Absolver

1. charyou

   Aug 30, 2017

   10

   I'm disappointed to see all the negative press this game is receiving. It seems like people blindly purchased the game without looking intoI'm disappointed to see all the negative press this game is receiving. It seems like people blindly purchased the game without looking into what it aimed to achieve. This is an excellent fighting game. Period. It has a fun over-world that acts as a training ground and lobby. It has a very intricate combat system. It has a beautiful art style. All animations are hand keyed. The price of the game is only $30. Think of it more as an indie fighting game, not a triple A release trying to clone dark souls as others have claimed.
   
   One reoccurring complaint I see is the difficulty of fighting multiple enemies. Yes, in the first hour or two it is difficult, but it teaches you positioning and stamina management. Afterwards it is fun to fight two enemies.
   
   Another complaint is region locking. While I can understand this being frustrating, remember that this is a tiny dev team without the budget to do state of the art matchmaking or pay for dedicated servers across the globe.
   
   The only complaint I understand is the AI not wanting to leave their designed area. It is annoying when they run back to their spawn area if you pull them too far away. I imagine this was done to prevent frame drops and other QA problems by not allowing NPCS to be pulled too far and have too many on screen. Again, the dev team is tiny. I would hope this and other small nitpicks will be address down the road.
   
   All in all I would highly recommend this game. Just don't blindly purchase it without looking into what it offers. Why would you do that with any game though?… Expand

   • 9 of 14 users found this helpful
2. SpiderJeruselam

   Sep 6, 2017

   9

   I will start by saying that i have been excited to get my hands on this game for a while now being that it is one of the only Martial artsI will start by saying that i have been excited to get my hands on this game for a while now being that it is one of the only Martial arts based fighting games with a quality combat system. Absolver is a competitive fighting sandbox. You primarily fight AI enemies but there are many other players in the world who can fight with or against you as you explore the territories available. The world is not very large with four primary hubs that each have approximately 3 zones within them. However, the map layout is comparable to dark souls design where there are many nooks and crannies to find items such as armor and aesthetics. Absolver does not have a cinematic story with lengthy cut scenes (there are a few but nothing extraordinary) and the main opponents you are tasked to defeat can be completed within approximately 3-5 hours depending on how many AI enemies you run past, but what the game lacks in story is made up in a combat system that is truly superb.
   You learn fighting styles by encountering enemies and engaging in battle with those enemies. once you have learned a move it is dded to a combat deck where you can develop your own style of martial arts using the moves you know and the moves you have learned. it is easy to create and addictive to master. For 30 usd this is a must buy. I have personally played for 15 hours and i am still working my way through learning more moves so that I can challenge players in 1v1 PvP!… Expand

   • 2 of 2 users found this helpful
4. Kodama_95

   Sep 12, 2017

   9

   This game. Something about this game has got me hooked, the mechanics for the fighting are unique and the art style is very appealing. It'sThis game. Something about this game has got me hooked, the mechanics for the fighting are unique and the art style is very appealing. It's true that the grinding in this game is defiantly a major part to the game due to its short story and heavy focus on training (grinding) more to become a master.
   
   The only true gripes I have with this title is the slow down, consistent distortion of the sound after a few hours of play and the lag. The lag sometimes can be so bad it is unplayable, considering it is a game where timing is important and trying to dodge or block someones attacks with lag is pure frustration.
   
   Other times, I have had some awesome game-play experiences that have had me truly at the edge of my seat trying to outwit my online opponent. Considering the price, the promise of free content and the uprising dedicated fan-base around this game I cannot fault it for more than its technical issues and so so loot drops… Expand

   • 3 of 5 users found this helpful
5. JoseManuel10_

   Nov 12, 2022

   5

   Absolver is a martial arts-themed action role-playing video game developed by Sloclap and published by Devolver Digital.

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. plainswalker

   Oct 17, 2017

   5

   Absolver is in a really strange place for me. The concept is really intriguing, basically initially appearing to be Dark Souls style worldAbsolver is in a really strange place for me. The concept is really intriguing, basically initially appearing to be Dark Souls style world exploration where an in-depth fighting game breaks out when combat rolls around. There is also a really cool mechanic where you can build your own style of martial arts, learning new moves by successfully defending against them in the world (sort of like Kung Fu Pokemon), which as a huge martial arts nerd, had me really excited.
   
