I want to start this off by saying I love this game to death, and that if you find this game on sale, I highly recommend you check it out and play through what there is to offer. It’s a beautiful game with an in-depth combat system, detailed graphics, unique costumes, and gorgeous landscapes. With that being said, I can’t recommend this game at full price for a few reasons I’ll dive into.

Absolver is one of the, if not best disappointing games I have ever played. What I mean by that is this game does not have enough substance and content to be deemed as great or outstanding, but there's enough passion and entertainment in this game to give just as much happiness and fun as you'll have sadness and disappointment. Now, if Absolver was still being worked on with new content, areas to explore, an active player base and events, then I could easily recommend this game and look forward to the new things to come. Unfortunately, development for Absolver has been canceled since around August of 2019. The game comes as it is, and since it hasn’t seen any attention from its developers for 6 months now, it's safe to say it’ll stay this way for the remainder of its lifespan. On the bright side, servers are still currently up, which means you can still interact with players online, as well as play with your friends.

I want to start by talking about the style and world of Absolver, since it’s one of the first things that attracted me to this game. The world is a vast and beautiful land with a variety of forest and temple-like areas. It’s style is similar to Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, but there's still so much uniqueness and originality in this game that it stands on its own. Every player must wear a mask, but there's so many different masks and outfits to choose from, that each player can customize themselves to look and fight the way they wish. It gives all who play it a sense of individuality, being able to tell their own story and do as they please. The amount of freedom you are given, despite the fact that the game isn't an open world game, but instead free roam, is simply incredible.

This game has an amazing combat system, which you, the player, are able to customize fully to your liking. On top of that, the A.I. are can be challenging to fight and are capable opponents for the most part, being the enemy A.I. use the same moves and combat the players do. In fact, countering enemy attacks will allow you to slowly learn those said attacks and add them to your inventory, so that you can build up your attacks and use them against the enemies. That factor alone keeps the PvP and PvE consistent, making both choices of gameplay equally as fun. Even by the time I stopped playing this game, the combat never got stale, nor did I feel burnt out over it.

Even though the A.I. are a joy to battle against, I do have to admit that the most fun I had playing this game was fighting with and against friends. The game allows 3 player co-op, so you and 2 other pals can go out and explore the world in front of you. Even though you’re banded in an alliance with your teammates, there is no way to turn friendly fire off, meaning you still have to watch where you’re attacking so as to not hit your buddies. I really appreciated this because it meant you couldn't just spam attacks on one enemy, you’d still have to strategize together and figure out collectively how to counter enemies.

Even though nowadays, it can be hard to find other players online walking around and doing activities, there's still a good amount of multiplayer based game modes to choose from. There's the Downfall expansion where you can tackle a dungeon on your own, or invite some friends to take down a big baddie and get some good points. Then there’s 1v1s, where you’ll get matched up with an opponent online, best out of 2. Lastly, and mostly, there's 3v3 tdm and point capture. This was and always will be the most fun I have ever had with this game. One time, I got together 5 friends who owned the game, and we all competed in a 3v3 point capture match. It was extremely intense yet insanely fun. Lots of laughs and battle screams were shared with each other that day, and it'll always be known to me as the greatest gaming experience with my friends for the year of 2019.

If you’ve been reading up to this point, then you’ll notice that for the most part, I’ve had nothing but praise to say for this game. I didn’t even get into detail about the school system, weapons, shop, bosses, and final areas that I enjoyed in this game. This is where I have to be realistic with my overall verdict with the game. As much as I love this game and everything it has to offer, I could still only milk what it gave me in under 40 hours until I stopped playing. There's just not enough content built around what this game does to sustain it. For all the fancy outfits, luscious areas, and challenging foes, there's only so much provided to the point where you’re just looking for more that isn't there. You can beat the entire game around 5-6 hours, and from that alone, you've seen almost every enemy and area there is to see. The multiplayer experience is a blast and still worth checking out. However the current state of the games player base is so dead, you’ll be lucky to encounter a 1v1 match. 3v3’s are almost nonexistent, and the only real way to experience them now is if you gathered 5 friends or people from the community and planned a match up with them, which isn’t always doable.

