With a development team led by former Sledgehammer Games and Telltale talent, Ascendant Studios’Immortals of Aveumcertainly has a lot going for it. So much so that EA has even picked up the publishing rights for it under its EA Originals banner. The main hook ofImmortals of Aveumis that it’s a cinematic, story-focused, single-player shooter with all sorts of spells, magic, and fantasy. While it’s not going to enchant everybody,Immortals of Aveumdoes manage to realize its fantasy shooter dream and does it well.
In truth, nothing inImmortals of Aveumis particularly new or innovative, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good time when all is said and done. Between its very Hollywood-esque story that has some heart and quirk, and a solid approach to combat and exploration that adds just enough depth to keep things interesting, there is much to like here. However,Immortals of Aveum’s biggest problem is that it plays it too safe and pulls too many punches for it to be anything besides a breezy rollercoaster ride of magic and cinematics that, while fun, is all too familiar.
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There is a lot to say aboutthe world ofImmortals of Aveum,thanks to the intriguing world-building and lore that Ascendant Studios has created. Aveum itself is a planet where magic is less of a mystical substance and more of a resource that humanity just happened to strike at some point as if it were fossil fuels. “Magitech” is how the game describes it.
Given the subject matter, a lot ofImmortals of Aveumcomes off like an allegory for climate change through the early-game, but unfortunately, some of that writing and allegory ends up falling apart a bit by the end. As is often the case in fantasy, many of the issues that plague the world end up being the fault of one or two bad actors that the main character can then go find and defeat and save the day.
Our main character, Jak, starts as a street urchin committing petty thievery to get by before discovering that he is an incredibly powerful battlemage capable of wielding all three colors of magic, simply called red, green, and blue magic. Most importantly, his role in the ongoing conflict on Aveum to control all the magic in the world - a conflict called the Everwar - is revealed to be of high importance as his unchecked powers could be catastrophic if not wielded correctly. As a main character, Jak can be naive, overconfident, and often fits the “little brother” role in his band of Immortals with his fresh-faced outlook on the Everwar and endless supply of questions that not everyone wants to answer. Much like a little brother, Jak can often get annoying, but it’s tough not to feel some affection toward him by the end.
Speaking of the Immortals, Jak is accompanied by General Kirkan, Devyn, and Zendara - essentially an elite special forces unit for the Lucium side of the Everwar conflict. The story and cast ofImmortals of Aveumalways felt like it had anAvengers-meets-a-war-movie dynamic to it, playing to popular Hollywood tropes while also attempting to build a close cast of characters that play off each other. A lot of the writing here will be very familiar to many gamers.Immortals of Aveumis filled with characterswho love to reply in snark, quips, and are just a little too cool for everyone else, almost in the same manner that Hollywood blockbuster superhero movies like to write characters. The game even comes complete with a “he’s right behind me, isn’t he,” moment that is said entirely in earnest.
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With the number of games released lately that have been written in that same quirky Hollywood manner, it’s simply a matter of preference and tolerance for this style of writing. For our tastes, we found that the writing got a bit grating at times, but the characters inImmortals of Aveumwere otherwise strong enough to see through to the end credits. Kirkan, Devyn, and Zendara were all unique enough in their personalities, goals, and ambitions to keep us interested and overlook some of the more questionable and trope-y parts of their character writing.
As a whole,Immortals of Aveum’s storyisn’t the most profound or thought-provoking narrative ever put into a video game, but it’s enough of a thrill ride with its own set of twists and turns and betrayals to stay fun and exciting through to the end. As mentioned, most of the plot is fun but familiar, with high odds that players will see what’s coming well before it happens. Those who enjoyed early MCU movies and some of the first few Marvel shows will more than likely enjoy what’s in store here.
Immortals of Aveum’s developmental backgroundhas been the subject of interest since its announcement, seeing how the game is the idea of Bret Robbins, who previously worked at Sledgehammer Games as the director ofCall of Duty: WWII. While playing this game, it’s hard not to feel thatCall of Dutysingle-player DNA in the occasional linear set-piece moments, butAveumroutinely proved that it is much more than that. If anything,Immortals of Aveumtakes pages out of the playbooks ofDOOMand 2018’sGod of War,learns what those games did well, and incorporates it into its own gameplay systems rather competently.
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Combat itself feels refined, crisp, and punchy, with enough flash in its systems to deliver the battlemage power fantasy thatAveumis shooting for. Much likeDOOM,Immortals of Aveumprioritizes tight combat arena scenarios and on-the-fly weapon switching depending on the scenario, building to frantic shooting gallery missions that keep the combat pace fast and engaging.
In the game’s story,Jak is a Triarch Magnus, a powerful battlemage who can wield red, green, and blue magic. In-game, this means that Jak can shoot red magic, which is essentially a shotgun; green magic, which works as an assault rifle; and blue magic, which is effectively a single-shot marksmen rifle. Depending on the enemy type on the screen, players will have to switch between all three magic colors to maximize their damage output while also juggling their surroundings and whatever else the game wants to throw at them.
