My second-favorite character in Absolum is Cider, or as I wish to name them: Kung-Fu Pinocchio.
Beat ’em ups are constructed on the power of their character designs. The repetition inherent to the style signifies that every uppercut and dive kick animation had higher be satisfying. Absolum appears to be delivering that—earlier this 12 months I referred to as the sport certainly one of my favourite issues I’ve performed in 2025.
Out tomorrow, I spoke with a few of Absolum’s builders at Dotemu about their artistic course of behind the forged of 4: Galandra (broadsword-swinging warrior), Karl (stout dwarven brawler), Cider (the prosthetic ninja), and Brome (frog wizard).
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PC Gamer: What was the top-level, guiding thought in designing Absolum’s characters?
Maxime Mary, artwork director and co-creative lead: As Dotemu used to reinvent previous IPs for modern gamers, we checked out previous fantasy video games like Golden Axe or Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara as a place to begin and checked out how we might modernize them.
So the 4 playable characters needed to have this “basic” vibe. We now have the dwarf, the warrior, the magician, the rogue, however we needed to have one thing that matches extra with our fashionable tradition. Consequently, the warrior is a girl, non-sexualized. The magician is a frog deeply rooted in his household and group, the dwarf is the final of his type, extra refined than a common dwarf, and the rogue is a fantasy model of a ninja.
How would you describe the identification (by way of gameplay and/or visible type) of every character?
Jordi Asensio, head of recreation design and co-creative lead: I began from basic D&D archetypes, one thing acquainted so gamers instantly really feel at dwelling, however I needed to twist every of them in a singular method.
Galandra is the warrior, however with a necrotic arm that hints at her darkish previous. Karl is a close-range dwarf who wields a blunderbuss as an alternative of a standard axe or hammer. Cider is the rogue, outfitted with mechanical prosthetics and a grappling hook that adjustments how they transfer and battle. And eventually, Brome is the frog wizard, bringing a mixture of humor, thriller, and amphibian vitality to the group.
How do you go about creating a moveset for a personality in a beat ’em up like Absolum—does it begin with animations, or one thing else?
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Asensio: It normally begins with a basic design thought, one thing like, “Okay, we would like a rogue!” From there, we collect numerous references and brainstorm each visible and gameplay instructions. Then Maxime begins sketching completely different drafts, and we decide the one which feels proper.
As soon as the design is ready, we have now a number of periods to think about cool strikes that would match throughout the recreation’s general design framework. Due to the Guard Crush Engine (Guard Crush’s in-house engine additionally utilized in Streets of Rage 4’s improvement), we will take a look at issues in-game in a short time, which helps us tweak, regulate, and add no matter feels lacking.
As improvement goes on and the sport takes form, new concepts usually come up naturally—and typically meaning new strikes get added alongside the best way.
Cyrille Lagarigue, technical director and co-creative lead: We tried to characterize every character with a “theme” for every of the strikes or transfer classes: combo, seize, talent, and arcanas.
For instance, Karl has a blunderbuss, so he’s characterised by its arcanas which might be primarily ranged assaults, however he additionally has a strong seize that enables him to maneuver with the enemy.Cider has a grappling transfer talent, however she additionally has arcanas which might be devices.
So I believe for every character, we have now this major factor that’s seen in its visible design and secondary specificities.
To what extent is readability a precedence if you’re designing the look of characters in a beat ’em up?
Maxime Mary, Artwork Director and co-creative lead: It’s essential, in videogames typically. We needed to be cautious on Absolum with the inked/comics type as a result of there are a variety of black areas on the display screen, and it may flatten the motion. As we have now a variety of enemies, particular results, but additionally wealthy environments, we needed to discover a technique to create a number of layers of readability.
For instance, the one actual black traces are on the characters and the objects you possibly can work together with. Regarding the characters, a transparent silhouette is vital. The participant has to have the ability to see the anticipation frames earlier than an assault (for instance an enemy holding up a sword) and see a big distinction within the subsequent transfer (touchdown the assault on the bottom). As we added a variety of assault and defensive choices (sprint, deflect, and so forth…), the silhouette of the character transferring ahead, up, down needed to be the clearest we might get.
After that, the alternatives of colours and the general form of the characters needed to be very distinct. We used to consider primary shapes like triangles, squares, circles when designing some characters in animation, and you may see that Galandra is a triangle with a variety of spikes on her cape, Brome is fairly spherical and so forth… This helps to make the characters stand out and have a stronger persona.
Did the characters change quite a bit throughout improvement?
Mary: Because the inventive manufacturing of the property was fairly lengthy and tough, we tried to determine all the things earlier than beginning to animate them, so we had a fairly clear thought of what the characters must be. However after all we added some strikes later through the manufacturing.
