Absolver

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 25
  3. Negative: 1 out of 25
  1. Worth Playing
    Sep 8, 2017
    90
    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.
  2. Everyeye.it
    Aug 31, 2017
    85
    Absolver is an enjoyable, singular, technical and profound game.
  3. GameCrate
    Sep 5, 2017
    83
    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.
  5. Impulsegamer
    Sep 11, 2017
    82
    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.
  6. Edge Magazine
    Oct 12, 2017
    80
    The purity and quality of Absolver's vision has provided and innovative, constructive take on an often impenetrable genre. [Dec 2017, p.106]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Shacknews
    Sep 24, 2017
    80
    At its center, it is a hardcore RPG that will reward players that invest in it heavily and it has more than enough value at its lower price. The game’s most significant issues have been addressed with a patch, thankfully, and any that step into the world of Andal is in for a treat.
  8. IGN Italia
    Sep 11, 2017
    79
    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.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 92 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 92
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 92
  3. Negative: 34 out of 92
  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?    … Full Review »
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Aug 29, 2017
    7
    Absolver
    For Honor Meets Dark Souls
    Absolver is a martial arts focused combat souls like game where you play as your created character with    Absolver
    For Honor Meets Dark Souls
    Absolver is a martial arts focused combat souls like game where you play as your created character with your own selected fighting style and set out into its world to take down all of the marked ones and open a gate…
    This game can be played either offline or online where pvp is possible.. But co-op Is also possible...
    this game is a souls like not because of its difficulty, its fairly easy and everything can be seen in under 5 hours, it’s a souls like because how it is delivered…
    this is one open world with enemies around every corner, these enemies will respawn when you leave an area or activate a meditation post which is where you fill up your health…
    there is the little fog you enter to take on the games bosses…
    but this is the only dark souls part about it…
    the combat here is decently fun
    you’re able to do heavy attacks, light attacks, dodge and block, but there are 4 different fighting stances you can take and these stances will determine the moves you can pull off…
    And you learn more moves outside of your selecting fighting style through combat with either other player or enemies within the world…
    moves are leveled up as you use them, but by blocking them your character will start to learn them and eventually you’ll be able to use them yourself…
    though the blocking is probably the most annoying part about this game…
    As enemies are either blockers or they aren’t…
    that’s the only think that makes a boss “challenging”
    is they they spam the block button instead of force you to evade and time your attacks…
    because of this I found the game to just be very button mashy opposed to a game like for honor where you have to read your opponent a bit
    Sure you can wait for them to stop blocking and attack when they do…
    but you can also really just mash buttons and use your special abilities..
    Which are unlocked as you progress the game...
    Depending on the class you pick you can use an ability to gain health by striking until you take damage or the timer runs out, or stunning your enemy for some free shots...
    these abilities need to be filled by taking or dealing damage though, which is a fair bit of balance, running around isn’t going to help you…
    but as you’re running around if the game doesn’t have server issues like it started to on launch..
    You’ll see other players running around or fighting and you can either step in and help, ignore them, or attack them…
    I was attacked a few times, but it was never annoying when it happened... as I came out on top every time..
    it’s sort of satisfying to be attacked by a player, put them in the ground and then revive them after putting them in their place…
    Doing so will make the 2 of you neutral instead of hostile
    but you’re able to offer them your help or request help, offer a truce and play co-op together without battling..
    And there is a loot system here…
    there are weapons you can pick up and equip, though the break... and character can have much stronger gear for protection or lighter gear for speed and strength..
    so you have to be careful who you attack if you do
    But there is definitely some trolling potential on a certain bridge where a player Can use their push back attack on passing players.. So look out for it...
    Technically though the game plays pretty smoothly though I did run into some lagging before the server problems happened and part of the world disappeared once and I got stuck in a hole forcing me to back out into the main menu
    I found absolver to be fun.. though once you see all there is to see, the world loses a bit of its charm
    There is replayability in the form of leveling your character and combat moves through player vs player 1v1 of course, but the combat isn’t deep enough to be fun in its own dedicated competitive mode and there isn’t a deep enough world to make this replaybility anything but artificial outside of it
    This is a beat in a weekend game which isn’t a bad thing…
    I give Absolver
    a 7/10    … Full Review »
  3. prinex
    Aug 30, 2017
    5
    Played 3 hours in EU.
    First thing comparing this to Dark Souls is absolutely wrong. This is nothing more than a fighting game with some    Played 3 hours in EU.
    First thing comparing this to Dark Souls is absolutely wrong. This is nothing more than a fighting game with some nonsensical Pve part glued to.
    It looks that developer still have not gotten the memo: "Its the combat, stupid !" which means you have to be able to press R1,R2 and circle and you are all set for Dark Souls games (OK add L1 for parrying).
    Here we are at mercy of a crazy 4-stances 3-combos plus heavy attack that you can customize BUT: because the attack changes stances, depending on where you chain stop you can be in any of the 4 stances. So you end up pressing attack while looking at the stance logo and frantically trying to get back in your wanted stance with a super easy "R2 while moving R Stick". All this while guarding (L2) and moving L Stick (there is no lock) .
    Basically a super frustrating experience.
    The AI is more AS (Artificial Stupidity) and so easy to exploit that I finished the main game (2 hours) without levelling up more that 5 times (I still have 15 or so level points to spend).
    Now the "online experience". I concede this could be starting problem but I seldom see someone, still when it works its ok - you can run thru the game with random people.
    Which brings another problem (or interesting part) - friendly fire is on so you end up kicking everyone including friends. The more the merrier.
    Graphics are PSP level and freezes / lags / blacks screen are common.
    I give it a 5 because I see they made some effort there. But there is still a lot to do before it becomes somewhat of a polished game.
    Conclusion:    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »