Absolver Reviews

Appearances can be deceiving when it comes to martial arts. With the right knowledge, the unassuming or physically unimposing can dismantle opponents completely. Absolver, on its surface, is a multiplayer brawler with progression elements. At its center, it is a hardcore RPG that will reward players that invest in it heavily and it has more than enough value at its lower price. The game’s most significant issues have been addressed with a patch, thankfully, and any that step into the world of Andal is in for a treat.

Absolver has some light RPG elements despite its focus on PvP, but the real star is its complex battle system.

Journey through a mysterious land on an epic quest of becoming an Absolver! This tough as nails martial arts fighting game draws inspiration from some of the best games from across different genres, but does it hit as hard? Find out in the review below.

When the issues of a game are rolled and stomped by its greatness, then it’s something to invest on if you have some spare.

It often feels unrefined and unbalanced, but the uniquely tactical combat system, and Dark Souls influences, create one of the most enjoyably different fighting games of recent years.

Absolver is superb yet flawed. Sloclap have some really fun and innovative ideas though, for some reason, they’ve built a gorge between players and their game. Like digging for gold, if you want to get anything of value from Absolver then you’ll need to work hard and put in the time. Needless to say, those with a casual curiosity will likely find themselves completely turned off.

Absolver’s fighting system and weird blend of ideas make it a genre-defying gut punch of innovation. You’ll be in amazement with how much you can customize the fluid combat, but its complexity and intentional design to be constantly altered might be off-putting for some. The same goes for those looking for more to do besides competitive play in an open world begging to be absolved of limited scope and content.

In the world of Absolver, no one wants to be your friend.

With so many different ideas mixed in with a compelling fighting system, Absolver should be better than it is but comes off as needing a lot more work to become truly great, letalone good.

Adal, the setting for Absolver, is large and untamed, but it fits. Overgrown ruins dot the landscape. There are cracks in the ground, ships washed far ashore. Something happened, but there’s little in the way of exposition or grand story. You play as a prospect who enters Adal to fight their way to the final gatekeeper, earning the right to become an Absolver, a master of martial arts. Absolver wastes little time on anything but the combat, its shining star.

Absolver is an amazing game buried underneath a ton of server issues and bugs.

Absolver is a picturesque, martial arts RPG by Devolver Digital and Sloclap. The game is an ambitious leap into the Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG) genre and one that manages to create a unique and captivating experience for the player. With an engaging campaign on offer and the ability to jump into PvP duels, Absolver can be enjoyed on multiple levels – but don’t assume this will be an easy journey.

Absolver is one of the top games of the year. While its level design can use some work, its combat system should be studied and worshiped by anyone trying to make a fighting game.

Recently, I kicked a man in the head so hard that he backflipped off a cliff. You should have heard the thud. I almost felt bad, but he was between me and a mound of rocks, which I knew contained treasures – perhaps a new mask to give my face extra protection from incoming head kicks. I don’t want to go the way of Cliff Dude, after all. Turns out it was some hand wraps. I killed a man for bandages.

If Absolver was a review it'd likely be the shortest review ever written. Not that this an indication about the game's length. Rather, the review would simply say "I'm not telling you". Absolver is a frustrating, infuriating and downright obtrusive game and one that nearly beat me. The problem is that it's a bloody good game.

Martial artistry.

Absolver is a beautiful martial-arts fighting game that allows for an impressive degree of personalized play with its innovative combat deck system, which lets you learn skills from combat with other players and NPCs. Unfortunately, it only comes with a single PvP arena mode at launch, and its fascinatingly nebulous campaign breaks off early and abruptly. It feels like an early access game with a ton of potential, but it’s not quite there yet.

Besides all that, there are a few additional issues that hold Absolver back a bit. First and foremost is the pathfinding issue the AI tends to have. You’ll regularly see enemy combatants get stuck on geometry or sometimes run into each other indefinitely. It’s easy enough to fix by getting close enough to them to force them out of their running animation and into their fighting animation, but the moment can still ruin your immersion. The other issue with the game involves its PvP element. When you encounter another player in the world you can initiate a fight with them by attacking and once a player is defeated the surviving fighter can revive that player in what’s supposed to be a “respectful” handshake moment. What some players like to do is revive you and then continue attacking and giving chase if you try to end the fight. Considering the players who did this tended to be much higher level than me it wasn’t much of a fight. Each time this happened to me I either had to quit the game or run until they got bored and hope they weren’t there when I returned. I encountered a few dozen players in my time playing and this happened to me maybe 3-5 times so it wasn’t a significant problem, but it’s a problem that needs to be addressed somehow.

After the combat, the multiplayer and the story are the next big thing in the game. You can play offline and not encounter anyone, just going through the story of Absolver to fin d your place in the world. Or set it to online and see what happens. You can also change it to invite only so it’s just you and your friends playing. For me it was a mixed bag. A few times I had some more skilled players pop into my world and come for me with no other purpose than my destruction and at other times ...

Whatever gets added in the future, though, I hope that Absolver doesn’t lose its sense of focus. If the game had tried too much — if it had thrown me into more complicated duels, or forced me to use weapons more often — I don’t think I would have found it nearly as appealing. Instead, Absolver recognizes its singular goal of building a robust, satisfying martial arts combat system. It leans into those strengths, and it’s a better game for it.

Absolver‘s sure to be divisive. There’s a clear vision that shines throughout the game. Its combat system encourages a granular knowledge of the different moves and potential combos that stem from each directional stance. But while the appeal will be apparent to the competitive-minded player, Absolver’s pointed focus is complex enough to turn others away. The journey from lowly Prospect to Absolver is arduous and challenging, but it’s hardly inviting.

A competitive fighting game with leveling makes for a strange, compelling concoction.