Immortals Of Aveum was not really on my radar, I'd seen footage but thought little of it. With nothing in my back catalogue that I really wanted to play until Starfield releases. I bought the game on its first day of release hoping it would at least keep me busy for a short time. And I was pleasantly surprised because I really enjoyed my time with the game. It's nothing special but it's gameplay has a nice hook that kept me engaged.
Set within the backdrop of what is known as the 'Everwar', where rival continents fight over the control of magic. Our protagonist, Jak, finds himself in control of magical powers following an attack on his hometown by the evil Rasharnians. Jak is then recruited as part of the Lucium army and becomes involved in the war.
The story is relatively straight forward, with a couple of twists here and there. But like a lot of fantasy fiction, the lore can sometimes be far more engaging than the central narrative. The big issue with Immortals is that a lot of this lore is buried in text logs that you pick up, it also does not help when there are so many strange names given to the characters and places. Many of them are thrown at you in such short spaces of time, rather than being told to you gradually through the plots within the narrative.
But I liked the main character, he was not just reacting to the world around him. It made me care for what is a straightforward go here and do this story structure from beginning to the end. There's genuine chemistry and a sense of friendship between the protagonist and the side characters, even if the dialogue is a bit too light hearted and cringey when you consider the context of the story.
For better or worse, Immortals of Aveum is a rail-track shooter with semi open worlds to explore if you want too. Magic has replaced guns, but the gameplay is more or less the same as a lot of other first shooters. There are three kinds of Magic types attached to the magical bracelet you hold. Green which is effectively an assault rife, red which is a shotgun and blue which is a standard semi-automatic rifle.
The combat feels good and snappy, the impact when you hit enemies is gratifying as they physically react each time they are hurt. It makes them feel less spongy than what they really are. The combat is also made better with the controls feeling slick, this helps when most enemies rush you in big numbers in varying level sizes.
Certain enemies and even bosses can only be killed with one particular magic type. This can sometimes be an issue when loads of enemies are attacking you at once, as there is a second or two delay between flipping from one magic type to another. But when everything clicks together it can be so satisfying as you move between enemies, picking off your chosen targets. It makes the player strategise the way they want to use their tools at their disposable.
Outside of the basic magic attacks there are special spells assigned to each magic type, as long as you have enough meter to use them. Some of these can be really useful in boss fights and crowd control. But there's nothing exciting about them, they are just your usual special attacks that allow your magic to have a bigger radius of impact, or the ability to break an enemy shield.
As I stated earlier, in terms of gameplay the magic is little more than window dressing. It functions more or less like a gun, which is a shame because magic casting hasn't really been used to its full potential in console games. Each time you level up you get an ability point called Ascensions, you can then use these in the Talents menu, which is effectively the game's skill tree. It's all a bit uninteresting because rather than changing or giving you new abilities, it just buffs what you already have at your disposal.
There is a lack of enemy types, once you get to the halfway point you've pretty much seen all that there is to offer. Some mini bosses re-appear as normal enemies, which gives the player a sense of power progression. But for the most part the game only really deviates from it's gameplay loop with some platforming and puzzle sections peppered between the locations you visit.
The puzzles are nothing elaborate and for the most part they merely consist of aligning coloured lights together. I can only think of one that had me a little stumped for a while and that was only because I wasn't paying attention. The puzzles are essentially filler between the action and exploration. I rarely like first person platforming but Immortals managed to pull it off for me. The platforming mostly consists of reaching higher places with your lash, which is basically a rope launcher, this is for both progression and loot hunting.
Immortals of Aveum was developed in Unreal Engine 5, so it's no surprise that it's a visually gorgeous game. The screen oozes with colour and the locations come alive, even if they are a bit generic. As with most modern games the particle effects are overblown and pretty on the eye. But they make the combat a little more satisfying as the magic splashes on the screen, and you watch your enemy disintegrate into specks of light.
The game does a lot of things well but nothing particularly exceptional, the story is serviceable at best and doesn't do justice to the lore. Even though it took 10-12 hours to complete, the story seemed to have narrative threads that were missing. Everything goes from one point to the next in a very linear way. There's nothing wrong with this, in fact it's rather refreshing when you consider how much bloat is larded onto video games these days.
Immortals of Aveum was better than I expected, it's fun in a way that a lot of games just aren't, and it at least dares to try and standout from the crowd. Even if it only does this on a surface level. I would recommend buying the game if you love either fantasy fiction or first person shooters. Otherwise I'd definitely get it in a sale, where the value risk is not quite as high. I will certainly return to it on a higher difficulty at some point, and it would be nice to see additional content released. Going forward I will keep a close eye on the developer's next title.
Verdict: 7/10
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