Absolver

I love this game. The combat is definitely the take away and sole focus of the game. The story is mostly there to help create an atmosphere and give you an idea of what is in store for you. The game definitely has a grind but one that you want to keep coming back for. I honestly forgot I was grinding because the combat sucks you in. I definitely recommend checking it out just for the unique combat and atmosphere and that moment when you have a fight down to wire and you overcome and that moment of bad assness comes out and you get a shot of adrenaline and scream come at me to the world..

If you play this game in offline-mode it's quite enjoyable and challenging. But the Online-Mode is just ... horrible There are more enemies in the area, depending on how many people are there with you, to balance the game. The problem is, that there's no way to communicate with other players, besides emotes. Then there's friendly fire, so you have to be carefull to not stagger other people. So all in all this concept just results in you fighting against more enemies alone, because the other people will run around somewhere else. (This mechanic is even included in bosses, so you have to fight the boss +1 strong enemie for every player in the area) And not to forget: enemies respawn every time a player enters the area you're in, so you might back off into a group of enemies you just killed seconds before. But the worst is still that your "connection" depends on the other players connection. So if there's someone with high ping next to you, your ping will become the same as his, so you go from fluent gameplay to stuttering, teleporting and sliding enemies hitting you without moving. So I thought, ok, most of those problems can be avoided by creating a privat server and playing with a friend ... VERY WRONG Well it really helped against most problems, but we got disconnected every time we moved from one area to the next, so we had to reconnect multiple times, before giving up. And to finish the review up: Whilst playing offline I ran into 0 bucks Whilst playing online: - I managed to create a clone of mine every time I moved from an area to the next - My camera got randomly stuck at the position it was, whilst my character could wander on - Even by just sitting down at the savespots I managed to create clones of mine (making it impossible to sit down) (my highscore was 5, than my game simply crashed) To sum it up: The game itself is quite good, but they REALLY NEED to FIX their SERVERS!

Do you like punching things? Or do you prefer kicking things? Maybe you prefer cutting things, who knows. I first encountered Absolver randomly in a recommended video on YT, not sure where it came from, never heard about it before then, and while usually YT's strange recommendations are a source of frustration, this one was a blessing. While the content is limited at the moment, the developer is actively adding new content to the game every few weeks, as well as fixing bugs and balancing stuff out along the way. The latter is a very important part, as this game is heavily focused on PvP combat, though the developer has recently announced that due to community feedback, an expanded PvE experience is in the works for this year. There's a bit of a learning curve as you progress through the rather short PvE experience, giving you some time to get a hang of the controls, and learn how the combat system works as you work your way through smaller and sometimes slightly larger groups of enemies on your way through the game's bosses, some of which can be a challenge your first time around. Then, there's the learning wall of bricks you hit when you queue up for PvP and meet your first experienced player, as there is a really deep system behind the mechanics of how all the moves you learn as you block and dodge them work, and those that know what they're doing, will destroy you like none of the bosses have before. This may seem harsh and unfair, but as you learn to deal with what other players are throwing at you, and find better moves to complete your favorite combos or counter others, the game feels rewarding when you begin to succeed more and more in a way no other game has done for me in years. To make a long story even longer by adding this, if you're persistent enough to get up after a Dark Souls boss knocks you down, you'll keep hitting that rematch button in Absolver until you become that boss for the next new guy to face, and you'll have fun every step of the way.

I really want to like it but for me at least it's impossible to play continuously since entering new areas tends to break my game. The game has also (only) crashed one time but I think it's unacceptable for a full release to have such problems. I'm liking it so far but I won't change my review until it has been fixed

First of all, I love the amount of customization, making our own fighting combos is a good way to add replayability. And the fighting syustem is very good most of the time. Being able to easily punish greedy attackers and get punished adds a extra piece to the defensive and offensive moves. The weight affecting damage is a good concept but is kind of just tacky, with no real punishment. The abilities add an extra piece of depth, being able to use skills that are more defensive or offensive can completely change how the combat feels. Being able to stun enemies, ore pull away their weapon, or healing, maybe even making their equip load heavier, or slowing stamina regen. It's well balanced and done to an extent that is both fun and challenging. Now for the things I don't like. The PvP focus. I hate how certain things are locked behind PvP and wish there was an alternative to getting those things. I hate how ganks are a common occurance. Ganks do not add a good challenge, just an annoying one, and yet enemies are placed in a way where it feels like you cannot have a one on one. Back to the PvP, Why do I have to do PvP for more things to do in PvE? I don't want to have to fight 10 or so people to fight the Coloseum boss again or 20 people for the Gank fight. Yet after that i still come back to this game because of the good parts. In summary. PvP bad, Combat's mostly good, And it's a unique experience.