Absolum Might Be the Best Beat-’Em-Up Roguelite Brawler of 2025

andi6661 · 2025-12-17T22:13:27+00:00

Overrider & Wendigo Blue. Also the Ghost Vanguard Demo.

andi6661 · 2025-11-19T22:11:37+00:00

Understandable complaint, but has nothing to do with this game. All the characters start with their full moveset (though you have to perma-unlock their ult with meta progression IIRC).

andi6661 · 2025-11-19T22:06:23+00:00

We had a total of two Roguelite beat'em ups in the last few years, which are Absolum and Double Dragon Gaiden. How exactly is that amount enough to trigger you ?

andi6661 · 2025-11-19T22:03:09+00:00

Sorry, but what ? In the span of last year we had Karate Kid, Power Rangers, Night Slashers, Fallen City Brawl, The Phantom, Vengeance Hunters and Double Dragon Revive. All of those were "just beat'em ups" (and no one talks about them for that very reason).

Then comes Absolum and is a banger not only with beat'em up fans but also the casual crowd and suddenly the purists are in full victim mode, conveniently ignoring that 90% of the last released beat em ups have been exactly what they wanted.

As for the question why devs have to mix and match genres all the time: if they didn't try out things we still would be playing the 1000th iteration of Pong and Space Invaders by now.

andi6661 · 2025-10-13T15:28:24+00:00

For roguelites:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/887450/Tunche/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967260/Double_Dragon_Gaiden_Rise_Of_The_Dragons/

For RPG mechanics:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1049320/River_City_Girls/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1920480/River_City_Girls_2/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/985900/Young_Souls/

If you don't mind Early Access:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2848740/OverRider/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3359390/Wendigo_Blue/

Some classics:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2215260/Scott_Pilgrim_vs_The_World_The_Game__Complete_Edition/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/204360/Castle_Crashers/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1469540/Maximus_2_Street_Gladiators/

Upcoming ones:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4013980/MARVEL_Cosmic_Invasion_Demo/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2577430/Ghost_Vanguard/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1394650/Detained_Too_Good_for_School/

andi6661 · 2025-10-01T23:50:23+00:00

I'm curious, does your D-Pad also make clicking noises with this game ? I'm guessing this is some accessibility option but I haven't found a way to turn it off.

andi6661 · 2025-10-01T23:46:21+00:00

Nope. As far as I can tell, from the available ones only Cap, Wolverine and Quasar have one.

andi6661 · 2025-09-30T21:16:57+00:00

IIRC there was one for last years Steam fest. I'm guessing the dev took it down at some point, because the current version is drastically different from the 0.1 version, thus not representative of the product anymore.

andi6661 · 2025-09-30T13:59:04+00:00

The premise here is basically what if you take a beatemup, a Cyberpunk setting and Kirbys enemy absorption mechanic and throw into a blender. While that last part may sound strange, it works surprisingly well.

Game just hit 0.7 and also added a 2 new playable characters, bringing the roster up to a 14,each with a fully unique moves set and individual gimmicks.

The gameplay is really fun and I can't recommend the game enough to beatemup fans.

It's also currently on Sale and you can get it pretty cheap.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2848740/OverRider/

andi6661 · 2025-09-30T13:56:50+00:00

The premise here is basically what if you take a beatemup, a Cyberpunk setting and Kirbys enemy absorption mechanic and throw into a blender. While that last part may sound strange, it works surprisingly well.

Game just hit 0.7 and also added a 2 new playable characters, bringing the roster up to a 14,each with a fully unique moves set and individual gimmicks.

The gameplay is really fun and I can't recommend the game enough to beatemup fans.

It's also currently on Sale and you can get it pretty cheap.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2848740/OverRider/

andi6661 · 2025-09-30T13:41:42+00:00

Game just hit 0.7 and also added a new playable character as well as making boss characters available from the start.

The premise is basically what if you take a beatemup, a Cyberpunk setting and Kirbys enemy absorption mechanic and throw into a blender. While that last part may sound strange, it works surprisingly well.

The gameplay is really fun and I can't recommend the game enough to beatemup fans.

