Ich find's großartig.
Die Onlineanbindung funktionierte gut genug bei mir, seit v1.03 problemlos. Dass in den ersten Tagen nicht alles stabil läuft liegt daran, dass man 'nen Launch nicht testen kann. Keine QS-Firma hat zehntausend Tester an zehntausend verschiedenen Zugangspunkten über den Globus verteilt. Eine Open Beta wäre wahrscheinlich 'ne gute Idee gewesen.
Mir fällt auf, dass die positiven Stimmen hier im Forum Absolver spielen und die kritischen sich auf Reviews berufen. Ich glaub das liegt daran, dass mehrere Tests - dieser auch - den Fokus nicht auf das legen, was die Spieler, die länger dabei bleiben werden, hauptsächlich machen: 1v1 und Deckbuilding. Ich stimme allen positiven und negativen Beobachtungen im Test zu, würde sie aber ganz anders gewichten.
Ich kopier mal meine Steam-Review, weil ich finde, dass sie besser vermittelt, wie sich das Spiel nach dem Häppchen Singleplayer Inhalt anfühlt. Ich fänd's ärgerlich wenn jemand Absolver mangels genauer Vorstellung verpasst. Reiner Eigennutz für volle Server
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Genuinely fresh!
It took me about ten hours to become Absolver, which marks the end of the singleplayer content. If you want to play offline there isn't much here.
The core of the game is duelling an evenly matched player and that's a beautiful thrill. I've played for 30 hours now and so far two out of three matches were exciting, with me and my opponent both thinking "I will win this one" until way past the midpoint of the match.
I read some reviews that state a level 30 player will never beat a level 60 (current cap) player. They're wrong. Winning a duel is about the flow of your moveset, your ability to recognize and remember your opponent's moveset as well as endurance of focus (yours, not your player character's).
One level up gives you one point to invest, which raises a stat by one half to two percent. A few percent bonus on your damage, vitality or stamina won't help you if you can't land a hit, and whether you can land a hit is not determined by these stats but by your skill and moveset.
The quality and versatility of the moveset will be most important to the outcome of high-skill play. That's where Absolver is a deckbuilding game; the more moves you unlock the more options you have for your moveset. Fittingly, some NPCs refer to 'fighting' or 'drawing a weapon' as 'folding' or 'unfolding'.
When you start a new character your level resets but you keep your moves, so you can build a complex moveset right away and don't have to endure hours of getting back to where you were.
In the open world (more like labyrinth than expanse) the game doesn't restrict, reward or punish you for however you interact with your fellow Prospect. The serene art-style and soundscape however inspire nearly everyone to be cool to one another. I also love that there is no chat, only a handful of gestures to convey basic thoughts and feelings.
For me, in Berlin, the servers are very reliable. Especially for a game that apparently launched to better sales than anticipated. I'v had two infinite connecting-loops and one hard disconnect in 30 hours, that's better than acceptable. I do hope the ping will improve, right now executing a move is satisfying but doesn't feel quite immediate.
There are some rough edges in the production, like the artificial intelligence. Outside of combat NPCs are running back to their posts like mental moles.
But the core experience is extremely polished. Hitboxes, animation, responsiveness, input design, visual effects and acoustic feedback are spot on.
I'm pretty sure I'll be playing this for months at least. I recommend that you do likewise.
