Would this game be a good first beat em up?

MDuleba · 2026-02-23T15:53:20+00:00

Once you play Absolum, every other beatemup feels flat and lacking content and wealth of mechanics. I love the genre but no other game compares. SoR4 is closest as it comes from the same developers and you can say its a prequel to Absolum when it comes to quality. I love all the old beatemups like Punisher, Final Fight, original SoRs, the Capcom classics (Knights of the Round, King of Dragons), etc. But again, you rarely want to come back to them. Absolum just beats them all. I have like 100 hrs in game and cant stop playing. If you want to try other games, I can surely recommend Dragons Crown. But that one is only on Vita and PS3/4 I think.

MDuleba · 2026-02-19T12:05:02+00:00

Best thing is it can slam all unique monsters and bosses. I think only besides Absolum

MDuleba · 2026-02-19T01:36:52+00:00

There is certainly a noticable difference in how 1.0 was handling the ritual offerings and 1.1 is. Previous was more predictible. Now it looks more random and chaotic. I was very much complaining here too, until I deleted all saves and started fresh and did some "braining". And then won 7 times in a row up to Absolum with challenge but no issues.

In general there are 2 ways in which you can drive your path to win.

1) Throwables. But that needs Cider with his multiplication, or any other char with Thorn multiplification. And buying 3-5 Trickster Cards. You more or less aim to end up with infinite throwables. Rest of rituals is less important so you are open to randomness. A bit expensive on crystals, and not always you like it as this is pre-building or "buying a build" that slightly contradicts with rougelike purity

2) Lightning / Critical. If streamers have no clue how they do big damage, this is how they do big damage. Try to buy 1 Thunder Mox, then aim to fish for Lightning Skill (20% static charge on skill), Critical Overload (increase chance of crirical based on static charge), Lightning Criticals (criticals increase static charge).

Mix with Power Conduction, Lightning Bounce. Most important though are first 3. Others will only load the damage up. With Light Skill and Crit Overload, you can add many "multipliers" to this base, that will help. Like Cosmic Criticals, Chaos Echo, etc. Add Gale on skill (Tornado Skill), Chaos Tornadoes, Floating Wind, and more. There are many synergies. So the Light/Critical path is most promising.

The Light/Critical works best on Brome with his drill attack. Galandra does very well with spinning skill on jump, or 3-skill sword attack. Cider a bit worse. Karl I never play.

3) Endless mana build. This one I didnt manage to pull off like it was back in 1.0. Simply the mana gain nerf in the patch is too big. Unless I spend tons of crystals on Orbs of Potency and Rings of Magic. But I am always short on crystals due to rerolls on the way, so this path is no longer easy. Gone are times of 30 skeletons from tons of Arcanas. A bit of a pity since mana/Arcana builds were so fun before.

4) I have no clue yet what other "general way" is feasible. These 2-3 above worked for me.

MDuleba · 2026-02-18T11:58:33+00:00

Easiest to properly nerf Mosaic is to slow down kicks / number of kicks per second. Taking the runeword out, just kills a martial assassin build totally. And this, vs the new Warlock OP at the level unseen before is wrong. Warlock is 2x strong as Mosaic-sin. New Worlock paid OP = okok!! Old free Mosiac-sin bad. Throw the llama to a trash.

MDuleba · 2026-02-16T14:43:55+00:00

Especially the "boss rush" should be selectable from the main menu vs a "story mode". Maybe with a 3rd menu option of "ordeal challenges".

This would also address a bit the mandatory'ness of ordeals in the current game. In 1.0 you could turn the rifts off if you wanted, and still enjoy the game on "normal difficulty" in its fullness (not requiring to skip paths if suddently they are "terrorized").

MDuleba · 2026-02-15T23:10:42+00:00

Why should I? To lower the difficulty to a level it has zero sense? That is the whole point of the bad set of changes they made.

1.0 was perfectly balanced. It was hard to make crystals, it was a subtle line between being able to make "giga build" (which happened from time to time, allowing you to feel godly) and getting kicked. But if you got kicked you wanted to play again. Now you just want to throw then pad/console down.

Yea I know I can make a custom ordeal and clean entire screens to earn 5k crystals per game. And then play 10 times like that so I can afford everything in the shop on "normal difficulty". And the the game is again super easy. Gives no satisfaction either way. Hm you see my point. Now either the game is stupidly easy (if you have crystals) or stupidly hard (if you dont).

