Absolver
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Absolver
A one-of-a-kind blend of blood-thumping martial arts, combo curation and grindy multiplayer set in a ravishing wasteland.
Absolver is a beautiful martial-arts fighting game that allows for an impressive degree of personalized play with its innovative combat deck system, which lets you learn skills from combat with other players and NPCs. Unfortunately, it only comes with a single PvP arena mode at launch, and its fascinatingly nebulous campaign breaks off early and abruptly. It feels like an early access game with a ton of potential, but it's not quite there yet.
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.
A great customizable fighting system and a cooperative spirit fill the empty spaces in a bleak open world.
Absolver feels like a (difficult, sometimes frustrating) step into a larger world, and if you can hang with it, it'll leave you hungry for more.
A short and barren single-player adventure that's really only for players who want to dig into the multiplayer components
Absolver recognizes its singular goal of building a robust, satisfying martial arts combat system. It leans into those strengths, and it's a better game for it.
Absolver's methodical combat would be superlative on its own, but the unique customisation of its Combat Deck takes this melee brawler to thrilling new heights.
