Absolum

In its branching structure and buffet of combat techniques, it can stand toe to toe with any champion

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No sooner have we said that nobody beats Supergiant at its own game, Dotemu and Guard Crush Games arrive to give it a run for its money. Absolum may lack the narrative sophistication of Hades II, and some of its aesthetic punch, but it deploys the now-familiar Roguelike template with broad vision and unmatched technical depth. Here is a fighter in every sense of the word a beat-'em-up that, in its shifting, branching structure and buffet of combat techniques, can stand toe to toe with any champion.

Certainly, in the wake of Hades II, Absolum's writing and character design have the air of the first draft. Its warrior wizard heroes, setting out to best a tyrannical king, look dishevelled in an art style that feels more at home in the game's thick-outlined backdrops. The story rushes by, as you're ushered forth by an immortal 'Root Sister' and factional battles play out between humans and goblins - they perhaps don't require much explanation, but seem underexplained nonetheless. Conspicuously absent is a between-run hangout as characterful as Hades II's Crossroads. Absolum's haven is sparse in comparison, shelter to a handful of nondescript helpers who exchange currencies for permanent buffs and skills.

Yet if the delivery is uneven, there is an intricate fiction here that fuels the range of sights and sounds and fights you experience, its existence the catalyst for unexpected turns that pull the game away from its arcade genre roots. Not that Dotemu is embarrassed of this heritage: nods to Sega and Capcom classics are frequent (beast mounts straight from Golden Axe, bomb-lobbing and knife-wielding goblins referencing Final Fight). But equally it tacitly acknowledges the limitations of old and a need to push beyond if we're to be inspired to complete a lengthy quest.