The first-person shooter genre deserves a renaissance. Not that it’s gone away; you only have to look at Call of Duty, Battlefield and Halo to see that it’s very much alive and kicking.
But there used to be a lot more experimentation in what the FPS game did. Think of the Bioshock universe, and what Titanfall did with its adventure and platforming in the first person.
Well, we have a new IP from EA called Immortals of Aveum and it embraces some serious first-person shooting roots, just with magic instead of guns. Let’s see what this brave new world has to offer.
What is amazing about Immortals of Aveum is the truly original world, story, and characters that have been created. It’s so refreshing not to be playing a sequel to a long-lived Triple-A franchise on console.
The game is set in the fictional world of Aveum when, for the last millennium, factions have been fighting over something appropriately called the Everwar. Magic is this thing but who has control of it? From there a much bigger fantasy story filled with lore and narratives about how this world came to be and the deepening apocalypse it is heading for all play out.
You play the role of Jak, who we first see living in an old shanty town with a gang of friendly thieves cheekily making their way in the world. When the city gets invaded by villains of the piece, Jak suddenly discovers he can wield three magic forms at the same time. This is a rare skill and only the truly gifted mages can do so. Jak gets drafted into the army to fight the war and become an Immortal. Soon he finds the world isn’t what he thought it was, discovering the truth about how it all came to be…
The story is highly original and the developers have delivered a unique narrative that is both engaging and enjoyable to follow. It definitely goes down the Guardians of the Galaxy route rather than that of The Lord of the Rings. Characters are constantly pulling wisecracks and funny faces, while the situations are always played for laughs. I enjoyed this a lot, but sometimes the more emotive stuff and serious points get lost a bit, mostly as the tone shift isn’t perfect. But it’s a world and story I would like to see a lot more of.
The gameplay found in Immortals of Aveum works a strong mix of FPS action, some platforming, puzzle solving, and exploration.
Let’s start with the combat which is the meat and gravy of the game. In the first person, you can use three different colours of magic at your disposal. You have green magic which shoots high-speed bolts like a machine gun. Blue magic is more of an accurate rifle shot at your opponents, and then last is red magic which delivers a shotgun blast; high damage but slow fire rate.
Your enemies are susceptible to different coloured magic attacks and it’s up to you to find the best way to defeat them. Some enemies have shields that require a burst of a certain colour of magic before they can be hurt. Then lastly you have a super attack that fires a beam of magic for a short time for huge damage. But of course, this happens once in a blue moon when it’s ready to go.
The action and battles are fast and furious, especially when you are zapping magic and jumping around the battlefield. You also have a shield in your arsenal that lasts for a short time before cracking under damage. You can grapple later on, so you can take the battle to a vertical playing field too.
Then there are the little gimmicks you can also use that slow-down time or dispel enemy magic spells on you. It works brilliantly and never gets boring. Boss battles are tricky too, whilst health management can be a nightmare. There are skill trees to upgrade all your magic abilities as well as your special capabilities. And then you can also throw in a forge that lets you make new weapons and upgrade existing ones as well.
The main story will take you into double figure hours to complete, but to do all the little side quests and puzzles around the game you could be looking at some twenty-plus hours. I mostly mainlined the main quests for this review, but never really felt like I wanted to go much deeper; the game didn’t feel like an interesting enough open world to explore and any time I went somewhere a new battle would take place so I was keen to get going before another kicked in. Immortals of Aveum’s puzzle elements are quite easy too; just about interesting enough for the completists.
The visuals are of a very high standard and just the battles alone, with all the colour of magic zipping around multiple enemies, deserve plaudits. The environmental design is good as well, complete with some great locations and interesting battle zones.
The character animations and motion capture work are fantastic. I think the cast does a great job with the material, bringing the characters alive with humor and fun. The soundtrack is strong and the effects are superb.
Immortals of Aveum should be praised for its original concept, writing, and new world-building. It’s a new franchise that is brave; a very different type of FPS. Playing through feels like watching a good Marvel movie – you’ll have a good time but will rarely care for it after.
The direction and tone of the story is okay, but at times feels a bit glib, and when it tries to be serious it doesn’t quite work. That said, Immortals of Aveum is still a lot of fun, the gameplay is excellent and the combat is solid. Maybe there isn’t enough to entice away from the main storyline but we should be looking forward to seeing what happens next with the franchise.
