Absolver is a beautifully designed, completely unique 3rd-person fighting game. IMO it's the best new take on the fighting genre since SSB!
The combat system essentially uses deck-building for moves (think God Hand's combo creation system), and lets you replace any moves in your deck as you learn more.
The move learning system is genius: you learn moves by being attacked by them, and learn them faster if you show you can react to them (parry/dodge/absorb/stagger). I would love it if other games stole this mechanic, it makes you hunt for new moves instead of just grinding to hit an arbitrary number. It's super rewarding to finally unlock a rare attack. You can save multiple decks and share them with other players. If you fight someone and like their style (or get the snot beaten out of you) you can join their "school" which lets you equip their deck and their abilities, even if you haven't unlocked those moves yet (although you can't directly edit their deck, if you want to change it you'll have to unlock the moves).
Which moves you can use at any time are determined by your stance. Your stance is basically 4 directions which you can turn your body relative to your enemy. Each move has an entry and exit stance, so to create a combo you'll have to choose moves that can flow together. In each stance you can either use your standard combo or an alternate attack, (so there are only 2 attack buttons to worry about, more like SSB than traditional fighters). The alternate attacks serve dual purpose of being attacks that you can use mid-combo and also transitioning to another stance mid-combo.
Aside from attacks you can also dodge (other face button), block (left trigger), feint (left trigger right after a move starts), and switch stances (right stick while blocking). Aside from switching stances, the right stick is mainly used for your special ability. Special abilities are determined by which style you pick (which also changes some stats), and let you parry/absorb/avoid/stagger.
There's also some mana-using abilities mapped to the d-pad. These are things like healing or shockwaves or earthquakes. You can also summon weapons with mana, which allows you to use an entirely different deck!
To top it all off, there's also an inventory system. Each item has weight, cut resistance, and blunt damage resistance. Your character's total weight determines how fast you move and attack.You unlock loot constantly, there's a ton of it, and it's consistently cool looking (at least IMO).
This game is a masterpiece and needs WAY more appreciation! I can't believe it hasn't been nominated for more multiplayer GOTY awards. I can't stop gushing about it to friends and it has kept me coming back for over 100 hours thus far. It makes me want to be a better designer.
Thread made on behalf of Gillben from the adopt a user thread
The combat system essentially uses deck-building for moves (think God Hand's combo creation system), and lets you replace any moves in your deck as you learn more.
The move learning system is genius: you learn moves by being attacked by them, and learn them faster if you show you can react to them (parry/dodge/absorb/stagger). I would love it if other games stole this mechanic, it makes you hunt for new moves instead of just grinding to hit an arbitrary number. It's super rewarding to finally unlock a rare attack. You can save multiple decks and share them with other players. If you fight someone and like their style (or get the snot beaten out of you) you can join their "school" which lets you equip their deck and their abilities, even if you haven't unlocked those moves yet (although you can't directly edit their deck, if you want to change it you'll have to unlock the moves).
Which moves you can use at any time are determined by your stance. Your stance is basically 4 directions which you can turn your body relative to your enemy. Each move has an entry and exit stance, so to create a combo you'll have to choose moves that can flow together. In each stance you can either use your standard combo or an alternate attack, (so there are only 2 attack buttons to worry about, more like SSB than traditional fighters). The alternate attacks serve dual purpose of being attacks that you can use mid-combo and also transitioning to another stance mid-combo.
Aside from attacks you can also dodge (other face button), block (left trigger), feint (left trigger right after a move starts), and switch stances (right stick while blocking). Aside from switching stances, the right stick is mainly used for your special ability. Special abilities are determined by which style you pick (which also changes some stats), and let you parry/absorb/avoid/stagger.
There's also some mana-using abilities mapped to the d-pad. These are things like healing or shockwaves or earthquakes. You can also summon weapons with mana, which allows you to use an entirely different deck!
To top it all off, there's also an inventory system. Each item has weight, cut resistance, and blunt damage resistance. Your character's total weight determines how fast you move and attack.You unlock loot constantly, there's a ton of it, and it's consistently cool looking (at least IMO).
This game is a masterpiece and needs WAY more appreciation! I can't believe it hasn't been nominated for more multiplayer GOTY awards. I can't stop gushing about it to friends and it has kept me coming back for over 100 hours thus far. It makes me want to be a better designer.
Thread made on behalf of Gillben from the adopt a user thread