Like the pair’s work onStreets of Rage 4before it, Dotemu and Guard Crush Games' latest title,Absolum, is a game whose art direction and visuals are working overtime to serve as one of its definitive features. Similarly, Dotemu and Guard Crush have once again teamed up with a studio that has extensive experience creating hand-drawn visuals with fluid animations, only instead of it being a developer likeStreets of Rage 4’s Lizardcube, it’s an animation studio helping withAbsolum: Supamonks. But while Supamonks has primarily focused on animation for other mediums, the studio is by no means a stranger to game development.
Game Rant recently attended an event hosted bygame publisher Dotemu, where the publisher unveiledAbsolumfor the first time and then let us go hands-on with the preview build. Afterward, we had the chance to sit down with key members ofAsbolum’s development team, including art director Maxime Mary from Supamonks.Absolum’s eye-catching hand-drawn visuals were one of the demo’s many highlights, and Mary graciously provided some insight into the artists who inspired the game’s “comic book come to life” look.
Absolum Has Some Clear Influences In Its Art Direction and Visuals
Getting the chance to boot upAbsolum’s playable demo after the reveal and presentation from Dotemu hammered home how integral the title’s visuals and animation were to its overall atmosphere and high fantasy aesthetic, and it also immediately brought to mind several noteworthy comics and animated television shows that seemed to have a clear influence on the game. In addition to the more readily apparent similarities to the art style ofHellboy’s Mike MignolaorHead Lopper’s Andrew MacLean, there were also some noticeable nods to Pendelton Ward’sAdventure Time. Bringing these impressions to art director Maxime Mary only confirmed their influence onAbsolum:
The inspirations come from Mike Mignola or Andrew MacLean (the latter isveryhigh on the list of references), but also from Franco-Belgian comics, of which I’m a big fan. Authors like Franquin (Spirou) or Uderzo (Asterix), who cradled my childhood, but also Christophe Blain (Gus) or the Kerascoets (Beauty). I wanted to get away from the despair and realism that can be found in the artistic directions taken from Mike Mignola (Darkest Dungeon, Sworn, etc.) and take a more semi-realistic approach, also inspired by the world of animation. Last but not least, some monsters feature nods to the work of Akira Toriyama.
While Mike Mignola’s work has an unmistakable influence onAbsolum, Mary was quick to point out thatAbsolum’s visuals are more colorful and less dependent on the heavy shadows and gothic motif that much ofMignola’s previous workcarries, which helps to give the game its own visual identity despite it having some clear throughlines to the work of iconic comic artists. Alongside the game’s noticeably fluid animations,Absolumgives off the impression of playing a fantasy cartoon that only existed in the minds of its creators.
Absolumis currently in development and will be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
