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vonHardenberg: Well, judging the amount of single player content is...difficult.

The actual campaign length (i.e., beating up all the bosses and becoming an absolver) is about 7 hours at a leisurely pace.

The entirety of the available moves can be obtained in about 12 hours, if you hurry, are good at the game and know where to find what and how to bait the NPC into using it against you.

However, this is a crossbreed between a beat'em up and an ARPG, with a dash of Dark Souls for good measure. A beat'em up takes about 30-70 minutes to complete (i.E., beating up all the other characters and the bosses), if you're good at the game. Most ARPGs are also short, and draw their longevity from grind and loot mechanics.

Back when I was younger and far less bitter and cynical, I've poured dozens of hours into various beat'em ups, just faffing around and wailing on the AI. I've never played competitively, I just enjoyed the gameplay. As such, think it's hard to judge the "length" of such games, as they are rarely played for the story.

Same for the ARPG part. Items (costume/armor parts and probably also weapon types) in Absolver are random drops from enemies and loot piles. Someone might be willing to grind countless hours solo to get that "perfect look" or perfect level of balance between protection and weight. I sure as hell wasted hundreds of hours on Diablo and its countless brethren and sequels, so I do understand the appeal.

The core of the game and the crux of the gameplay for Absolver is the fighting mechanics. If those are good (and the beta participants were quite happy with them, it seems), they will encourage beating up NPCs just for the joy of punching them in the face. IIRC they also scale up to a certain degree, so it's unlikely that a solo player would run out of challenging enemies.

And then there's the online part. Which has no chat function (only emotes, and none of those included the one-finger-salute or similar gestures), and besides inserting players randomly into the game world, also has clearly labeled PVP and COOP modes. This should keep the toxicity down to a tolerable level, and of course one needs to remember that the only way to acquire new moves is to get hit by them, but win the actual fight. So, it's best to look at this like it's some old kung-fu movie, where the protagonists need to establish whose style is superior through trial by combat. Nothing personal, just checking to see if the other guy has some new cool moves.

So, in a nutshell: 7 hours to "complete" the game, while one might spend FAR more time playing it, depending on how enjoyable the core fighting mechanics are.
That's about what I found as well, with the added note that more content PVE is planned to be released post-launch, but it's still unclear how much. As much as the developers talk about the multiplayer aspects, the real breaking point for the game its success will be how enjoyable the combat system will be by itself. A 7 hour campaign and eventual lack of people to play with will be far less of an issue if going around punching things is just super fun regardless of how diverse the content is. That's why their marketing emphasis on the multiplayer was a mistake, as it'll be the core gameplay that draws people in and has to keep their attention. No-one is going to stick around to learn more fighting styles if applying them in the game isn't enjoyable and if it is then a community will follow.

Beta players at least have been positive about how fun the game stays if you play a lot of it, but then that's what you'd expect them to say so I'm still wary. They should really have focused more on showcasing the PVE content and selling the game as a brawler with RPG elements, that also offers you a world to explore and people to meet.
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Fortuk: That's about what I found as well, with the added note that more content PVE is planned to be released post-launch, but it's still unclear how much. As much as the developers talk about the multiplayer aspects, the real breaking point for the game its success will be how enjoyable the combat system will be by itself. A 7 hour campaign and eventual lack of people to play with will be far less of an issue if going around punching things is just super fun regardless of how diverse the content is. That's why their marketing emphasis on the multiplayer was a mistake, as it'll be the core gameplay that draws people in and has to keep their attention. No-one is going to stick around to learn more fighting styles if applying them in the game isn't enjoyable and if it is then a community will follow.

Beta players at least have been positive about how fun the game stays if you play a lot of it, but then that's what you'd expect them to say so I'm still wary. They should really have focused more on showcasing the PVE content and selling the game as a brawler with RPG elements, that also offers you a world to explore and people to meet.
That's something that I'd wanted to see aswell. Everything showed up until now is the PVP aspect of the game, which I don't care at all. I don't even think that this game will draw that many people just for the PVP.