WhatImmortals of Aveumaccomplishes with this system is an incredibly engaging combat loop where players can’t rest on their laurels and always shoot blue magic or spam green all the time to get through the game. In fact, most of the time, doing that would get players in trouble as enemies even have resistance to some magic colors. Combat does skew toward being a bit too simple at the start, but once players start leveling up their skill trees and unlocking new talents and buffs, the combat system starts to open up to some great builds and possibilities.
During off-combat situations,Aveumshifts into a puzzle and exploration-based adventure focused on boosting Jak’s equipment and loadout options in the same wayGod of Warliked to break up the pace of its action. But again, it’s all very derivative, with nothing new introduced to these formulas. Additionally, the game tends to treat these sections more like an afterthought, as it really wants players to keep the main story going as often as possible.Immortals of Aveumoften felt like a game in two parts, where the exploration and loot gathering was more-so reserved for the end game if players wanted more content.
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Immortals of Aveumhas a gear system that fuels a lot of that exploration. Thankfully, a lot of the gear bloat that is possible when games implement these types of systems is mostly absent here. We finished the game with a modest amount of gear in our inventory and mostly used the same handful of spells, Sigils, and accessories that we found at the start, only occasionally trying new things as they came to us before settling on a final build. There is no “loot grind” or level gating that occurs at any point in the game, at least not on the medium difficulty.
If players want to explore every corner of Aveum, they can definitely find some rare and powerful loot, but it never felt like a massive pillar of the game that players needed to grind through to see the finish. The actualdepth ofImmortals ofAveum’scombatcame from the new spells and gear pieces that changed how players used each magic color, and the game delivered these at a nice pace to keep the game interesting until the end.
However, even thoughImmortals of Aveumtakes a lot of its cues fromDOOMandGod of War- and mostly succeeds in doing them right - there were some places where it felt lacking.Immortals of Aveumisn’t the mechanically smoothest shooter ever and this makes combat scenarios hard to manage at times. A lot of the combat encounters that players will experience in this game are well-balanced with some carefully considered thought that went into them, but they also become hard to navigate because Jak is just so stiff to control.
Many crucial movement abilities, like the dash or whip, were always on cooldowns that felt like they were a little too long, even with some end-game upgrades. The grappling hook ability, in particular, also felt like it could have been a more prominent part of movement during combat, with some of its potential stifled to prioritize boots-on-the-ground gameplay. On occasion,Immortals of Aveumtapped into that great sense of speed and swiftness that makes shooters of this kind way more exciting, but it was never consistent with those elements. Hopefully, a future game dials in on that more.
There are also a few issues with the control scheme ofImmortals of Aveumwhere the switching between main magic spells was never quite as snappy as one would hope. Players will have to cycle through red, green, and blue magic spells one by one using the top face button to reach whichever spell they would actually like to use, which becomes incredibly tedious. Something like a weapon wheel would have made more sense to keep the combat moving at a brisk pace instead of a stop-and-start system as players switch to the spell they need. The same could be said about the various abilities and magical items players will eventually add to their arsenal. For a game that can get quite hectic at times, the sluggish weapon and item switching hindered the game’s pace more often than not, and was never quite as intuitive in its user experience as its contemporaries.
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Immortals of Aveumis built on Unreal Engine 5, making it an undoubtedly gorgeous game that is finally taking advantage of the current generation of consoles. Unreal 5’s Nanite technology and Lumen lighting system are in full force here, pushing tons of polygons and next-gen lighting effects to the detriment of frame rate and resolution across many combat scenarios. However, the result is a game that looks remarkably realistic and detailed, especially in the cinematics. That said, all the crazy particle effects and post-processing can get overwhelming to the point where gameplay starts to suffer.
Players may find themselves lost in the heat of combat due to a multitude of things that could be firing off at any given moment. Things like huge power beams or outgoing and incoming spells could very quickly fill up the narrow field of view. Bright Sigils, spells, shields, and splash effects all looked nice, but players will become disoriented and miss attacks as a result. Additionally, some of the end-game boss battles can get so hectic with the particle effects and bright colors that players will take a few hits that they were never even aware were incoming.
There is plenty to praise when considering that this is Ascendant’s debut game and how it ended up being an incredibly competent and entertaining experience that manages to pull off a solid combat system and a fun story. However, there really isn’t much that feels new or particularly interesting otherwise. It is clear that a lot of thought and care has been put into all systems ofImmortals of Aveum, from its shooting to its puzzles, but none of it is compelling enough for another playthrough.Immortals of Aveumis well-executed, easy to digest, and remarkably solid, but overall incredibly familiar. Still, it may pleasantly surprise more than one shooter fan, and has enough going for it to likely attract a dedicated audience.
Immortals of Aveum
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Immortals of Aveum is a single-player first person magic shooter that tells the story of Jak as he joins an elite order of battlemages to save a world on the edge of abyss. With legions of soldiers on both sides of the Everwar, he must uncover the mysteries of Aveum’s troubled past, if there’s any hope for saving its future. Master three forces of magic and unleash spells with deadly skill in a game that defies FPS conventions.Join the order of Immortals, the champion protectors of Lucium, and become Jak, an elite Triarch Magnus.
Immortals of Aveumis available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox Series X|S. Game Rant was provided with a PS5 code for the purposes of this review.