What was tough about it?
Mary: We animated the characters as we normally do in an animated present or film. All the things was hand drawn, no puppet or CG, so going again to an animation that wanted a modification was usually redrawing all the things from the beginning. Then you must clear the animations with this inked type that’s fairly difficult. So all of this course of was fairly heavy, in comparison with different productions.
However was there any side of the characters that modified?
Asensio: Possibly Galandra’s sword. It was actually cool, but additionally very highly effective, so we went forwards and backwards quite a bit about the way it must be used. It was laborious to search out the precise stability—you need gamers to make use of it as a result of it feels nice, however you don’t need it to be spammable or, however, too restricted by assets.
Ultimately, that problem truly helped form our general management system. It’s what led us to outline a devoted “talent” button for all characters, which turned a core a part of the sport’s design.
Lagarigue: Sure, Galandra’s sword transfer was by far the toughest to stability, at one level in improvement, it even had a sort of cooldown with a stamina gauge, however that made the sport really feel gradual—you needed to wait within the nook of the display screen to have the ability to assault. On the finish, we needed to discover the precise stability in order that the sword slash transfer didn’t overshadow the combo, so the combo is quite a bit quicker and has greater harm output potential, however you must get shut and be exact.
That have helped us to design the opposite characters, with the talent being extra of a “push enemies away” transfer, a bit of bit just like the leap kick in basic beat ’em ups. Cider being the exception, as a result of her talent is usually a starter.
What have been your objectives with Cider, arguably essentially the most unique character within the roster?
Asensio: Like with each character, we needed to provide them a definite taste so that everybody can discover one thing they get pleasure from. For Cider, we needed a quick character—a rogue leaning towards the ninja archetype. The guiding thought was “combo pixie”: somebody constructed round air juggling, agility, and mobility.
With the grappling hook, additionally they turned the technical character of the roster—the one the place skilled gamers can actually discover artistic and superior methods to specific their talent.
What work went into the design of arcanas—the completely different particular skills that gamers equip?
Asensio: We needed gamers to have quite a lot of playstyles to select from, even throughout the similar character. Even when somebody has a favourite character, they’ll nonetheless decide an Arcana that matches their private type. Possibly you want Cider, however you’re additionally into area-of-effect assaults—so that you would possibly select the mines. Or possibly you favor aerial combos, through which case the drill kick is your decide.
It’s additionally a technique to hold enjoying the identical character contemporary: altering the Arcana can utterly shift how a personality feels, giving gamers new methods to benefit from the recreation with out having to change characters.
Associated to that, are there any fascinating animation tips or strategies that have been utilized in Absolum?
Mary: Sure after all, as silhouette is vital, fairly often we have now to magnify the intention of a transfer by dishonest with the anatomy. The commonest instrument we use throughout a fast transfer, is what we name a “smear,” when the animator stretches in a cartoony type a limb that goes in a short time from a place to a different. All people can consider some cartoon exhibits the place the character has a number of eyes when turning its head from left to proper, that’s the thought. Additionally typically you must stretch or transfer a limb to make clear a silhouette, or make it greater to strengthen the intention of an assault (like a giant hand earlier than a seize, one thing like that).
Brome suits into that basic mage/wizard archetype, as you talked about—however we normally consider wizards as “glass cannons” who forged spells from a distance, somewhat than brawl in shut quarters, as Brome partly does. How did you go about conveying Brome’s identification, on this method?
Asensio: He begins with a fairly stable primary toolkit, however what actually units him aside is how he evolves. Whereas some characters achieve new melee strikes or perks centered on shut fight, Brome’s upgrades lean extra towards his arcanas and ranged skills. For instance, he can cost his arcanas, deflect projectiles, and even use telekinesis to govern throwables.
He can undoubtedly maintain his personal in shut fight, however he actually shines relating to arcana use and long-range play, that’s the place he turns into an actual powerhouse.
Who’re the voices behind the 4 major characters?
Asensio: The principle forged is:
Galandra, voiced by Emily Barber (MobLand, The Alienist, Business)Karl, voiced by Trev Fleming (Dragon Quest Monsters, LOTR On-line)Cider, voiced by Samantha Béart (Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3)Brome, voiced by Dario Coates (Dying Gentle: The Beast, Cyberpunk 2077)
Initially, the sport wasn’t even deliberate to have voice performing, however the entire workforce pushed for it. For us, it was actually necessary to provide extra life and texture to the world, to make the journey extra immersive and emotionally participating. Our narrative designer, Gautier Knittel, directed the recording periods and made positive the actors actually related with their characters and the universe.
They’re all extremely proficient, and we’re very pleased with the consequence, the world of Absolum actually feels alive.