Still, I hope that the PVE experience will be fun; I'm craving for some good bare hand combat.
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Gurlok: That's something that I'd wanted to see aswell. Everything showed up until now is the PVP aspect of the game, which I don't care at all. I don't even think that this game will draw that many people just for the PVP.

Still, I hope that the PVE experience will be fun; I'm craving for some good bare hand combat.
That's what I'm seeing too. People are constantly asking about PVE and getting confused about what it is that you do in-game. PVP is a bonus, but not the main draw for a lot of people.

On a side note, crossplay between GOG and Steam versions has been confirmed: https://mobile.twitter.com/Absolver/status/891385025534595073
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Gurlok: That's something that I'd wanted to see aswell. Everything showed up until now is the PVP aspect of the game, which I don't care at all. I don't even think that this game will draw that many people just for the PVP.

Still, I hope that the PVE experience will be fun; I'm craving for some good bare hand combat.
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Fortuk: That's what I'm seeing too. People are constantly asking about PVE and getting confused about what it is that you do in-game. PVP is a bonus, but not the main draw for a lot of people.

On a side note, crossplay between GOG and Steam versions has been confirmed: https://mobile.twitter.com/Absolver/status/891385025534595073
At least now we have confirmation regarding the GOG and steam crossplay. I hope there will be some tasty info soon about the PVE :/
While it's not strictly PVE only, the sneak peaks from Devolver on twitch do show a good chunk of gameplay.

https://www.twitch.tv/devolverdigital

Have a look. Keep in mind most streamers are pretty awful players...
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vonHardenberg: While it's not strictly PVE only, the sneak peaks from Devolver on twitch do show a good chunk of gameplay.

https://www.twitch.tv/devolverdigital

Have a look. Keep in mind most streamers are pretty awful players...
Thanks for the link. Looks promising so far. I hope there is a proper character creation ang long hair for male characters.
I myself feel a little ripped off.... I know you want to focus on PVP but this game is the closest thing to an improvment on the old Jade Empire game.... the only RPG I got a hold of that was eastern/martial arts based action RPG.

Absolver has a lot of potential in many respects. I do not love the focus on art and items... yes you need to get all the modes and components of the game in that the devs want. But how about fleshing out the world, the styles (as in add more styles eventually and def. more moves) and masters. Weapon masters and a arean where you could focus on weapon combat may be cool as well.

Btw if it wasn't obvious I like the RPG elements and building a complete fighter(as a martial artist I love the systems you have so far). I do not relish the competition.... love ufc but I like training and imporevment in myself and my game avatars.

Do what gotta do to complete this project as you planned, the dream must take shape. But don't neglect the tons of potential that this game has.
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sane1: I myself feel a little ripped off.... I know you want to focus on PVP but this game is the closest thing to an improvment on the old Jade Empire game.... the only RPG I got a hold of that was eastern/martial arts based action RPG.

Absolver has a lot of potential in many respects. I do not love the focus on art and items... yes you need to get all the modes and components of the game in that the devs want. But how about fleshing out the world, the styles (as in add more styles eventually and def. more moves) and masters. Weapon masters and a arean where you could focus on weapon combat may be cool as well.

Btw if it wasn't obvious I like the RPG elements and building a complete fighter(as a martial artist I love the systems you have so far). I do not relish the competition.... love ufc but I like training and imporevment in myself and my game avatars.

Do what gotta do to complete this project as you planned, the dream must take shape. But don't neglect the tons of potential that this game has.
I agree with you, unfortunately they are focusing on the multiplayer component.
On a side note, did you check the latest update? They added the rift disks, which you can bet through points you gain with prestige levels (a new "level up" system after you reach the lv 60 cap). The drop is random, but at least you get 3 items at time, with one of them being very rare (I got a plenty of masks and one glove weapon).

It's far from greatness, but at least this makes you want to mess with the mobs again.

Now, if only they would allow us to unlock bosses rematches through pve, without messing with the grindy pvp component, and learning all the styles through pve alone...