$\rm{PtSe_2}$ is a van der Waals material transiting from an indirect semiconductor to a semimetal with increasing thickness. Its absorption threshold has been conjectured to originate from interband indirect transitions. By quantitative comparison between wideband optical absorption ($0.8 - 3.0\,\rm{eV}$) of high-quality exfoliated crystals and ab-initio simulations, we prove instead that the optical absorption arises only from direct transitions. This understanding allows us to shed new light on the semiconductor to semimetal transition and to explore the effect of stacking and excitons on optical absorption.