The last thing I saved to talk about this game, is the story. Usually, the story is the first part to review, but for this particular game and what it means to me, I had to leave the story for last. If nothing else, Absolver’s story is extremely lacking, and is the most disappointing part of this game. In the story, you, the player, are the chosen one, and must defeat some bosses. That’s really about it. There are a total of 2 big bosses and 1 final boss, who each have a bit of personality but overall hold nothing more than a challenging time. The end boss is super rewarding, and when you beat her, it seems like the story is finally taking off. She escapes, and you officially become an Absolver, now ready and prepared for new and daring adventures. Except you aren’t, because that's where the story ends. Right when it feels like the story had started, it already ended, and leaves you feeling nothing more than sheer disappointment.

It honestly saddens me that the community has put more love and effort into the game than the developers have themselves, spawning plenty of interesting lore and talented fan art. Although I have no hope for the developers returning to the game and adding onto it, there is one small hope I still have in the back of my mind. I wish for the developers to open up a workshop or open sandbox for the players to create and customize at their free will. If this was open, there wouldn’t be a need for the developers to do any more, as the community would be more than willing to expand the game with mods and campaigns. The Absolver discord, subreddit, and steam page shows more than enough proof that the community is extremely dedicated to the game, and I hope that the devs take note of that one day.

That's all I have to say about Absolver. I really do love this game and could go on for hours about what I love, but being it’s given me an equal amount of emptiness and disappointment, I believe I’ve already given this review too much effort and attention. However now I can feel satisfied and content with the experience I had, officially closing the book to Absolver, and moving on. Thank you so much for reading!

Absolver is one of my favorite fighting games, however I can't really recommend it for new players. Absolver may have really good combat mechanics and some amazing art style/visuals. It's one of those games where you actually feel a sense of progression as you continue playing; not only does fighting feel satisfying but you also get the sensation that you are getting better. Despite all this there are some setbacks that stop me from recommending it to everyone.
The game has a very small active community so it's pretty much dead. This wouldn't be a major problem if the PvE had more content, unfortunately the main story is very short, you can beat it under 2 hours. There are endgame dungeons but they are just small linear caves with a boss at the end. Not only do they lack the artistic details of the main game but also lack the exploration aspect of it, making it repetitive and (in my opinion) boring. Unless you have some friends to tag along, those dungeons are probably not gonna be fun.

The other side of the endgame is the PvP, which is a little more active, but most people there have spent hundreds of hours into the game, know most of the moves and have the coolest looking gear, so a new guy is probably gonna get his ass kicked without standing much of a fight. That's a big turn off for most people who simply want to fight someone on their level, but you could always try to improve and learn until you stand a better chance. It really depends on the person.

TL/DR:
Pros: Good artstyle, great and satisfying combat system
Cons: Game is basically dead, lacks singleplayer content, the PvP is tough for new players.

If you can stand Absolver's shortcomings then sure, get it. Otherwhise don't even bother or you won't have much fun.

Okay I put a thumb down even though I think it's a good game, but I wouldn't recommend playing it now.

The game itself is short but there's a lot to do for end game but it's all locked behind having to PVP to unlock it. But there's not a lot of people that still play this. And if you get this game now, you would either not find anyone to PVP or you keep fighting the same one person who been playing for a long time and have a lot more moves than you so you'll be in the disadvantage either way.

But the "Story Mode" is maybe 3-4 hours long only, If you manage to have friends to play with you there is 3 stage end game dungeon that seem really fun. I managed to beat 2 of the stages with a stranger but got stuck at the last one. And was unable to find anyone to play with the next day.

I've put a lot of time in this game and have had a real blast with it (for some of that time, at least). I really wish I could recommend this game because it has a lot of great ideas and a style and personality that really work for me personally. Mechanically, deckbuilding is fun and the fighting is full of tension and excitement. It comes so close to being a fantastic game that it's a real shame that I have to recommend against it.

Firstly, the developers have not only proven to be chronically inept at balancing their game, but have all but said outright that they've finished with it. So this is it. No further content to be expected and the glacial speed of balance fixes will probably reach that much closer towards absolute zero from here on out. If you expect to go deep into deckbuilding and style mastery, which are more or less the endgame goals of the PvP (the main content of the game), you may be frustrated that the majority of moves, most powers and some styles are simply irrelevant considering how terribly updates (and lack thereof) have crippled them or made their competitors superlatively strong by comparison. I understand that the developers are having a bit of trouble right now and need to prioritise new ventures that'll keep the company going, but them abandoning ship at such an unhealthy state of gameplay doesn't bode well for the game's longevity.

