‘Aveum Immortals’ First Glimpse: A Pinch More Magic and It Could Be Spectacular

In the winter of 2022, I was taken aback by my sudden fascination with Immortals of Aveum after watching its announcement trailer. The game was developed by Ascendant Studios, a relatively new studio founded by Bret Robbins, a renowned AAA creative director who had previously worked on successful titles such as Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WWII. Despite being an independent venture, Ascendant Studios had partnered with EA to create a first-person shooter set in a militaristic fantasy world. Initially, I didn’t think it would pique my interest.

But Immortals of Aveum caught my eye. Its soundtrack was beautiful, and the trailer showcased intense combat with bright magic beams, while Actors Gina Torres (Firefly) and Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever) told an epic tale of rebellion, political sabotage and dragons. From a first-person perspective, the protagonist’s hand movements were quick and crisp, and seemed like a satisfying addition to powerful attacks.

After a few months, I’m still interested in Immortals of Aveum and I think I understand why. There aren’t many first-person action games that rely on mechanics other than guns – Dishonored, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hexen come to mind – but overall it’s a small field. This may be one reason why Immortals of Aveum stands out as fresh, but it’s also nice to see a new, AAA-level game that’s single-player and story-driven with a subdued campaign, rather than an open world of live-service features. . More information about Ascendant also helped: Robbins was also the creative director of the original Dead Space, and his team included former members of Telltale Games, lending weight to the claim that Immortals of Aveum would focus on a tight story.

I played the Immortals of Aveum demo at Summer Game Fest 2023 and it was amazing. Its cinematics were particularly impressive: motion capture was smooth and character models were nicely detailed, with delicate eye markings and gear layers. The clarity of the cutscenes made it easier to get lost in the dialogue and Aveum’s destroyed fantasy world even in a short time.

In terms of gameplay, I had access to blue magic, which gave me two abilities: a whip that pulled enemies towards me, and a burst of energy that was spammed as fast as a finger could press R2. I also used the Animate ability on the giant rock hand, using a telekinesis-type power to manipulate its fingers and create a gap between two landings on the cliff face. When playing with a gamepad on PC, I found the mechanics to be almost too smooth, and my reticle would often slide over my intended targets, but I think I’d get used to this after 30 minutes of play. Even with the hyper-lubricated controls, I appreciated the lack of a noticeable aim assist.

I didn’t encounter the large number of enemies that Ascendant has shown in the Immortals of Aveum trailers; my herds maximum about eight. But by the end of my playtime, I felt like I was starting to learn the rhythm of the game’s combat, and I can see it speeding up—in a nice way—with the new magic powers. And of course more enemies.

The most annoying part of the demo was actually the terrain – there were a lot of steep mountainsides and rock faces that looked perfectly climbable by modern action-adventure standards, but weren’t. Maybe I should have spent more time learning the intricacies of interjumping and ledge grabbing, but I found my character to be a little less snappy than I wanted because he didn’t want to jump all the way or pull himself up the levels. However, the movement restrictions seemed appropriate, and the game was by no means slow: Immortals of Aveum felt more like a puzzle game than a climbing adventure, with a series of locked stone doors and multi-colored gems that cast magic in certain patterns. .

The demon broke once when a bug prevented the stone door from opening and the developer had to get me back on track. I was assured that the game will be fully functional by release date, which is about six weeks from now.

Ascendant Studios is independent, but is marketed as a AAA team and has around 100 employees. Immortals of Aveum certainly looks like a big budget game; it’s built on Unreal Engine 5 and is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on July 20. I’m still interested; I’m excited to get my hands on a few more magical powers and see where this world of fantasy politics leads.