DEVLOG #6 - LEVEL DESIGN IN ABSOLUM

The levels in Absolum have been lovingly hand-crafted by our talented team over several years. We’d like to take you behind the scenes and share the thought process behind some of the key level design choices we made during this process.

A Journey Into Talamh

The world of Talamh is vast, with each region offering its own distinct color palette, identity, and atmosphere. We wanted to create an experience where every area feels unique, inviting players to explore and dive into a fresh chapter of their adventure. Our primary goal with level design is simple: to offer players a great journey.

Each region in Absolum introduces something new and exciting. Our design philosophy is to keep things interesting, surprising, and fresh. One of the best aspects of Absolum is how it balances different gameplay elements—combining intense combat, storytelling, exploration, and world-building in a way that keeps the player engaged. The rhythm between these phases is deliberately crafted to ensure that boredom never sets in.

For example, in Grandery, you might find yourself navigating a raft and battling goblins. In another part of the world, the ground could collapse beneath you, sending you into an entirely different environment! We’ve seen players get excited by moments like these, and we can’t wait for streamers to discover even more surprises along the way.

The Crossroads: Making Choices Matter

During development, showcasing the player’s choices was key. We wanted the crossroads in Absolum to feel natural and meaningful. Sometimes the decision is as simple as whether you want to go up or down. Other times, the choices are a bit more complex. But what matters most is that you, the player, are faced with interesting options. No UI is pushing you one way or the other (unless, of course, you check the map). Just like in any great RPG, a fork in the road isn’t just a visual cue—it’s a decision point. You may not always know which path is "right," and sometimes there’s no clear advantage to one over the other. But that uncertainty is part of the adventure!

We’ve learned that sometimes the interface or the objective can distract from the simple joy of a good old-fashioned crossroads moment. So we’ve intentionally kept it as natural and immersive as possible.

Every run is new

When you start a game, you’ll naturally go through multiple playthroughs, each run offering you a new experience. Our goal is to ensure that every run brings something fresh —even after 100+ sessions. For the first 100 runs, we want you to feel like you're discovering something new each time, whether it’s through different map layouts, quests, secrets, or bosses to face.

This is materialized through the map, but also through quests, things to unlock, secrets to find or bosses to defeat.

Quantity & Quality: Balancing the Two

In level design, both quality and quantity matter. In a traditional beat ‘em up game, you learn each level one by one, aiming to master the most efficient way to progress. But in Absolum, we wanted every run to feel fresh and unpredictable. We’ve designed portions of the levels to have multiple variations, which are chosen at random. These variations are meticulously handcrafted to ensure your journey is always engaging and enjoyable.

Procedural vs. Hand-Crafted: Our Approach

At one point during development, we experimented with procedural generation. It was a popular trend in games, with the idea that each run should be totally unique. However, as we dug deeper into this approach, we realized that procedural generation requires an