Absolum review – Dotemu goes rogue with its newest beat ‘em

The creators of Street Of Rage 4 create an entirely original beat ‘em-up, with no ties to previous games and a Hades style roguelike approach.

The 2D scrolling beat ‘em-up has been around for over four decades now and yet it’s barely evolved at all since the days of Kung-Fu Master and Double Dragon. The concept is so basic – walk slowly from left to right while punching everyone you see, with a very small number of moves – that for the longest time it remained dormant, until French publisher revived the genre with the like of Streets Of Rage 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, and the upcoming Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

All those games have been based on existing licenses but Absolum, by Streets Of Rage 4 developer Guard Crush Games – with Supamonks providing the art and an