Immortals of Aveum review – An original, innovative, and downright superb FPS

For a first outing by a brand new studio, Immortals of Aveum is a spectacular accomplishment. Through its fluid and inventive gameplay systems combined with its extraordinarily rich universe and wondrous storytelling, Ascendant Studios has delivered an all-time great FPS while laying the foundation for what’s hopefully many more exciting chapters to come.

Despite having closely followed Immortals of Aveum since its reveal, and even having played a few hours earlier this year, I remained dubious of one thing: The game’s ambitious and very heavily publicized length.

Historically, single-player FPS games can lose their charm after a few hours of repeating much of the same formula. So how would this newcomer hope to captivate the masses for a few dozen hours? Well, I’ve never been more delighted to eat my words as the full experience not only kept me glued to the screen from start to finish, but left me wanting even more.

Its suite of intricate combat and movement systems presents a sandbox I barely scratched the surface of through 30 hours. Its vast open lands still hold plenty of secrets I’ve yet to unravel. And its exceptional story and tremendous performances throughout breathe life into a staggeringly deep world I can’t wait to learn more about, even after having rolled the credits.

Immortals of Aveum is an incredibly well-rounded package, a AAA blockbuster through and through, and an all-time great FPS that respects every hour of your time.

Immortals of Aveum – Key details

• Price: $69.99 USD | £69.99 GBP | $109.95 AUD
• Developer: Ascendant Studios
• Release date: August 22, 2023
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X | S

Immortals of Aveum trailer

Centuries of lore embroiled in an Everwar

Although Aveum’s genesis largely hinged on the idea of ‘Call of Duty with magic instead of guns,’ the end product frames this concept in a world so unfathomably rife with storytelling opportunities it handily blitzes past its early inspirations.

What begins as a seemingly straightforward ‘hero’ origin in the opening hours as Jak, our protagonist, comes into his own as a rare Triarch, someone capable of wielding all types of magic present in the world, soon evolves into a tale of generational warfare and the many surrounding ideological conflicts. It’s an unrelenting story pushing the present-day struggles forward while recounting its past and never losing sight of the future, a complex yet balanced journey that truly does necessitate its roughly 20-25 hour core path.

At the heart of it all is the Everwar. As the name implies, a seemingly eternal state of strife over the control of magic. Various powers that be have waged war for generations to claim as much control over the world’s magical forces as possible, significantly impacting the many regions of Aveum for generations to come in the process. Where this game takes place is just one small chapter of a much bigger story that slowly comes into frame the more you play.

While you’ll meet a diverse cast of heroes, villains, mentors, companions, and otherworldly creatures along the way, all of which feel expertly fleshed-out, it’s Darren Barnet as Jak that steals the show for the vast majority. His performance through countless lines of moment-to-moment dialogue along with the more explosive twists and turns during many emotional cutscenes is stellar across the board. You’re with him through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

You feel the weight of his decisions among the unthinkable scope. And even through his overt faults, you come to appreciate his progression as you learn of the bigger machinations in play right alongside him.

Depth to the surrounding universe knows no bounds in Immortals of Aveum. It’s simply staggering just how much thought has been put into seemingly every corner of its many distinct regions. From personal clashes in present-day kingdoms to epochal battles of an age long gone, even to speculation of other timelines and future destinies, there’s a great deal to wrap your head around. All of it fascinating and all of it complementing the main narrative.

But don’t get it confused. Between the dozens of text entries and many optional conversations to deepen your understanding, the game is still very much a blockbuster. Production value is off the charts from start to finish, Aveum’s immense scale on display not only in linear missions but so too in its broader open-world areas begging to be explored long after the main path winds down.

Sensational FPS gameplay loop with a magical twist

Weaving you through every intricate narrative thread in Immortals of Aveum is a deeply engaging set of gameplay systems. On the surface, it may appear like any old shooter though with magical blasts as opposed to real-world ammunition, but when you actually sit and interact with these mechanics, you come to realize just how much nuance there is to it all. How much thought has been put into every unique element.

As a Triarch, Jak can cycle through three different types of magic. In the simplest of terms, you can think of these as three different types of weapons. Blue is your precision-based attack, where timing and accuracy can give you the leg up from afar. Red is the opposite, a close-range attack akin to a shotgun blast. While Green rounds out the trio as more of a fast-firing, homing onslaught, think the Needler from Halo.