Furthermore, the 'community' for this game in my region (OCE) is the most toxic and petty group of people I've ever seen despite how small it is and how tight-knit it should be for a population-challenged indie fighting game. Trashtalk and salt are an expected part of fighting games and this one's no different, but for some reason this game's community goes beyond playful jabs between rivals and towards constant whining and mean-spirited belittling. While I would maybe go out on a limb to recommend the game itself in a vacuum, this is fundamentally a PvP game, so it's inevitable that you'll run into these people and I simply cannot in good conscience recommend such an experience to anybody seeking a good way to spend their time. I suppose if you're a masochist that enjoys waiting literal hours for a match only to be paired with someone that very likely will get incredibly salty when losing and rub things in your face when winning (talking trash about you on Discord regardless of outcome), then this is the perfect environment for you.

TL;DR - The developers have pretty much pronounced the game finished despite leaving it in a horrendously flawed state and the tiny, toxic community aren't enjoyable to interact with.

I don't recommend

Просто сраний кусок сраного гівна !

Як сказав Брюс Лі:
«Я не боюся того, хто роками практикує тисячі технік, я боюся того, хто роками практикує лише одну»

Its not a bad game or anything, its just that half of the game's content is reliant on online gameplay and you'll hardly find anyone still playing. The next level bosses for example require you to level up from pvp, and matches are never found even after 30 minutes. Im sure this was fun when it first came out but i was recommended this game pretty late and now it jus feels like a barren and abandoned game.

фе

Absolver is a unique, niche rpg fighting game where you have complete control over your characters stats, combos, and looks. It has a fully unique world, seamless online multiplayer, a competitive matchmaking system, and a completable story. This covers the basics you need to know, but if you want more detail on the specifics, make sure to check out other reviews. With mine, I want to dive a little deeper than that, and analyze Absolver's successes, its failures, and its future.

First things first, lets address the golden period of Absolver; The start. From the tutorial all the way up until the end of the story, the game really is incredible. During this period, progression is nailed perfectly. The game constantly drip feeds new content in the form of abilities, attacks, customization options, and increasingly challenging bosses. The game really makes players feel like they might've mastered the game by the time they've beaten it. Looking at it like this, it doesn't look like there should be much wrong with Absolver. Case closed. . . right?

Unfortunately, no. Notice how I included the end of the story as part of "The start"? The entire story can be completed within one or two play sessions, easily. Rather than a true story, it might be more fair to call it an extended tutorial. And after it ends, the game essentially thrusts you into a barren void, empty of literally any meaningful content. The only things you can do after beating the incredibly short main story are slog through a repetitive procedural dungeon, take part in an endless amount of usually one-sided duels, or spend hours grinding enemies purely for the sake of completion.

And yet, despite how we were given mere crumbs of content, despite the obvious issues, and despite seemingly all reason, I and many others kept on playing. I think this ultimately boils down to the two core aspects of Absolver's gameplay: It's customization and its skill-based combat. Speaking personally, the customization really resonated with me. I spent full hours editing my character, deliberating on the aesthetics of my clothing, pondering the best way to adjust my deck. Absolver lets players express themselves in a unique way that I don't think any other game has quite captured. I couldn't get enough of it. Meanwhile, other people couldn't get enough of the combat. They racked up astonishing hours (And by astonishing, I mean easily into the couple thousands) optimizing their decks, refining their skills in PVP, and overall achieving incredible mastery. The game's content could fit in a fishbowl, and yet somehow, because of it's core aspects, it had the depth of an ocean.

In the end, this is how I rationalize the games community, and the time I spent on the game. I think each player who kept playing saw something amazing in Absolver, some speck of potential. We kept playing in hope for that speck to grow. As you may have guessed already, this turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. I saw all the issues the game had, but I basically looked away from them. They felt ignorable, like they didn't matter because OF COURSE Sloclap was going to fix them. Unfortunately, this faint hope (and subsequently the games speck of potential) died when Sloclap announced in May 2019 that they have stopped working on Absolver.

Looking back at it more objectively, Absolver was destined to run into serious issues, even if it had more content. Earlier I mentioned the games two core aspects, customization and fighting. I think the unfortunate truth is that these two game play elements simply don't mesh together very well. The customization, while unique and liberating, intrinsically harms the combat. There always would have been a tug of war between designing a deck with combos that look appealing and satisfying, versus building a deck that looks worse, but wins fights. Without the rose-tinted view of the game that I once had, I can't even really say the core aspects of the game hold up that well anymore.

Ultimately, Absolver will probably always hold on to a small, devoted player base. However, with the developers abandoning the game, and with its extreme lack of content, I would advise most people to avoid purchasing. Only buy this game if you accept the risk that you might only enjoy it for a few short hours.