End of the road
Absolver is a title that takes a long time before being handled, the button mash is a disapproved way and to learn the finest combat techniques requires a lot of gaming sessions. The depth and sophistication of the duels strike, however, visibly with whatAbsolver has to offer, a title that, if crossed in a straight line, does not require more than a handful of hours to be completed.
In Absolver it’s hard to talk about a real story and perhaps the most suitable term is mythology, a mythology made by a fallen and shattered kingdom, that of Raslan, where a Prospect handpiece – translated as Promise on the Steam page, but the game is completely in English – steadily struggling to climb Adal’s tower and assurgent to the degree an Absolver.
However, the course has no obstacles, because along the path leading to the highest point of Raslan, the aspirant Absolver will first have to defeat six mini-bosses – called the Marked One – and finally challenge the two real bosses, Kuretz and Calgar / Kilnor.
The suspended atmospheres, the long silences and some clues spread here and there, help to keep alive the aura of legend surrounding this path of the faceless face of the hero, but the reality is that soon you forget about who is fighting or why they are doing it and only some inspired footage helps to keep your mind running toward history, which is always a fundamental element.
The world ofAbsolver is small, it is an open world composed of a few areas and to explore it from the top of the bottom you do not even need an hour: in theory, if you pad your hand you are quite skilled to handle the techniques of fighting after a little workout the way to the queue titles ends after a few laps of the clock.
The real risk is therefore to think that you have seen everything after winning the two final bosses and leaving behind the title of Sloclap after a few games in the company of the game: this is the worst mistake because Absolverit is not a work that ends after the first run, but is one of those dishes to be tasted at a time and up to the last bite, shoe included, to appreciate the best and to enhance all the nuances and the sophistication of its ingredients. Now the beautiful thing begins.
Strike first, hit hard, without piety
Playing at Absolver is like turning up and down for restricted areas, getting lost in those labyrinths made of semi-destroyed houses, walking along a shore and shady woods, where the only landmarks are the few checkpoints scattered here and there, fighting a series of taciturn NPCs, with a often flat and very recurring character design.
This should be fun? Absolutely, because Absolver’s combat system is so successful that it would be framed and exposed, it is something that captures you and forces you to learn every single technique , literally stealing and watching the movements and the blows of the enemies: in the hours spent in the kingdom of Raslan I felt like a novel Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid, at first a plain wrestler capable only of kicking some fist or kick and concatenating a couple of simple combinations that were often read and rolled by enemies, but over time
I refined my attacks, personalizing and modifying sequences repeatedly, to put together a real ballet, a ruthless dance where the opponent sees rain on a bunch of sliders coming from all sides: low calcium on the left, high kick on the opposite side and then right upright
Another Marked One is over in my collection of fallen nobles. absolverit takes time and dedication, as in a real dojo: to learn the new moves you have to challenge as many opponents as possible and, partaking or avoiding their blows, they will enter a bit to become part of their deck, a list of customizable techniques in the special training section.
I think I’ve spent at least ten minutes after each new move learned, playing for a long time with the four starting positions – two behind and two fronts – to figure out what the shots were best for, using this suspended arena for introject the right timing of the moveset, made of parades, dodges, fast fists or heavy elbows, able to break the enemy guard. There is also the classic resistance bar, a further variable to keep in mind