While adjusting your magic on the fly for different environments, enemy types, and shields is one thing, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your full arsenal. Each type of magic comes with multiple upgradeable spells that function through a separate Mana system. Jak also has access to a number of additional tools like a whip to either pull targets close or grapple your way through an arena or a red beam of energy to interrupt your foes as they cast spells of their own. And topping it all off is a handful of movement quirks like double jumping and dashing.

It’s a lot. At times, it can be a little daunting remembering just how extensive your kit is and how to best utilize it in any given scenario. Not only is it a workout for the mind, but your hands too, especially in the latter stages of the game as challenges become far more demanding and you’re dealing with more in each combat sequence. Even through roughly 30 hours of play, having rolled credits and then some, I’m still left feeling as though I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible in this sandbox. The skill ceiling and freedom of expression are second to none in Immortals of Aveum. It’s an FPS you can play over and over again, constantly learning new tricks to more effectively conquer each task ahead.

Exactly how you choose to shape the combat experience as you go is entirely your call too. With both a gear system and a hefty skill tree to sift through, there’s plenty that can be done to optimize all manner of playstyles. Whether you prefer red magic weapons with the impact of green spells, you’d rather just hone in on blue magic across the board, or even try balance all three, the game hands that choice to directly you. And rest assured, even after a full playthrough, there’s still plenty more to uncover in order to further strengthen your favorite builds.

Substantive endgame with some slight setbacks

Main story missions have you journeying through expansive and diverse biomes, rarely ever backtracking as the game constantly pushes you into new territories for narrative reasons. It’s your choice to what extent you stop and smell the roses along the way, or save it all for a rainy day.

Each region is littered with dozens of hidden chests, optional puzzles to not only figure out, but even just find in the first place, and a range of additional challenges. Namely, you have 26 hand-crafted Shroudfanes that mix the best of everything together, pushing your platforming skills in one while testing your FPS fundamentals in another. Last but not least comes The Six, the toughest boss fights the game has to offer and believe me, they sure are tough. Although I was able to finish the main path on the hardest difficulty with just a few deaths, these optional endgame challenges are on a completely different level, forcing optimal play at every turn.

But it’s on this subject of difficulty that one of my only gripes comes into the equation. Immortals of Aveum seems to struggle with how to balance its challenges given the immense options available to players. While there are some cases where simply adding more enemies to the mix does indeed ramp up the difficulty, more often than not, the game falls back on scaling up both health and damage numbers.

Far more noticeable in the later stages of the game, certain enemy types, including one green guy in particular, appear to have at least quadruple the health of any other target for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, some bosses can deal staggering amounts of damage in singular attacks, knocking you out instantly even if your health bar was full just a split second prior. Rather than leaving room to adjust on the fly and figure out the best path forward, some content towards the end feels far more oppressive and tedious than perhaps it should be.

On a similar note when it comes to tedium, I couldn’t tell if it was an intentional design choice or purely a bug on my end, but objective markers randomly disappeared for the last few story missions during my playthrough. While on one hand, you can always make the argument for immersion. Ensuring you’re paying attention to every conversation and know exactly where to go next. On the other, given the scope of the regions, it can be rather frustrating not having a clear direction.

Without spoiling anything, one particular section near the end of the game tasks you with going to a specific region, though it failed to clarify where exactly in said region you need to go. This alone halted my progress for a few hours as I racked my brain trying to figure out just where the next part of the story required me to visit.

And as a final point of feedback, something that may change down the line, not having a FOV slider on console at launch certainly isn’t ideal. While it’s worth commending the fact the game ran incredibly smoothly from start to finish on PS5, even in the more chaotic sequences with particle effects dominating the screen, not having an option for an expanded field of view does hurt in various circumstances. Given the demanding nature of combat, keeping track of enemies was only made harder by the limited vision.

In a medium so reliant on sequels and copycats, the biggest positive for Immortals of Aveum is that’s it something truly fresh. An inventive mix of FPS systems we haven’t seen before quite like this. A sprawling, original universe ready for you to get lost in. A daring risk with tens of millions in investment on a brand-new IP.

The Verdict – 4/5

For a first outing, Ascendant Studios has hit a home run. The team has established an incredible foundation for a universe we only hope we can continue exploring for years to come.

Reviewed on PS5