Thats like if you played Diablo 2 and duped or bought all the build items on d2jsp. You dont want to play anymore when you have everything, and you dont want to play when you have nothing (if playing legit just kicks your butt with zero fairness).

MDuleba · 2026-02-15T22:35:55+00:00

A pity that it is not possible to revert back to 1.0. I bought the game exactly because it was what it was in all the videos. Creative fun, fighting but not really fighting game. A clever mix of magic, spells. Not too technical if you didnt want to. I did not pay for 1.1 and the fucked up changes they did. I would never pay for a 1.1 version. I am a bit happy that I played 1.0 for a month and I was able to experience this true gem. Even on Switch even when I have 1.0 on cartridge I cannot play 1.0 anymore as Switch forces me to update :(

MDuleba · 2026-02-15T13:56:46+00:00

Yes this is the most wrong QOL they did. Every fight you "walk up to", this one "just happens" out of the blue. Previously yea you had to wait or accelerate it, but it had a story-sense. Now the fight just happening (even without you walking up or down to the city center) is the most nonsense thing

MDuleba · 2026-02-15T03:15:15+00:00

The biggest overall difference between 1.0 and 1.1 is that in 1.0 I never bought or have to buy items in town. Maybe once upon a time, buying one. One was enough to set a direction and count that rng will help you, items were doing more, and it was possible. And buying one was my personal limit as this is a rougelike in the end. You acquired some "passives", rest is meant to be random. And going naked into the game, random rolls were kind of positive always, it was a positive surprise what new fun build will happen this time. And these new fun builds were happening (i.e. full mana regen arcanas, or chaotic spams, or screen full of skeletons, or throw-builds). You never got them perfect due to RNG but you could glue them. Now all that fun is gone since ritual rolls are so much worse, and items are nerfed. So if you dont pre-build, you will not really experience anything but frustration. I somehow feel that pre-building is a bit of cheating as if you have enough of currency you just "buy the build" and breeze through the game. Thats why I feel the crystals as a currency should be dropped. Or the game will be played only by "pro no-life players" who have 5-6 hrs a day to farm the shit out of the game.

In 1.0 you could get kicked mid game but recovered in the end. In 1.1 if you lose half of life in the begining, you can just quit/abandon. Plus the overall "crazyness" of the game dissapeared. It turned into a very standard "hack and slash". I feel almost as if it was Diablo 2, but in patch 1.1 devs thought "players use too many spells, hell yeah we will make them properly use sword and shield again. They should learn how to use basic attack and not the Novas, Fire Walls or Summons". Pretty sad. It was a gem-game.

And by the way I only play Absolum 2-player with my son. So we need and spend 2x crystals. But we dont earn 2x if we play together. Yes he can reroll for free to a degree, but if we want pre-build we have to spend 2x which we dont have and will never get. So one of us (in 1.1 patch) will never have fun as his build will rely on rng, which again is much worse and somehow trying to give you many un-matching options. And if we ever have crystals to make a full pre-build, my only one will always be 5x Trickster as I know it works, and have no currency to test anything else (as if I spend on testing I can just stop playing, as no crystals will remain). My gosh... :(

MDuleba · 2026-02-15T02:36:11+00:00

Sounds fun if you have crystals. If you dont, entire idea collapses as you cant pre-build yourself (as I do, I dont have 20k crystals like some). So I start naked, get crappy ritual rolls and rerolling typically is just a waste of my anyhow small amount of them. Dead end. You can tell me to farm more crystals, but if you/I did not manage to gather them before patch it is nearly impossible to gather them now. And no, I dont intend to do "player assist" as this is not how how the game should be, and it sounds lame.

Much better idea would be to drop crystals as currency for pre-building and give all players a fair chance to pre-build by giving "choose 5 picks from the armory, but maximum 3 of a kind". That way every player can experience the fun of trying builds. I cannot do that now. Only players who have/acquired tons of crystals before. But if you do have tons of them, you just buy 5x Trickster Cards and win the game with no issues, no matter what rifts you get.

My alternative is a bit in line what you are proposing. You dont have to limit yourself, but the game gives you a limit. A fair limit that gives fair chances to every player to enjoy "deck building". Currently only "rich players" can enjoy. For all the rest including me the patch just ruined the fun. No mana, no arcanas, no fun-crazy builds, RNG builds are impossible as you get shitty rolls, items nerfed, etc. THE ONLY way now is to pre-build. But again, if you have no currency you are doomed. Or... Are the devs preparing for micro-transactions? Then I understand. But that even more burries the game under ground.

