Absolum was my personal game of the year for last year, which is saying something considering the elite company it had. So, how do you perfect perfection? You add more options and make the game more of what made it so amazing, of course!
Absolum has a slew of modes, options, and improvements in its new Threads of Fate update. In it are several additions, including Corrupt Regions and Mystic Ordeals, which form the bulk of it, but there are other things sprinkled in such as new character skins and mounts, along with a new reward system that will incentivize spending more time in the ever-surprising world of Talamh.
Those that have played Absolum for some time will realize that a form of Corrupt Regions already existed, in a way, but this further expands that. It works not only by adding additional elite enemies (the terrors that don’t flinch…boo!), but they warp in several enemies that have no business being there. Since these enemies often add new strategies to be aware of on top of the baddies you were already dealing with, it keeps things fresh and quite challenging with much greater rewards to be gained. These regions can be seen on the map, so you can avoid them if you want to.
Then, we have Mystic Ordeals. This is a game mode that many will never see. Absolum is already challenging, and the rogue-lite nature of the game finds many players not getting to the end. To access Mystic Ordeals, you have to beat the game, fully, which is a decent task. However, once you find a perfect build, you’ll be well on your way to doing this. Unlocking Mystic Ordeals allows you to mess around with all sorts of modifiers to further challenge yourself, and others, making ‘broken’ builds seem like hard mode, if you want.
Essentially, Mystic Ordeals introduces challenges, such as gauntlets that can throw kitchen sinks and then full kitchens at you, and challenge tiers that offer higher chances at rare upgrades. It introduces new scenarios, too, Essentially, they include variables that add even more replayability, which might seem like a bit superfluous in a rogue-lite that has a skeleton based on such things, but it fits like a fine glove. It feels like a natural extension, especially working in tandem with the overall tweaks.
There have been a number of quality-of-life tweaks, mostly dealing with the math under the hood and the rates of hidden rifts and higher-quality enhancements appearing, along with literally hundreds of others. Most likely won’t notice these changes or even see the extra modes as they’re designed to be extremely challenging, much more than the already challenging full game.
Since Absolum already had a lot of variety, especially at the end where everything gets…weird. And intense. But now there are plenty more avenues to explore, along with some creative changes that “fix” an issue of runs feeling a bit like a slog to get to the end while seeming to lack variety at the end…at least without discovering some of the variables and paths at the end.
Now, one big “miss” from this outstanding package is a lack of an arcade mode which would streamline the game to play like a cabinet arcade-style game. It’s not exactly fair to call this a miss seeing as it’s not the style of the game except for the beat ’em up presentation, but it’s something the community has been screaming for. And…I wouldn’t mind seeing it. They should do it for me!
With that said, it should be noted that these additions are all free of charge, and they make an already perfect game even perfect-er (sure, more perfect, but neither actually makes sense). If you haven’t already played the greatness that is Absolum, now is the…ahem…perfect-est time to get with it, already!
