Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I have not played Absalom, although I was going to say this. I have almost bought that game like three times now because I'm kind of craving it. So if either one of you were like, Hey Josh, let's play Absalom. I would, I would jump in in a heartbeat by the way. I'm just saying. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast.
Hades 2, Expedition 33, Blueprints, Ball X Pit, and then some game called Absalom? Why is this game in the running for Indie Game of the Year? Well, we've been playing it, and on today's episode, we're going to be breaking down what it is, why it's nominated, and if it's actually worth your time to play. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me...
we finally found a game where the most common phrase is res me josh res me josh it's ryan that was that was not on the first run because it was res me ryan for sure but yes there was some res me joshes absolutely I'm going to soak this in for a second, Ryan.
All I hear is, Josh, I'm down. Josh, I'm down. Oh, I'm down again. You had three res's, dude. You had three auto res. I don't have any.
I got to introduce the next guy, Ryan. And joining us... He was the one that twisted my arm and said, okay, Josh, fine. I'll play it with you. Does he regret it? Or was this one of my best ideas ever? It's Ace.
Oh, man. Yeah, I really had to twist your arm on this one to get this deep dive done. Oh, man. I had to remortgage my house.
I had to. Also, when you and I said we're playing Absalom, Ryan got salty right away. Oh, immediately. Immediately. Immediately salty and was like, another game, guys? You guys are going to play this one? And then we were like, yeah. And he's like, well, okay, is it three people? And we were like, no, Ryan, it's just two.
And then for the next two days, every time you and I were playing, we'd hear the little Discord. Somebody's joined the voice channel. And it'd be Ryan just being like, I hate you guys.
I hope you die.
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Chapter 2: What is Absolum and why is it nominated for Indie Game of the Year?
Hey, nerds. What are you playing? You playing that game without me again?
Yep, you were. You were. Every time I saw it, I felt like... Everybody hurts sometimes. I just keep seeing you guys in the voice channel together, and I can't join no matter what.
Oh, man. So, Ryan, we were the guinea pigs, okay, to see if there was something here. We were actually being bros to you and, like, trying to save you from having to play, like, an inferior game.
Thank you, thank you.
Until we realized... this game's probably not an inferior game. And then we were like, Ryan, you need to pick this up. And then like, Ryan is very prone to do. He was like, say less. I'm not excitable. I don't get FOMO. What are you talking about? And then I think you and I had like a good, like,
Well, actually, the first time we played, we only got like two matches in and then Ryan disappears off the face of the planet to do garage work or something for the next 84 hours. Yes. But you and I got in a pretty good like three hour session after that, which was good.
So yeah, we got our time in for sure.
Yeah. So, all right. Listen, everybody, we're going to be talking about Absalom. This game is nominated for the Indie Game of the Year category. And like us, you've probably heard the title and know nothing about this game. But we went, you know what, since the three of us have played this, we need to do a deep dive on it. And so here we are.
Once again, you know, being in the guinea pigs, guys, we're like the test subjects for the listeners.
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Chapter 3: How does the gameplay of Absolum compare to classic beat-em-ups?
He's kind of hard to see is the downside because he's short and there is a lot of visual clutter in this game. So it's like sometimes like when I'm playing Carl, I'm like, where am I? Like, wait, there I am. That happened a lot, but he is, he has a gun. So he's one of the, really the only ranged character in the game. Like everybody has some range stuff as far as abilities, which we'll get into.
Um, but I feel like that's kind of Carl's niche is that gun. He can whip out that gun and do a lot of different things with it. Um, cider is in my opinion, that's my favorite character because I just love the rogue type class. Cool. She is, pulling off crazy combos and juggles, and she's very quick. She cannot clash very well, which, again, we'll get into here in just a minute.
So she's got some negatives to kind of make up for the combos and speed that she has. And then Brom is your frog wizard guy. Battle mage. Brom, that's my toad boy.
I love Brom.
I will say, I think... I think Brougham's thing is he's probably meant to be like the arcana master, which is your skills. So he's more skill based because his basic combat is kind of plain and repetitive, in my opinion. So that's kind of the downside to him.
