Absolum's Threads Of Fate Update is basically just more Absolum, but that's far from a bad thing

Absolum was one of my favorite games of 2025, a gorgeous side-scrolling roguelit beat 'em up that I spent over 60 hours playing on multiple platforms. At the time, I couldn't get enough of Talamh, and when I wasn't bugging anyone who would listen to play it, I went back in for another long run and smashed my head against the ridiculously hard final boss.

I ended up seeing and doing everything Absolum had to offer, but I was admittedly a bit burnt out by the end. It's still one of the best beat 'em ups of all time, but I didn't expect it to and I didn't think I'd want to return to it so soon. That quickly changed when the Threads of Fate update was announced.

Considering it's the game's first update (and a free one at that), Threads of Fate is an impressive show, even if it's mostly made up of end-game and post-game content tweaks to give hardcore players more reasons to keep running with a higher challenge than ever before. But more Absolum is Never a bad thing, and it didn't take me long to shake off the familiarity and quickly fall back in love with Brome and the gang.

Absolum's frustrating portals have seen an interesting shakeup

Absolum's map with new corrupted areas in the Threads of Fate update.

The first major change Threads of Fate makes to Absolum is an adjustment to how the post-game portals work. In the original game, reaching Sun King Azrah for the first time resulted in multidimensional portals appearing during runs that could drop higher-level and late-game enemies in all areas of the map.

At first this was a great way to add some variety and challenge once you'd already completed a playthrough and proven your skills, but it quickly became overwhelming and made the runs a bit too long. These portals could be shut down at any time, and I bet most players did when crystal rewards stopped being necessary for progression.

In Threads of Fate, that option has been completely removed as portals have been reworked. Instead of randomly appearing at any time during a run, these portals are now exclusively located in randomized “corrupt” areas of the map, adding a permanent layer of risk vs. reward and keeping you on your toes in every run because you can't rely on the same paths every time.

You'll be able to see where damaged areas are on the map, which usually gives you a chance to avoid them if there's no way around them.

As someone who turned off these portals and forgot they existed, I was a bit wary at first that they are now a constant force in Absolum. While these areas are even tougher than before and can be total run-ruiners, they fit in much better as optional zones with high level rewards and add much needed variety for anyone like me who has already min-maxed their routes.

Brome, Galandra, Karl and Cider in Absolum.

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Mysterious Trials provide some unique, but brutal challenges

A selection of Mystic Ordeals in Absolum's Threads of Fate update.

The other big inclusion in Threads of Fate is the new Mystic Ordeals, which are TRUE post match challenge. You can't even access them until you beat Absolum properly. These pre-made challenges add certain conditions to runs, such as giving the player permanent lifesteal, multiplying the number of enemies tenfold, and making penalty attacks the only properly damaging move in your arsenal.

Each of these arcane trials has its own set of badges to encourage completion with multiple characters, and with some restrictions such as not recruiting companions. There's a lot to them, and most of the challenges are also surprisingly unique, allowing you to stretch Absolum's wild builds to their absolute limits. Mystic Ordeals are a great post-game addition that makes a lot of sense, although they can feel a bit too tailored for the experts.

While some of the early trials are not to challenging, all the ones I unlocked still expected me to make it all the way to Absolum, and almost always with conditions working against you. Getting to and beating the true final boss was already a brutal and somewhat drawn-out affair on a normal run, so I would have liked to see more of them that are quicker to get through or less focused on difficulty.

Absolum's aftermath finally feels more polished

Cider's new skin in Absolum's Threads of Fate update.

While it will take some time and a lot of courage to get through all the mysterious trials, they manage to give Absolum's endgame a lot more than that. It ties into some of the new unlockables in the soul tree, which appear as you complete more and more trials. Some of them are just more stat upgrades to make those post-game challenges a little more bearable, while others are new cosmetics like skins and emotes.

Threads of Fate also adds improved mounts and some minor quality of life changes, such as the addition of damage numbers and reworked UI.

One of the few complaints I had with Absolum was that it was pretty easy to unlock everything with enough grinding and then have nothing to spend your hard earned crystals on. That's no longer the case, and while I have no idea how many new unlocks have been added right now, it's more than enough to tide anyone returning to Talamh.

Threads of Fate doesn't change the core of Absolum, but it never needed to. What was here at launch was already so close to perfect. Instead, it gives the loyal community some requested additions and finally gives a game I already struggled to put down a proper set of endgame challenges. Not bad for free.