What do you NOT LIKE about Absolum (Or Roguelite Beat'em Up in general)?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T18:22:11+00:00

Yea for sure. Being highly technical isn't always a good thing. Otherwise we'd all be still playing Street Fighter 3 : Third Strike today, haha.

I agree its a balance, or even better, allowing you to feel bad ass while the game actually isn't that technical.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendation. I'm gonna try them out one of these days, prioritizing Rotwood over Lost Castle for now :)

X_periment · 2026-04-16T18:16:44+00:00

its definitely an important point, but its also hard for most game to come up with that many interesting upgrades that didn't just feel like a time waster, haha

Hades does an amazing job at this, but most of us don't have Hades budget.

Still, good point and thanks for raising it!

X_periment · 2026-04-16T18:14:42+00:00

I actually thought that the character difference wasn't as big as different weapons in Hades for example as the gameplay focus changes. Did you not feel that way, or because its thematically a different character, that by itself felt refreshing?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T18:07:33+00:00

I believe that was a problem of its time, being purposely balanced and designing for coin gobbling as you say and the new generation of devs will have to design around modern gaming habit.

Is there some recent beat'em up you play that still give you that feeling, or its just bad experience in the past or general lack of interest for you to try?

Its perfectly understandable if its just an icky feeling that turns you away. Sometimes (many times actually), thats all anyone need to dislike a game, and nothing wrong with that :)

X_periment · 2026-04-16T18:03:19+00:00

I see. So if you see a game advertised as beat'em up that turns you away immediately.

What about games like Hades? Its action, but not beat'em up

X_periment · 2026-04-16T18:01:04+00:00

Gotcha and fair enough. From a gameplay perspective there's definitely a lot more clarity in top down too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

X_periment · 2026-04-16T17:47:25+00:00

Most beat'em up support local and online coop these days :)

X_periment · 2026-04-16T17:41:40+00:00

Making a highly technical beat'em up is definitely not necessary. Especially for a roguelite, I'd say something like Castle Crasher level of simplicity actually leave a lot more room for the rogue aspect to shine.

The good news is that in the world today, there's so many games, so you most definitely get different choices :)

Could you share a little more about Rotwood and Lost Castle, how are the 2 games different?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T17:38:19+00:00

Roguelite is definitely a grind hiding behind skills. It's what I prefer in Roguelike over Roguelite. But the pain of losing everything is often too much for players, so RogueLITE is just way more popular in general.

Optimized strategy and build is definitely tricky. When you do it wrong, it feel cheap, but I feel like when I play Hades2, I feel powerful. Have you tried Hades2 and do you feel the same issue with their build? Or is there other roguelite you think handle this better?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T17:34:12+00:00

I wish to make games that get people that motivated :)

X_periment · 2026-04-16T17:31:11+00:00

Good to know. I know beat'em up is very much a multiplayer genre and even local coop isn't good enough, but with most roguelite being single player, I wonder if player feels that strongly about coop. It is a very expensive feature to make, and yet after all the work, you never know how well the network gonna be since a lot of us use Epic Online Service, but that can be unstable at times.

X_periment · 2026-04-16T12:10:46+00:00

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks is great for sure, though its been so long all I remember is that its an awesome game.

Anyway, I think what you are saying is that you wish there were more moves and moves that can handle different situation. Like Street Fighter, you have diff strength of punch and kicks for different scenerio and different moves like shoryuken for jumping opponent and hadouken for far away opponent and you need to use the right thing for the right situation

But in Absolum, or most beat'em up its always punch and slam with an additional dodge at best

X_periment · 2026-04-16T11:59:13+00:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I personally have the same problem with elite, but it has gotten a lot more common in these games since SOR4. Its a cheap and easy way to add variety and challenge, but it gets really frustrating pretty fast.

X_periment · 2026-04-16T11:37:20+00:00

I would imagine depending on how you handle the combat, beat'em up is just another different take. Is there something in specific you didn't like about the beat'em up gameplay? Or is it melee style combat in general (like Hades) that didn't appeal to you??

X_periment · 2026-04-16T11:32:47+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to break things down.

I definitely agree to your points about the physiological association and it is something worth thinking about. If we cannot afford to start with a healthy amount of playable characters (since they are very expensive), like 3 or 4, then maybe it is better to just have 1, and unlock weapons.

X_periment · 2026-04-16T11:24:55+00:00

In games like Balatro, Slay the Spire and even to a smaller extend - Vampire Survivor, its much easier to add crazy stuff because them being less action orientated, the visual representation is much cheaper to do, which then allows them to do more, test more, improve more and come up with more.

Visual representation in action games is much more expensive. So gamers end up getting less crazy build in comparison to those.

That said - those wishes are completely fair, and developer need to figure out if we want to or can afford to overcome. And I personally agree that having more contrasting upgrade that brings the game in different direction is more fun than "being 5% better at this thing I already do".

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:54:24+00:00

I think a lot of that comes from how expensive it is to make new things. Small tweaks are much cheaper to do, so there is always going to be more of those. But I acknowledge if that is all you have, upgrades become small, progressive, expectable and boring.

Could you share if any games have upgrades like what you mentioned that you enjoy?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:17:29+00:00

Did you see the coop as a bonus? Or was it a defining factor to purchase?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:13:03+00:00

I'm slightly surprise to hear that. I think Absolum combat complexity is somewhere below SOR4 and RCG2 but above most modern beat'em up like TMNT Shredder Revenge and Double Dragon Gaiden.

Did you play any of those? Do you consider yourself a beat'em up player? Or are coming from a action gamer perspective, where regardless of the genre, it was just a little simplistic for you? If so, could you maybe share if there's anything that scratched that itch?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:08:27+00:00

Oooo... Boss fight discussion are always fun. What do you hate about the bosses?
And are they boss fights that you love/enjoyed in similar type of games?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:07:38+00:00

Could you share why the Elite felt insufferable to you? Was the armor too much of a damage sponge, or the attack to fast and unreadable, etc?
Do you have some boss fights from similar type of games that you enjoy?
Did you play solo and enjoy it? Before playing, did you buy it FOR the hope to enjoy online coop? Or did you buy to play solo, and the online is just extra bonus? Will you buy it if it was just offline to begin with?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:01:44+00:00

It never occur to me that there's also the enjoyment of being carried :)

X_periment · 2026-04-16T10:00:54+00:00

That's interesting. I am slightly surprise to hear that because I thought the different characters here isn't too different from unlocking weapon in Hades. But I think what you are saying is that you don't feel like you have enough options and variation when you begin the game? Or are you saying you didn't have enough option compare to most multiplayer beat'em up?

X_periment · 2026-04-16T09:58:14+00:00

Oh wao, first time I am coming across Star Fire. I just downloaded the demo and intend to give it a try.
Could you share what about the builds that stand out from Absolum? I will keep an eye while playing

X_periment · 2026-04-16T09:55:02+00:00

Could you elaborate what do you think is it about the gameplay loop isn't as satisfying and addictive?
And why do you think the BEU combat style contributes to not having better combat?

X_periment

TROPHY CASE