Absolver Reviews
Absolver is superb yet flawed. Sloclap have some really fun and innovative ideas though, for some reason, they've built a gorge between players and their game. Like digging for gold, if you want to get anything of value from Absolver then you'll need to work hard and put in the time. Needless to say, those with a casual curiosity will likely find themselves completely turned off.
Absolver is a great and interesting game as a whole, but the biggest part of the game, actually playing it, is both frustrating and unbalanced.
Absolver seems to be a conflict of two games. In one corner you have the "Souls-like" world to explore cooperatively or competitively with other players, that seems to be the original idea of the developers. And in the other you have a hardcore fighting game that doesn't need a rich open world at all in order to be successful, which seems to be what Absolver evolved into. Many players will feel short-changed that the former was sacrificed to make way for the latter, and I anticipate that this game will have an extremely niche player-base. For 29.99 USD Absolver is slightly overpriced, but if you really enjoy a good fighting game, then this one is right on the mark.
Absolver is a breath of a fresh air in fighting games genre. Deep system, surprisingly good fighting and addicitive multiplayer battles sadly are ruined by bugs and server lags.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Thanks to the myriad possible move and combo loadouts, along with the various weapons and classes, PvP is both challenging and full of unexpected comebacks and knife-edge duels, but it just doesn't feel like a complete experience. Bugs, server issues, a small, dull open-world and the lack of modes is definitely holding it back.
It still remains to be seen how much long-term potential Absolver has, but I'm confident that Sloclap will slowly build the game up into a unique hybrid of a story-driven martial arts adventure and a sustainable (not to mention unique) online fighting game. Again, I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I could see Absolver becoming one of the big standout hits of 2017 and beyond, and I hope Sloclap sees that as well.
Absolver can be rewarding for those that dedicate the appropriate amount of time and attention it requires, but its complexities can be hard to break into. Even when Absolver is mastered, the resulting expertise seems to have little impact on the competitive side of the experience.
The combat is beautifully choreographed and well thought out. It's really fulfilling, but the game does little to help you figure out how to perfect certain moves.
Without any connection issues, Absolver sings as one of the most promising indie titles this year. There is so much to do and the variety of different attacks on display is astounding; it might take some time to unlock them by fighting others, but it is time well invested. It might only have 3 basic Styles, but you can make the complex and pay homage to some of your favourite martial artists with a variety of form defining attacks, like massive flying knees, low sweeps, or spinning backfists.
Absolver is a unique fighting game, with its own style and direction. The depths of the gameplay sometimes struggles with the confused brawls on screen.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Absolver is charming beat them all with some good Dark Souls elements, with a big PvE section. Its combat mechanics, where you can customize your own combos sets, is great but the whole system is a little bit rigid, so the multiplayers fights might not feel very pleasant to everyone.
Review in French | Read full review
Overall, Absolver delivers the most exciting thing to a martial arts game, carefully crafted to enjoy with other players, showing off the combos you created and unlocking exciting stance and styles for your character. This is a must for the fans of the fighting genre, this may have a few and frustrating issues, but if you take time on building and molding your character to be the best martial artist out there, then this is worth your time.
In a way, Absolver turns a truth about the genre into a kind of design aesthetic and philosophy; the ultimate raison d'etre of this fighting game is for you to get better at fighting. When you click to this, it becomes a Zen-epic sort of proposition, as you wander around the gorgeous and melancholy Adal getting into lonely contests under dappled greenery and atop perilous ledges, sloooooowly learning the skills you need to better defend yourself.
In my opinion, Absolver is in the upper echelon of recent releases, but it still has a few issues. The camera can work against you at the most inopportune times, like when you're cornered, but that's more bearable to me than the motion blur. Other than those complaints, the game slows down its offerings after a dozen hours or so, unless you're playing co-op with friends. On the plus side, there's supposed to be free DLC in the future, and it seems like a pretty solid promise. Given Absolver's $30 price tag, you can't really complain about this purchase.
The concept behind Absolver is intriguing, but its execution and lack of staying power make it a very tough recommendation. If you're willing to put up with tedium, maybe joining a guild and learning new moves will be for you. For others, I'd say give this a pass.
Absolver presents itself as a very interesting hybrid: a fighting game inserted in an online context and a decadent, fascinating open world. Unfortunately, several lag problems undermine overall quality: patches are coming out to solve the problem, but the feeling of being in front of a still "rough" code is always very strong.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Absolver is an ambitious and unique indie fighting game/action-RPG with ample character customisation, compelling PvE and PvP content and an engaging martial-arts focused melee combat system that rewards practice.
Absolver has the potential to develop into something very special. As it stands now, though, the content just isn't entirely there yet. Coupled with a handful of nagging problems, it's hard to recommend the title to anyone but only the most dedicated fighting fans out there.
Whether you spend a handful of hours seeing the sights or days delving into meta-discussions on the best builds, Absolver's fresh approach to hand-to-hand combat is a welcome addition to the pantheon of one-on-one fighters.
This is definitely a game everyone should try, especially if you’re a fan of beat ‘em ups.