Dotemu, the studio and publisher best-known for retro revivals like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Streets of Rage 4, has announced its next game — and this time it’s a brand-new property. Called Absolum, and it’s a fantasy beat ‘em up with roguelike elements; it’s being described as a “rogue ‘em up.” Dotemu is developing the game alongside Guard Crush Games and Supamonk. The new game is expected to launch later this year on the Switch, PlayStation, and PC.
It looks like Absolum will retain the core beat ‘em up action the developers are known for, and will be playable both solo and co-op (local and online modes are both supported) with four different playable characters. Dotemu says that the game will include “branching pathways to explore, quest to discover, intriguing characters to encounter, and a deep variety of challenging bosses in store.”
But instead of taking place in a familiar retro universe, Absolum is set in a new fantasy realm that the studio says is inspired by classics like Golden Axe. Here’s the set-up:
Absolum features an engaging narrative with themes of foiling an unbridled, dictatorial power and cheating Death itself. In the world of Talamh, a cataclysmic event caused by magic prompts the Sun King Azra to conquer all lands and sources of magic through brutal warfare, slaughtering any wizard unwilling to serve him.
Talamh’s hope now lies with a defiant band of rebels aided by a mysterious, mythical mentor known as Uchawi and the similarly powerful Root Sisters, who together oppose Azra’s pursuit of total power by wielding an ancient, forbidden magic. These mythical forces empower our rebels with astonishing magic as they stoke a resistance, fight Azra’s iron grip on Talamh, and discover the secret behind Azra’s ever-growing dominion.
It’s shaping up to be a busy year for Dotemu, which is also publishing the throwback Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound.