   Unfortunately, once the original excitement wore off, what revealed itself was a good concept that has huge flaws in execution that ultimately makes the game one that I would not recommend. The most glaring issues are rampant server issues and technical bugs. The bugs that I kept seeing with relatively high frequency are as follows: lots of texture pop-ins, severe lag spikes when another player enters an area (really irritating when you're in the clutch moments of a battle, random (ie - not player-joining) lag spikes turning NPCs into teleporting magicians (who also happen to be punching you in the face) making the fights nearly impossible, NPCs literally not responding at all do to some bug when loading the area (seriously, there are more than a few times where I was running around punching out NPCs who didn't fight back), and when using cooperative multiplayer, there was one occasion where the named "boss" NPC spawned a duplicate in the same area.
   
   The technical issues alone really tanked any score I could give this game. Unfortunately, that's not the end of my complaints as there are elements of the gameplay that make the experience even more frustrating (which may prove to be bugs themselves, but it's less clear if it's intentional game design). Generally speaking, level scaling and difficulty seems to be all over the place once you step out of the tutorial. The developers borrowed the Dark Souls model, but failed at one crucial point: When enemies respawn in a Souls game, they're exactly the same: same power, same position in the environment. This allows the player, when they fail, to re-approach the area and learn from their past mistakes. In Absolver, NPC generation seems to be random. I've died to a two-NPC fight only to come back to that exact same spot only to have 3 NPCs there. I've respawned from death only for the NPC group that killed me come running at me at the spawn point. Bosses will sometimes spawn with minions; sometimes not. This randomness and inability to predict the difficulty curve is really frustrating, particularly when the game is already woefully stingy on any "here's what you should be doing" directions. Well, at least, until you realize you can literally run past everything to get to the objective (which isn't something that I consider a positive).
   
   The other major issue I have with the core game-play is the combat seems very bad at rewarding skilled gameplay, particularly when looking at the games 3 core defense styles. Being a glutton for punishment, I chose the "Parry" method of fighting where getting the right timing and direction gives you a counter window. Now, the game ranks this method as the most difficult, but I did not feel like I was getting rewarded for using the higher skill defense. Mostly that the "stun" window for counter-attacks is extremely small and seemed non-existent when fighting other players in the world. I fought someone who I was able to parry very effectively because they just kept spamming their main attack. The problem is that they recovered and were able to swing again before I even got a counter-hit off (which, when I'm just trying to use a jab is a real problem). So even though I was hitting the timing rather than just spamming, I ended up losing out. Having skilled play get trumped by button spamming is poison for a game where PVP is ultimately the main issue. The system seems designed for a slow and methodical approach, but seems to turn into just a mash-fest once players face each other.
   
   Ultimately, the concept was good, but it's not in the state to give a lot of enjoyment for most players, even for the lower than AAA asking price. I'm going to shelf it for now and plan to revisit it when/if I see some bug fixes and overall balance changes. It's definitely within the developers power to correct, but with these more indy-style titles, that's no guarantee. To anyone looking to buy it on PS4, I'd definitely recommend holding off for now.… Expand

   • 2 of 4 users found this helpful
7. Mindurbidniss

   Oct 14, 2022

   4

   Most important feature (locking on) doesn't work properly. This literally makes everything else in combat feel clunky and disjointed. TheyMost important feature (locking on) doesn't work properly. This literally makes everything else in combat feel clunky and disjointed. They almost had something here. It's a very unique game with an interestingly complex combat system. Just too bad it's foundation wasn't properly set first… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
8. Z_Rain

   Jul 28, 2018

   0

   Got it on PS Plus and wish I didn't spend time on this.
   I am a big Dark souls fan so at first I was glad to see many similarities this gameGot it on PS Plus and wish I didn't spend time on this.
   I am a big Dark souls fan so at first I was glad to see many similarities this game borrow from Souls series. But the more I played I realize the developer probably believes Dark Souls got so popular because of PVP alone, I say this because PVP is all this game got. The online experience is not great. Multiple randos will randomly invade your game and the game does a poor job telling you that you are getting invaded.
   The custom moveset system they took from God Hand didn't help, either. Some moves have more frames, some deal more damage, some can stun, and you swap the moves you like, just like God Hand. Only this time your enemies do this, too. So when you are not fighting online randos, you are fighting PVE enemies which are procedural generated randos with random appearances and random movesets, that's it.
   The minimalistic art style looks good when things stand still, but it makes the fighting action looks weak and lacks impact.
   In the end, the small player count on the weekend night I played shows betting on PVP alone is not enough to sustain a Souls-like game.… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful

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