Ableum is the gorgeous roguelite of the street manufacturer of rage 4
Blog Andrew Joseph 05 Mar , 2025 0
Rage 4 developer Guard Crush Games' streets are once again working with publisher Dotemu for Beat-'Em-Up. This time, though, is Dotemu's first original IP, a soundtrack by the score composer Gareth Coker, a beautifully hand-drawn animation and decorative video game from Supamonks. In an unproven project, this is a lot of talent, but if my hour-long hands-on (called Absolum) on the project is any sign, it will not be unproven for a long time.
Absolum is a Roguelite side-scrolling Beat-em-Up Action-RPG designed in the words of the developer, “with depth repeatability of exploration, tasks, roles and challenging boss branch paths.” I can prove that all of these things are real. It's an absolutely gorgeous fantasy with multiple player lessons – I have to try Karl like Dwarfs and Rangers of Lank-y wielding Gallandra – killing evil creatures, smashing environmental health bars, dying, and repeating the whole process. Oh, and you can also play as a two-screen co-op, even though I didn’t try it.
For me, a fond memories of two-person defeaters in the 1980s and early 90s and games like Golden Axes on Sega Genesis, Absolum was ecstatic about many two-person defeaters in the 1980s and early 90s. Moreover, you already have a relatively shallow but slightly layered two-key combat system that allows you to mix attacks based on the enemies in front of you. However, the Roguelite element modernizes in a way that gives it advantages and a lot of obvious built-in replayability.
As you go, you will find hidden and obvious power supplies – some are effective weapons or spells activated by pulling a trigger and pressing the corresponding face button, while others are passives in stock. All of this will be done randomly from one run to another, but not all projects must be ideal. Or at least, there is a serious risk reward system that may change the way you are doing that run. For example, in an early game, I chose one, but two balls, which gave me a 20% loss growth, but 20% of my health. So we both have a scary little health bar, but I can send enemies very quickly. Fortunately, if you don't want to deal with the trade-offs of specific power, you can always remove anything from your inventory.
I do say it's a roguelite, so that means when you die, you're back to the realm there's a store where you can spend money on items or items or electricity for the next run. In the early builds I played, this didn't quite work, which brought me a whim, which is equivalent to a dice roll for every new run of items and power mass.
Since I couldn't spend any hard-earned gold between runs, I had a while with the first major boss-I'm sadly without the lens, but at least I can show you another boss that looks more difficult. But my giant trolls, huge mace, who would summon smaller goblins, some of them would jump onto you and start biting your face like Piranhaas. I would love to have the opportunity to experience the two-person co-op because it not only distracts the boss, but also shares any good memories of Yore that are aware of, the games shine in two-person game mode. always. every time. No exceptions.
But, despite this, between art style, animation, old-school side-rolling beat gameplay and Roguelite Loop – not to mention the developer’s pedigree in this genre – Absolum has a lot of potential, and I dare say even a high possibility. If you've been losing regrets for Couch Co-op Games for years, it's almost certain that Absolum is the wave for at least a while. As development progresses, I am very much looking forward to playing a more refined build, but for now, I am very optimistic.
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