Action · 2025 · DotEmu · local · online
Absolum
A beat ’em up with randomised runs from the Streets of Rage 4 people — and considerably easier as a pair than alone.
What it is about
A beat ’em up with randomised runs: you fight through a world against a tyrant, pick up abilities along the way and start over after a defeat — with whatever you unlocked permanently.
By the people behind Streets of Rage 4, which is already here. Four characters to choose from, two of them playing at once.
Our verdict for couples
This is where playing together shows up in the numbers: alone the enemies chip at you from every side; as a pair they divide their attention, and the same spot suddenly feels fair. One review calls the difference "night and day", and that is about right. In return it is hard. If you want a game for a relaxed Tuesday evening you are in the wrong place: blocking and countering decide things, and a lost run costs both of you the same half hour. Two things are worth knowing in advance: online co-op has failed to connect for many people for months, and co-op cannot be paused. At the television, with time to spare, it is still one of the best beat ’em ups for two since Streets of Rage 4.
Pros
- Measurably easier as a pair, because the enemies divide their attention
- One copy covers you both at the television
- Combat with real depth but without complicated button strings
- Four characters with their own abilities, plus challenges after the ending
Cons
- Online co-op has failed to connect for many people for months
- Co-op cannot be paused — a run has to be played through
- A lost run costs both of you the same half hour
- With many enemies on one screen you lose track of your own character
Suitable from
Hobby–Gamer
- Conflict potential
- Spirited
- Cosiness
- Tense
- When you can stop
- After 30–45 minutes
- How long it lasts
- 15–40 hours
What other co-op fans say
Ninety-four percent approval, and the couch co-op does not get praised in passing but named as a reason of its own — one review considers it the best the genre offers for two in this console generation. People also frequently describe the game being markedly more frustrating alone than together, because otherwise every enemy aims at one person. The one objection that keeps coming up is not about the game but about the connection: online co-op fails for many people, and has for months.
- “COUCH COOP GOATED. Maybe nothing better for couch coop this generation, save maybe split fiction/it takes two”
- “Co-op makes it easier to deal with because you have another body on the playfield, so all the enemy attention isn’t just on one player. It feels like night and day to me.”
- “This game is my current family favorite. We play co-op and it has been a journey unlocking things together.”
- “Really great co-op beat em up and would fully recommend it if the online co-op worked.”
Summarised by machine from 60 Steam reviews, not written by our editors. The quotes appear verbatim in those reviews.
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