Immortals of Aveum attempts to answer a question that as far as I know, nobody had ever asked: What would it look like if a studio built a Call of Duty-style first person shooter with Doctor Strange-style magical powers in place of M4 machine guns? As you may expect, the answer is something of a mixed bag.
The game isn’t a mere carbon copy of Call of Duty, but its thematic essence bears many clear resemblances. The central focus on elite warriors shaping larger conflicts and the inclusion of high-octane set-pieces feel familiar, echoing the essence of Activision’s renowned shooter series. However, Immortals of Aveum veers from the conventional by replacing traditional military weaponry with a variety of magical spells.
This allows the game to carve a unique identity both visually and mechanically, expanding on the well-worn formula. However, the outcome eventually becomes yet another example of a whimsical AAA amalgamation featuring overbearing narrative clichés and convoluted dialogues, albeit embellished with gleaming wizard gauntlets in lieu of conventional firearms.
Immortals of Aveum is out now and is available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Immortals of Aveum follows the journey of Jak. He is a “Treyarch,” which means that he exhibits latent magical abilities that abruptly and sometimes explosively manifest later in life. Jak’s existence as a street urchin takes a sharp turn when he’s forcefully enlisted into the Everwar, a timeless conflict embroiling the nations of Aveum.
Jak’s extraordinary talent lies in his ability to harness blue, red, and green magic, a rarity in a world where most individuals specialize in a single magical color. As he ascends from an ordinary rank-and-file soldier to a member of the elite Immortals, a wizard special ops team, Jak’s adventure unfolds.
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Sadly, Jak is pretty insufferable as a character, as is the case with many of the game’s obnoxious characters. A lot of the writing in the game drew a rather unpleasant comparison for me, in that it somewhat reminded me of Forspoken’s dialogue. The humor feels extremely dated, like something that Joss Whedon would have come up with in the 1990s. To make things worse, none of the cut-scenes in the game can be skipped, forcing players to sit through the grating dialogue.
Another unfortunate comparison that I drew was with Star Wars Jedi series. Like how those games surrounds its boring, just-learning-the-ropes protagonist with a cast of more compelling, competent, and diverse characters, while somehow expects the audience to get on board with a whiney, unlikable protagonist, so does Immortals of Aveum.
This is a good looking game in terms of its graphical fidelity and its interesting art style, and the opening credits sequence is truly gorgeous to look at. However, to play it feels like a shallow a Disneyland light show by way of Doom Eternal, providing fun platforming sections and a lot of different, visually bombastic mechanics with which to play around.
The magic system, revolving around the three main colors—blue for pistols and sniper rifles, red for shotguns and rocket launchers, and green for various machine guns—adds diversity to the gameplay. Yet, the abundance of special abilities can lead to confusion about the right approach for each situation. The bombardment of visual effects accompanying each spell can often overwhelm, making it challenging to track enemies amidst the visual chaos.
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Many of these are introduced at once in a bland, drawn out tutorial mission that is completely un-skippable. The whole introduction of the game drags on a great deal and it takes far too long to even get to the opening credits sequence.
Immortals of Aveum does deserve some credit for the innovative approach that it takes. Ascendant Studios took a bold step to reinvent the FPS genre by weaving magic into the core gameplay, a feat worth recognizing. The freedom to blast NPCs in the face adds a layer of enjoyment. Regrettably, despite its eye-catching visuals and incorporation of contemporary features such as skill trees and equipment upgrades, the game lacks soul. It seems to tread the path of other military shooters, failing to escape the constraints of predictable tropes. In a world saturated with creative exhaustion within the AAA realm, Immortals of Aveum struggles to make a lasting impression.
Regrettably, despite its captivating visual magnificence and dedication to contemporary elements such as skill progression systems and equipment enhancements, Immortals of Aveum lacks the essence just like the military shooters that influenced it. It transforms into a formulaic assortment of present-day clichés, and even when positioned within the broader context of imaginative and ethical voids within the AAA gaming arena, it somehow fades into the background.
Immortals of Aveum – 6/10
Immortals of Aveum was reviewed on PS5 with a code supplied to FandomWire by Premier Communications.
