Immortals of Aveum is a good game in many ways, but it regrettably does not add any new concepts to the genre. The enjoyable gameplay contrasts with the hackneyed and predictable storyline, and the title itself is unmemorable after completed. The Ascendant Studios team’s work transports us to the mystical land of Aveum. This is not an exaggeration, for practically everyone in the depicted universe can utilize magic, but only a few can master it to an advanced level, and they are the elite of society, aristocracy, and political power. The “lightless” were relegated to the ranks of commoners and the impoverished. Here we meet Jak, a petty criminal who lives in the Seren slums with a gang of friends. Despite the fact that the globe is involved in the All War – the endless war between people’s kingdoms – the hero is just concerned with living another day. Everything changes, however, when Seren is invaded by the army of the Rasharn empire, who is now battling the kingdom of Lucium, which is home to the hero’s city.
Jak’s rage is aroused after seeing the devastation of his house and the deaths of his comrades. General Kirkan, the chief of the Immortals, an elite order of combat magicians, discovers the shocked kid and takes him under her care. During training, the heroine discovers that she is a triarch, a unique form of magician that can manipulate all three colors of magic. The young magician joins the army in order to get revenge on his adversaries. The history of the portrayed world has been developed in an intriguing manner. We have a conventional medieval fantasy with a flavor of steampunk here, and the designers have left various notes, diaries, and side characters that are eager to chat for gamers who wish to uncover its secrets. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the narrative of the production, which rapidly becomes predictable. Despite this, it’s enjoyable to follow her, and the folks we encounter along the road are likeable. It should also be noted that the game does not take itself too seriously. There aren’t many serious or pretentious passages in this film. Instead, we get more comic scenes from time to time, such as a cartoonish sequence of getting drunk before a big battle, and the characters, despite the previously mentioned medieval atmosphere, speak with a modern manner and vocabulary, with some characters weaving elements of youth slang into their statements.
The production is largely linear, and there are no side orders here, though we can return to previously visited areas to search for previously missed side paths or try to get to previously inaccessible areas with the help of new powers that we gain as we progress through the story. The game is also not your usual open world, with largely corridor locales that are so extensive that the creators even included a rapid transit mechanism. The nickname “Magical Doom” lingered after the first teasers and announcements, though I’m more tempted to compare it to the Call of Duty series. Aside from the heavily military backdrop, the conflicts here are quite brief, and the action is frequently stopped by several plot sequences – both in-game and pre-rendered. As befits a shooter, we also have access to a variety of weaponry, which serve as seals, or unique wristbands that allow sorcerers to better manage magic. These are classified into three groups based on the colors of magic. Red seals are similar to shotguns in that they have a limited supply of charges and a narrow attack range, but they compensate with great damage. Blue seals remind me of precise and powerful, if sluggish, semi-automatic rifles, whereas green seals resemble practically submachine guns – fast-firing and with a big magazine, but delivering little damage with a single hit.
There are numerous seals for each color of spell, each with a distinct damage delivered, fire rate, and bullet supply. We will also obtain various armors, totems that function as supplementary weapons, and rings that grant passive boosts during the quest. We can make, improve, or disassemble equipment on the crafting table, in addition to obtaining new equipment in boxes spread around Aveum. RPG elements were also incorporated into the game. We get experience points and talents for beating opponents, striking fireflies flying around the area with spells, and solving riddles, which we will utilize in the skill tree to expand our character’s powers. We also get to select a speech line during a chat from time to time, although this is just ornamental and has no bearing on the storyline. The visuals appear to be good, albeit they are far from the photorealism of the Unreal Engine 5.1 utilized in the famed Matrix Awakens demo. The looks of the major characters, in particular, contrast with the fairly ugly and unnatural appearances of the background characters, which faithfully represent the pictures of the actors performing them. As a result, I see no reason for the PC edition’s rather high technology requirements, which will preclude many computer users from enjoying the game for some time.
On the other hand, I can point to the title’s optimization and fine-tuning. On a computer that meets the game’s requirements, the title runs smoothly and without hiccups, and I only encountered one serious glitch during the game, when the title for some reason skipped the fight with one of the bosses – just after the end of the cutscene, the enemy’s health bar immediately dropped to zero, and the title announced my victory and rewarded me with new items. Ascendant studios has created a sophisticated videogame that captivates with enjoyable gameplay but fails to impress with a clichéd storyline. It’s a shame, in my opinion, that the developers chose to build an exceedingly secure product, relying on well-known and proven methods in other productions, rather than delivering anything new, especially because the concept of the universe is pretty cool. While the latest Doom installments rejected modern shooter standards, celebrating all that is best in the raw roots of the FPS genre, and the slightly similar gameplay of Ghostwire: Tokyo was both a laurel and a true encyclopedia for fans of Japanese culture, Immortals of Aveum clearly lacks some distinguishing feature that would make the title memorable compared to many similar productions.