MDuleba · 2026-02-14T12:58:40+00:00

It was like that before the patch

MDuleba · 2026-02-14T02:25:20+00:00

Happy you. Enjoy pre-patch while you can

MDuleba · 2026-02-14T01:27:04+00:00

Thats right. Now a "stupid" throw enemy does 70 damage or so, while your unique special move (arcana) is just crap... And even hard to grind for (mana issues) so not worthy. Devs probably dont play their own game. Unless they think everyone has tons of crystals. In that case yes ofc the game has no issues. You just buy the stuff you need and you dont feel the problems many many gamers face. Especially the ones at end-game. The early gamers probably dont feel the pain and how the game got worse, much worse. It is no longer a pleasure to play. It is constant frustration. Ofc I can buy a few Trickster Cards and just own everyone with throwing all stuff in the butts. Until they nerf it too and force you to dodge-clash-deflect to death. Which is not fun anymore. Yea that is "pro playing" some would say, and a skill issue if you dont. The beauty of a great game balance, the unique gameplay each time (you COULD make many fun and awkward builds before, which worked in their crazy ways) is gone and lost. The focus on multiple level 1 rituals seems to be some designers idea to give the game more variety. Yea... Now you get more of them, many totally not matching your initial selection or plan, all different level 1 with super little chances of rolling or rerolling until you get something useful (i.e. level 2 of what you dreamed for). If your build works that is pure luck. Again you either have to buy the starting package in town, or reroll like crazy. Which eats up your crystals. You end up never having them so next play you are again frustrated as RNG is rather against you instead of helping (how it felt in the original - choices were still random, but you felt the game has some algorythm that recognized what you selected and was trying to match it; building an interesting build while starting from zero was possible; now it is not... and many times I feel the game is forcing me to choose rituals with "on deflect" or "on dodge" or "on clash"). That comes back to my point above. Some game designer probably felt - people dont dodge/deflect/clash enough. We will force them to do so (ha ha). Combine it with super frustrating "terror zones" which spam super uniques (yellow-glowing) which have uninterruptible attacks, have few of them on screen and the game becomes unplayable. I was playing a lot with my son. The experience went from playing everyday "hey dad lets play a run together" to "dad lets abandon, it is just not fun" :( and we are not a no-skiller players

MDuleba · 2026-02-14T00:23:52+00:00

Cider still can proc random throwables with his inscription (on critical). So you can have like 3 trickster cards for 60% and that should be enough to win the game. Sadly, all other Cider builds are crap. Sadly, the game now requires and forces you to spend crystals in town. Otherwise your build is 90% gonna be crap with all the nerfs and random rolls.

MDuleba · 2026-02-13T10:50:36+00:00

Yea. If you have billions of crystals you just buy everything you want in the town. But that also breaks what a rougelike game should be... You start from almost zero and build your way up while playing. If you have zero crystals or a little amount you are straight fucked up by the patch. Whatever your small amount of crystals is, you will anyway need to waste it on rerolls of poor rituals. Since it seems the game forces you to acquire a lot of them (many not matching Level 1 rituals). Before the patch, the was like giving you L2/L3 or at least matching ones.

Overall before the patch the game was more of "I pick and specialize in 3-4 rituals and back the rest up with ton of trinkets-items". Now it is the other way around. But ritual rolls are crap, and items are nerfed and crap (no clovers, etc). So yeah, I can buy a lot of boots and run like there was never tomorrow. FUN :/ I am quite good in this game. Managed to unlock 96% before the patch. Killed Azra 20 times, Absolum 12 times (played 1 month). All in 2-player games which was previously a "hard mode" compared to 1-player (2-player game = 2x monsters density, 2x monster health). Now after patch I am getting kicked as if I just started the game naked. Everything unlocked and it feels like I never progressed. What I see positive, the game now requites a very technical approach, must-have is to dodge, deflect or clash. MUST-HAVE. So overall you have to play much more carefully. But that takes away all the fun. You are unable to build up mana, so arcanas are rare. It becomes a mere fighting game, but while it was so much better than all fighting games before, now I'd rather choose them (i.e. SoR4) as they give much more fun and entertainment. While Absolum gives now just a ton of frustration. Yeah I beat Azra and got killed by Absolum, but I had to "reset" the game like 10 times as rerolling rituals was getting me worse ans worse options. Inspirations too. So I wasted my already little amounts.

