As announced during the Gamescom Opening Night Live pre-show today, the gorgeous fantasy beat-'em-up Absolum is due to launch across PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and PS4 on October 9. After a bit of hands-on time with a new preview build, I'm even more interested in the game's blend of classic beat-'em-up action and modern roguelike stylings.
There's quite a pedigree here, as developers Dotemu and Guard Crush Games previously collaborated on the absolutely sublime Streets of Rage 4, but Absolum expands on the old-school beat-'em-up format in some notable ways. It pulls from the roguelike genre as a whole, but you'll specifically find a lot of Hades DNA here in the character-filled home base you return to run after run, the way each room concludes with a big pickup or upgrade, and the gorgeous character art from animation studio Supamonks.
