REVIEW – Sloclap’s game offers some melee combat for all ages, but if you think of games like Injustice 2 or Tekken 7, you’re off a bit in your thought. It’s different, and as such, it deserves the attention, but unfortunately, it’s not as good to be memorable in the long run, which is sad.

Absolver came out at the worst possible time – on August 29, when at least twelve other titles hit the stores. At least six of those are available on PS4. Oh well, we’re catching up now with this game, where we wake up in a mysterious area called Adal to get the rank of Absolver (we start out as a Prospect). However, you’ll have to defeat a lot of other fighters to get there first. On paper, this idea sounds good, but technically, it’s flawed.

Position

You won’t get a gun to blast the brains out of everyone else. Nope, instead, you’ll be doing some melee combat with some weapons, and in multiple body positions. After defeating your enemies, you’ll get some new moves, which sounds a bit like Mega Man to me. However, you’ll have to concentrate and dodge your enemy’s moves perfectly to succeed, as Absolver is punishing.

I didn’t feel the rhythm of the game, either. I just couldn’t find myself getting deep into the combat, which in turn didn’t feel as intensive as it could have been. Perhaps this point is where you can feel how much of an indie game Absolver is: don’t expect complex, long animations, which can somewhat affect the gameplay, which could also have been outstanding, as you’ll have to use a lot of tactics to win.

Point

1v1 combats, points, improving your Prospect, including the customization. I’ll say it bluntly: I think Sloclap easily topped all the other developers in character customization, and if they could have given attention to other aspects of Absolver, it could have easily been one of the surprise titles of the game. Masking is a good idea, as it means no need to do facial animations! I’m serious when I say the game has good points: playing against another player in 1v1 in a PVP area instead of the AI can be fun.

Or working together with another friendly player. (On the other hand, getting your head slammed into the ground just because you just started the game and an OP player floors you is not fun, though.) The ambiance is there, and it’s not there at the same time. This duality is present in the entire game because if the developers had a bigger budget than what they originally had, Devolver Digital could have had a killer title on their hands. Next time, they should trust Sloteam to do what they want to pull off.

Backtracking

Adal itself looks exciting, but it was so annoying to run all around the world because Sloteam didn’t put a goddamn mini-map into one of the corners. Congratulations, here’s how you can push the gameplay between combats down the toilet, and it could have been addressed with just a bit more development.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the game’s world, and the audio is mostly good, but if you get lost, which will happen to most of you initially, then you might think to yourself „why don’t I play another game instead of Absolver?”, and for a good reason.

Worth a shot

Look up gameplay videos of Absolver and YouTube and then decide if you are interested in it or not. It’s an okay game, but nothing more. It lacks polish, you can’t get into the tone of it, and you will get lost in Adal, but if you like melee combat with a different aspect, then it would be a good selection. I’m giving it a kind-hearted seven out of ten, as Absolver is not a terrible game, but it’s also not something that will get a Game of the Year award…

-V-

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Developer: Sloclap

Genre: Action, Role-Playing

Release date: August 29, 2017