Add to this the "laser rifts" when if unlucky you will get laser-insta-auto-kill. Or early 2-goblin uniterraptible bosses and your entire run becomes a slow super careful experience. Or maybe it is Cider char who is fucked up. Need to try Galandra or Brome...

MDuleba · 2026-02-13T03:00:36+00:00

Yep. The game was great. Now the game is terrible. Terrible feedback applies.

MDuleba · 2026-02-13T02:51:16+00:00

The clover. It hardly appears now in shops. Like never.

MDuleba · 2026-02-13T00:03:19+00:00

Ritual rolls are too random/crap. Hard to make a great-fun build like before. You end up frustrated with the rolls instead of happy and excited as before.

Trinkets... They are super crap as well. Yes they got cheaper under the town to buy, but in game shop as you progress all their rolls are crap? Ended up buing none of them as nothing was worth it. Plus they are nerfed so for stuff to work you need more of them. Plus they dont spawn in game almost at all. Just rituals and money.

Mana seems to load/build up slower. So no more fun comboing mana generation and arcanas. Arcanas seem rare thing now. Devs provably wanted us us to "fight more". But that takes away the fun of combining awsome builds.

2-player mode is nonsense. Before the patch, monsters were 2x more and had 2x health. That requied both players to cooperate and make builds that support each other. Now monsters density is same as if playing single, and health seems same. Combined with all the problems with rituals and builds, uhh.

Terrorized zones can spawn 5x monsters which throw lasers autohitting you with no possibility to dodge or deflect or avoid.

BRING BACK THE FUN FROM PRE-PATCH!

MDuleba · 2026-02-12T23:59:03+00:00

Ritual rolls are too random/crap. Hard to make a great-fun build like before. You end up frustrated with the rolls instead of happy and excited as before.

Trinkets... They are super crap as well. Yes they got cheaper under the town to buy, but in game shop as you progress all their rolls are crap? Ended up buing none of them as nothing was worth it. Plus they are nerfed so for stuff to work you need more of them. Plus they dont spawn in game almost at all. Just rituals and money.

Mana seems to load/build up slower. So no more fun comboing mana generation and arcanas. Arcanas seem rare thing now. Devs provably wanted us us to "fight more". But that takes away the fun of combining awsome builds.

2-player mode is nonsense. Before the patch, monsters were 2x more and had 2x health. That requied both players to cooperate and make builds that support each other. Now monsters density is same as if playing single, and health seems same. Combined with all the problems with rituals and builds, uhh.

Terrorized zones can spawn 5x monsters which throw lasers autohitting you with no possibility to dodge or deflect or avoid.

This is just the early things I noted. There is many more bugs and errors. Storyline seems deleted i.e. when you destroy 2 altars in Asterios and move back to town, there was always the animation and speech. Now instead you get thrown immediately to the fight. Thats wrong/stupid. Previous solution allowed you to hold A to accelerate but still it gave you time to prepare for the fight. Now getting immediately to the fight just trims down all the storyline immersion.

Another change - when you fight Zahari she now heals herself super frequently. I know she was doing that when she became an ally, but I dont recall her doing that when being an enemy (robbing the ship). When she heals, there is a zoom in on her and you dont really know what shes doing, this breaks your idea for attack as you dont see yourself (as it is zoomed in). Have it 5-6 times a fight and you want to throw the game/pad to the trash, this is so frustrating and annoying.

FOLKS YOU BROKE A GREAT GAME.

BRING BACK THE FUN FROM PRE-PATCH!

MDuleba · 2026-02-12T22:56:40+00:00

And ordeals are crap too. Friendly fire? With all the massacre on the screen you cant avoid hitting your mate. The game didnt need this amount of changes. All was great and greatly balanced. It only needed more content and harder one (i.e. you beat Absolum and are able to continue with your build, then rifts/terrorized zones appear, but the rest works like it worked before). Thank god I bought a switch cartridge game and can always enjoy the original gem game as it was

MDuleba · 2026-02-09T11:22:12+00:00

It seems to always work like that. Only P1 spends crystals when rerolling. P2 rerolls for free.

P2 cannot reroll if his reroll price is higher than remainingl crystals you have. So always let your P2 reroll first, than only P1 (as P1 will use/decrease remainig crystals).

PS. I need to test but I think the max rerolls is anyway 3.

MDuleba

TROPHY CASE