Chinese
收录评论与社区资料（2026-10-01 快照）
使用 作者观点摘要 的具体玩法优缺点（Tier list Part 5 (2026)、Top 10 of 2025 (#6)）以及 玩家好评与批评；只引用这些资料的具体反馈，不采纳旧等级或外部分数。
- 02Web sourceView original ↗
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Absolum — Steam 官方商店页
2026-10-08 访问。确认了清版动作与 roguelite 结构、不同英雄战法；商店列发行日期 2025-10-09。该页不作为实测性能或缺陷已修复的证据。
Video reviews
Reviews and deep dives from YouTube and Bilibili, in every language. Open the original video to watch.
Other voices, for reference.
Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
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.
What players praise
- 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
What players criticize
- 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
Distinctive features
- 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
Divided opinions
- Roguelite structure itself: praised as what keeps it fresh and deep, but IGN and some players say it dilutes the beat 'em up and leans on numbers over skill
- Combat depth: some call it simple but fun, others find the defensive system clunky or the combo limiter and spacing shallow
- Art style and character design: near-universal praise, though a minority of Metacritic user reviews dislike the character designs
- Difficulty: older or casual players love the assist options, while veterans complain about balance in corrupted late-game content
Repetition and friction
- 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)
Hoped-for improvements
- 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
Launched 9 Oct 2025 on PC, PS4/PS5 and Switch; sold over 200,000 copies in week one and passed 500,000 by end of January 2026 (per Wikipedia). Xbox Series X/S (Game Pass) followed 25 Mar 2026; Switch 2 and mobile versions are listed for later in 2026. Patch history: a 23 Oct 2025 hotfix fixed softlocks; 1.1 'Threads of Fate' (Feb 2026) added Mystic Ordeals, Corrupted Biomes (replacing Rifts), new skins/emotes and upgraded elite mounts; full cross-platform multiplayer launched 12 May 2026; an Aug 2026 patch made Corrupted Biomes and Boss Rush available earlier, added quick restart, companion respawn, more dash cancels and many crash fixes. Steam negative reviews still heavily feature online co-op disconnects, with several saying it worsened after crossplay; some say late-game balance worsened after 1.1. Awards: The Game Awards 2025 nomination (Best Independent Game), D.I.C.E. Awards 2026 nomination (Action Game of the Year), two Pegases wins. OpenCritic score could not be retrieved (web search budget exhausted and the OpenCritic page was not fetchable), so it is null. Steam revenue estimate site returned $0 (no data), so no revenue figure is given. IGN, Reddit and Rock Paper Shotgun pages could not be fetched; their views come via Metacritic/Wikipedia summaries.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (local file) ↗
- Steam store data: 92% positive of 10,795 reviews, Metacritic 87, price $24.99 ↗
- Metascore 87 from 52 critic reviews, user score 8.2 from 266 ratings, outlet snippets ↗
- Critic-by-critic scores (100s from Outerhaven, Try Hard Guides; IGN 70) and common themes ↗
- User review themes: praise for combat, art, co-op; complaints about repetition, clutter, character design ↗
- Development background, gameplay, sales (200k first week, 500k by Jan 2026), platforms, awards ↗
- Steam store page, Very Positive rating, developers and publishers ↗
- Official patch notes and announcements: 1.1 Threads of Fate, cross-platform launch May 2026, Aug 2026 patch ↗
- Steam discussion topics: balance, online co-op problems, bugs, dodge responsiveness ↗
Archived creator commentary 2
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
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.
What the creator praises
- 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
Issues raised by the creator
- 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
Design observations
- Fuses beat-em-up gameplay with roguelike elements, a rare genre combination
- Has both a strong core gameplay and deep roguelike systems, which he usually sees as mutually limiting
- Exploration and questing make each return from a run feel like visiting a new world
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.
What the creator praises
- 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
Issues raised by the creator
- 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
Design observations
- Beat-em-up roguelike is a rare combination
- Manages both a great combat system and a strong roguelike layer, which is uncommon
- Over 20 hours in, he still had runs with no fixed goal, showing how much persistent content there is
