The dev behind TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is making an original beat-'em-up

Dotemu, the developer behind beat-'em-ups like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and Streets of Rage 4, is back with another slice of side-scrolling retro goodness. This time, however, the company's eschewing a tried-and-true franchise in favor of an original IP. Absolum is a fantasy beat-'em-up that's being co-developed by Guard Crush Games and Supamonk.
The game looks to retain the core beat-'em-up mechanics the developer has become known for, but with some flourishes. Dotemu boasts of "branching paths to explore," which is giving me Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse vibes. The developer has also implemented roguelike mechanics of some kind, with it going so far as to describe the game as a "rogue-'em-up." We don't know the details of these mechanics just yet.
We do know that Absolum will be playable as a solo campaign or in a co-op mode, offering both local and online play. Gamers will be able to choose from four different fantasy-themed characters. Also, the animation looks pretty dang gorgeous. It'll be available for Switch, PlayStation and PC later this year.
Just because Absolum is a brand-new IP, doesn't mean that Dotemu has given up on reviving classics for modern audiences. The company is also publishing Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a game that's actually set during the events of the NES original.

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But that's all we could control and that was actually really helpful because it felt like you could go and look at great music videos and be inspired by, 'This is the kind of editorial lighting that I always love and always wanted to see in animation. I'm inspired to go get our lighting team to go raise their game to bring this level to the material.' I feel like it's what you said, a love letter from the medium we know really well. We know this special stuff that you can't do, also. Kang: Watching it as fans ourselves and wanting to push the medium,[and] being our harshest critics. One of the most difficult things to do for us Simulation Artists is to create dynamic movement in jewelry pieces. In these outfits Rumi has more than 35 individual pieces of jewelry from earrings to chains.¿Most complex piece? Mira's shoulder tassels !! 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Finding the shape language of even their eyes and mouth shapes on a Korean face, we wanted the expressions to feel very Korean and the girls' mouth shapes to feel like they're speaking Korean, even though they were speaking in the English language. One of the solutions we found—one of our amazing animators Sofia [Seung Hee Lee]—figured out rounding the corners of the mouth was really helpful in them feel that way. Those kind of milestones of figuring out certain languages for design and style really cracked those problems. Appelhans: Every time we heard the version of a song that we finally felt was doing it—whether it was the third try or the ninth try—when a song really started to hit and we would feel it in our guts, that was always like, 'Oh my gosh, we did it. One more piece to the puzzle' because that's so elusive—a pop song that's actually a bop. My only contribution to KPOP Demon Hunter. Screaming characters seems to be my thing. Congrats to the rest of the hard working crew of this movie! @sonyanimation — Guillermo Martinez (@billybobmartinz) May 24, 2025io9: Speaking of pop songs, the film also features contributions from the talented members of Twice. How did you approach collaborating with K-pop artists to bring the musical elements of KPop Demon Hunters to life? What was the process of ensuring the soundtrack not only energized the film but also complemented its emotional core? Kang: It was really important for the entire movie to live in that K-pop space. And collaborating with an actual K-pop artist felt like it finally legitimized our project in the K-pop world. Working with Black Label and all these amazing pop writers that write for BTS, Twice, and ultimately collaborating with Twice. Ian Eisendrath, who is our executive music producer, and Sony Music really wanted this album to feel like a real, legit K-pop album, so they brought this amazing team together and created an album that can hold up in the K-pop space. io9: Recently, animated films like Turning Red and Ultraman: Rising have demonstrated the power of animation as both a storytelling medium and a bridge into beloved fandoms, such as K-pop and Tokusatsu. These films not only celebrate vibrant animation and bring life to pre-existing fandoms but also center Asian heritage and allow characters to center in their authentic narratives. What was most important in balancing the global appeal of K-pop with the significance of Asian-led stories told by Asian characters? Kang: One way to answer that is that in animation, we've told a lot of stories about inanimate objects [and] different animals. 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It's their lived experience they bring, their influences, their favorite things that shaped them as artists. That allows us to make more interesting, more original films than what could've been possible 25 years ago. It's kind of happening under the hood, but it's really promising and exciting. io9: What do you hope audiences and your fellow creative colleagues in animation take away from experiencing KPop Demon Hunters wanting to share this universal story with the world? Kang: There's nothing like film that shows that no matter what language you speak, what culture you grew up in, no matter if you are a demon, a chair, or a toy doll, everybody feels the same things as human beings. Telling stories with characters that emote in a very Korean way and speak looking very Korean, I hope that audiences and filmmakers can see that we all ultimately are human and we feel and want the same things which is love and acceptance KPop Demon Hunters streams on Netflix starting June 20. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.