Immortals of Aveum Review

Developed by Ascendant Studios and published by EA , Immortals of Aveum is a futuristic FPS in a world that is used and abused by magic. Boasting graphics that you feel like you are playing a part in a movie with great voice acting and storytelling, there are a lot of impressive things to enjoy about this game. Personally, I get the vibes of Dishonoured and Bioshock in the way they look and flow, but it remains unique.

                You play as Jak who seemingly at first is a lowly citizen, down on the world and hates all the magic users fighting in a pointless war because of which he and his friends are suffering. He is sad when his close friend and leader of his group is selected to fight in the war. But in a not-so-surprising twist, an impactful event reveals that Jak is more in tune with magic than he realises. He is picked up by the group that calls themselves the Immortals and learns that he is a Triarch; a rare breed of magic user that is competent in the three main forms of magic. But from once being in a position of hating magic and its users to being thrust into the war and unveiling the secrets behind the magic, Jak has a lot to learn to set things right in the world.

                The setting of the world of Aveum is stunning, to say the least. The bright and colourful backgrounds and different themed vistas are great for keeping you engaged in what is essentially a linear-based game. But don’t be put off by the fact that it is linear as there are areas that are still big enough to allow for some exploration. The game encourages you to do so by placing tricky puzzles everywhere which, if solved, grants you access to some good loot. The characters and voice acting are delivered to quite a high standard although some of the language used can be a bit stuffy at times.

                The gameplay I would say has been packed with content variety which is awesome but at the detriment of fingerplay. As Jak is a triarch he has access to three types of magic. These manifest in three colours – red, blue, and green. Blue is the default all-around magic which allows you to fire single rounds in style between a pistol and a sniper rifle. Red is a close-range high damage attack which fires like a shotgun. Then green, which closely resembles a needler from Halo (if you are unfamiliar, this is like a machine gun with bullets that slightly hone in on the enemy). But that is the attacks in the basic form. Each colour also has what I can only say is a utility move wherein the blue utility move hooks an enemy and pulls them closer. The red utility move fires a laser to weaken the enemy and the green utility move fires sticky blobs at the enemy to reduce their speed. Further on, you also unlock special attacks for each of the colours which allow you to perform stronger moves at the cost of a magic gauge. Lastly, you get an ultimate attack which is a combination of all three magics to fire a super Ironman-like beam which heavily damages enemies and bosses and is mainly where I tended to use it.

                There are other types of tricks and skills to learn through the game like a double jump and a hover. You can even ride the magical wavy lines to get to certain previously inaccessible areas. You also have a dodge move which you can only use sporadically to get yourself out of danger. Some of these you don’t get until later in the game and it can leave certain puzzle areas a tad confusing when you can’t work them out. There is no notification that you cannot solve that puzzle in your current state. Once you get access to a certain skill you realise that the skill is the missing piece of the puzzle you couldn’t previously solve. But once these puzzles are solved you get access to the special loot which is equippable with some bite. They don’t just raise the power of your magical attacks but they alter them in the same way as using a different gun. For the blue magic pistol-like attacks the equipped items can change how much damage they do, how fast they fire and how many you can fire before you have to perform a reload of your magic. So there is fun to be had in playing with the equipment so each of your three coloured mage attacks fire in the gun style that you enjoy the most.

                The drawback to having all these skills and powers is the amount of finger play and memory involved in utilising your whole arsenal. The standard attack is the right trigger and you switch the magic colour using the Y button. But special attacks are used by holding the right bumper and pressing one of the buttons, while the utility moves are not under the Left bumper as that opens a shield. Instead, you map the utility move with the d-pad and then press the left trigger to use the move.  The more awkward parts are the fact you use right on the d-pad to restore health and hold down X to restore your special magic gauge. The latter being most infuriating as X is the action button for many doors and chests which require you to also hold the X button so I found myself wasting a magic regen crystal instead of opening a chest (a relief that it wasn’t just me then… – ed). But those are minor nitpicks and once you have learnt all the button mappings in your head you have things under control. Occasionally in big battles or boss battles it becomes a bit of a frantic button-bashing frenzy but that just adds to the challenge.

                The game will take about 20-30 hours for a standard playthrough which is decent for a heavy story-based action game like this. It does have you doubling back over certain areas which you can explore more of with newer abilities but there is always a new puzzle to tackle somewhere.  

Conclusion

Immortals of Aveum is impressive and feels unique enough to stand out on its own in the FPS genre. The fact that it dabbles in the RPG and Puzzle areas makes the adventure a more fun and interesting experience. Every area is a delight on the eye and the voice acting and acting in general keeps you gripped like you are playing a part in a movie. With lots of various magic tricks to learn there is plenty to enjoy here. It’s just unfortunate that its release was so close to Starfield, as otherwise this could have received much more deserved attention.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.