So it's like it's really neat that you have this cast of characters and they all excel at something and they all kind of have negatives at the same time. And to me, that's what you should have. If you have characters in a game, there should be positives and negatives so that people can kind of identify with this is my preferred play style.
The other cool thing that Ryan and I figured out is if you are playing a character and your buddy joins you, you can play the same character. Yes. As we quickly discovered, Ryan, that may not be the best strategy. Because we both played Cider, who is the roguelike character, and we got wrecked, man.
We were just like, okay, this ain't working.
uh speaking of not being able to see which one's yours like especially when you can't see already and then oh yeah and then there's two of the same ones and you're just like what there's just like a red cloth or a green cloth on their shoulder is like the only way to to difference the two you're like yeah the number of times i thought i was ryan and i'm walking like i'm trying to walk to the right side of the screen only to watch my character like walk off a cliff or something because i was like oh i thought it was the other one
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Chapter 4: What unique mechanics does Absolum introduce as a roguelike?
And it was like, yeah, like what the heck are these guys? Where did they come from? And now they're just in the game because we discovered them on a run. And so like, dude, Absalom masters everything. What it takes to have a really fun roguelike with absolutely thrilling and engaging combat that is pure and simple fun to play.
That keeps you wanting to play more and keeps dangling that carrot in front of you like a roguelike should, you know? I mean, it's like, this is just a masterclass in how you make a roguelike game.
Yeah. This is the textbook definition of infinitely replayable. That is what it is.
Yes, because the gameplay is incredibly fun.
Yeah.
At the same time, like, I just want to beat things up, man. Like, Ryan and I had a run the other day where we didn't even make it to the first boss. Like, we just... But you know why? Because number one, we were just being stupid and we both picked the same class, which didn't work out very well.
But at the same time, the game has this kind of varying difficulty curve where sometimes it will throw some really difficult enemies at you on a certain level for no reason whatsoever. You know, or like Ace, we had a run where we got like no healing. Oh, my gosh. Bro, we can't heal because the game's not giving us anything to heal with. Like, so it just every run feels unique.
It feels incredible. It's insanely fun to play. The gameplay loop in Absalom is amazing. I mean, it is so much fun.
It's really good. I want to say, too, there's something to be said, too, about the way where as you play through this game, if you get a really good build, you're like, why didn't I get further? I need to try to get that again. And then if you get a really bad build, it's like,
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Chapter 5: How do character abilities influence gameplay in Absolum?
Uh, for me, this game was, this was just another crazy surprise of, of indie talent and what we can get out of these developers. Um, I absolutely loved it. It was a throwback. Like we said, Golden Axe, Battletoads, all these games, it was just a blast. That's all you can say. It was a fun, enjoyable time, and I'm going to give it a 9.2.
oh that's low it's it was way up there for me i i am i'm hooked i am a junkie right now i've been doing solo runs i've been we even didn't even talk about it by the way i don't know if you guys tried it but i did matchmaking uh and i played with randoms oh so i don't know if you guys tried it because i wanted to see what it was like one randoms are the biggest loot monsters in the world
bigger than ace which is saying something oh that is saying something they i just i always every time you go to something and you can unlock the choices i just stand back and they go to the best one right away they'll grab all the gold they'll have like 500 gold and i'll have like 83 you know but uh there is an option to just play co-op with people too like there's there's just a lot there i think it's a really really good game there's a reason why it's it's nominated so i loved it
I am an absolute sucker for a wonderful roguelike, and there have not been a shortage of those this year. And Absalom just stands on its own as the first of its kind as a beat-em-up roguelike. At least a successful beat-em-up roguelike, I should say. There is absolutely a reason it is in the Indie Game of the Year nominations.
I might be too willy-nilly with them, but this is a 10 out of 10 game for me, man. This is absolutely a 10 out of 10 game for me. I will come back for DLC. I will come back for updates. I want to play Absalom all the time. I'm going to put you to the test, Ace. Absalom or Abyssus? Man, Abyssus is hard to say no to just because all four of us, or like four people could play that at the same time.
And that's really appealing.
Are you going to get Absalom's tattoo?
I honestly, that's not a bad idea.
I don't know what I'd do.
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