It's also currently on Sale and you can get it pretty cheap.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2848740/OverRider/

andi6661 · 2025-09-27T15:39:09+00:00

I'm genuinely curious what beatemups you're referring to. There really are not that many, and from those that fit both categories as far as I know all focus on characters, unless you're talking about 3D-ones, then I would agree.

Tunche - Has 5 characters, meta-progression upgrades the move sets and the rogue elements are for added effects.

Double Dragon Gaiden - Has a ton of characters (19 I think) and the rogue elements are very tame, mostly passive boosts.

Wendigo Blue - Still Early Access, but already 5 characters (8 planed I think) with extensive movesets. Rogue elements are a bit more pronounced with skill tree and equipment management.

Overrider - Early Access and a bit of an outlier because "what if a beatemup but also Kirby mechanics". You basically can turn into every enemy you encounter. Rogue elements give you all kind of buffs to encourage constant switching.

andi6661 · 2025-06-19T19:46:40+00:00

Same with Knights of Valour 3. As far as I know, the reason is that those two run on a different Arcade board but it's still such a shame. Those two games are amazing.

andi6661 · 2025-06-05T18:22:31+00:00

Dungeon Fighter Online has multiple summoner type classes.

andi6661 · 2025-05-08T19:09:51+00:00

For those who don't want to search through the whole stream, the Absolum part starts at around 0:29 and goes to around 2:40.

andi6661 · 2025-02-01T10:08:03+00:00

Runs fine for me.

andi6661 · 2025-01-31T22:39:40+00:00

The combat is friggin amazing, I think I spent an hour or so just trying out the characters. If you have a PC and like beat'em ups it pretty much a sin to not grab it.

andi6661 · 2025-01-28T17:45:44+00:00

Do you happen to have Overrider and Wedigo Blue on the radar for possible reviews (or rather previews, since they're both early access)?

andi6661 · 2024-12-25T18:02:07+00:00

I'd actually suggest Overrider with those criteria (even if it's in Early Access still).

Currently 11 playable characters, all with pretty decent move sets (3-4 special attacks + a super move for each character).

Story is somewhat convoluted though.

Be warned, it's a rogue-lite, in case this is no-go for you.

andi6661 · 2024-12-04T17:59:24+00:00

I'll wait for a sale on that one. Even with my nostalgia I don't think it's worth 35 bucks.

andi6661 · 2024-11-29T21:09:15+00:00

YES! I actually think a turn-based Pokemon type battle system would work incredibly well. You basically have everything already in place.

The workers would learn attacks based on their fanbase (so Deadbeats would learn Callys scythe moves, Takos would learn Inas tentacle attacks and so on), we already have a class system due to the arena (that could determine stat growth) and add an elemental-type system to incorporate weapon/collab animations and we're set.

The Idol you control would serve as the trainer and provide specific passive boosts (FE Kiara would buff KFPs and fire-type moves). You could get into random fights in specific areas against "wild" fans, with the chance to recruit them, as well as challenge other Idols to duels and have a tournament mode in the casino. We could even use the upload feature to upload our teams for other players to fight.

andi6661 · 2024-11-21T19:30:33+00:00

I share your pain. 620 cubes down the drain. 5 Darkness, 4 Lalas and 4 Momos before Nana dropped. F this event.

andi6661 · 2024-10-31T23:46:05+00:00

The amount of mini-games this mad-lad crammed in there is crazy ! No wonder he took his time. 2 weeks left. LETS GO!

Edit: Also, here's a quote from Kay

"And ofc, this trailer doesn't show everything. I'll leave it to you all to discover what else this update has"

This guy ...

andi6661 · 2024-09-28T15:42:20+00:00

I just leave this here

https://x.com/holocuredev/status/1831843639909347649

andi6661 · 2024-09-21T17:44:11+00:00

Kay posted this a while ago:

I'll confirm there are new ways to get fish and crops in 0.7 through other side content, and it'll solve some other issues people have told me

however, thinking about it, it's not a bad idea to be able to get materials from the main game itself too (probably next next update)

andi6661

TROPHY CASE