Immortals of Aveum review: feels like Call of Duty, fades into AAA scene

The following is a list of the most recent and relevant articles. Immortals from Aveum was revealed last year, director Bret Robbins described Ascendant Studios’ first project as a “fantasy version” of Call of Duty, swapping helicopters for dragons and rocket-propelled grenades for fireballs. I thought it was a marketing ploy, as Robbins had previously worked at Sledgehammer Games on Call of Duty. But after playing the game, my initial impression changed. Immortals from Aveum, I’m amazed at just how fitting this characterization turned out to be.

It’s not that Immortals from AveumIt’s a 1:1 replica of Call of Duty. While the focus on elite soldiers influencing a larger conflict and several explosive set-pieces could have been pulled directly from Activision’s military propaganda simulator, doing away with real-world weapons of war in favor of magical spells allowed Ascendant Studios to expand the battle-tested formula both aesthetically and mechanically. In the end, it’s just another AAA mishmash with self-serious storytelling tropes, tortuous Whedon-speak and shiny wizard gauntlets in place of firearms.

Immortals from Aveum puts you in the shoes of Jak, an unforeseen — a magic user whose mystical powers surprisingly (and sometimes violently) manifest later in life rather than being nurtured from childhood — who finds his life as a teenage street urchin upended after he’s conscripted into the Everwar, an ageless conflict between the ruling nations of Aveum. Jak is special in that he can wield blue, red, and green magic rather than specializing in one color like most folks, and as such, he’s eventually promoted from the rank and file to the Immortals, a sort of wizard special ops team composed of the best and most powerful magicians in his home country’s army.

Ascendant Studios/Electronic Arts

Jak is…a lot. At best, he’s a smartass who looks like the sons from Home ImprovementIn a bizarre accident, they were both teleported and the resulting feigning was utterly absurd. Angry Video Game Nerd sketch, but at worst he’s a prime example of what I call Cal Kestis Syndrome. Star Wars Jedi is similar to the Star Wars series. Immortals from Aveum surrounds its boring, just-learning-the-ropes protagonist with a cast of more compelling, competent, and diverse characters, and somehow expects you to get on board with Mr. White Bread being the only person who can save the day. I mean, why would a studio get someone as iconic as Gina “I was on Firefly, for crying out loud” Torres to be in its video game and You can also check out our other blog posts.Make her the Hero?

The narrative issues don’t end there. The story is about halfway through Immortals from Aveum (we’re entering spoiler territory), we learn that a gaping black hole in the planet, known as the Wound, was initially caused by and continues to grow with magic use. It’s portrayed in the game as an extremely dire revelation, like learning that the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for climate change. But the story never explains why magic has such a vital role to play among the residents of Aveum. Apart from warfare, the only other times you see people using magic are randomly floating NPCs and a drinking montage where Jak and his buddies play beer pong (yes, they literally call it “beer pong”) with a spectral ball. I couldn’t help but feel like InmortalsIt was a desperate attempt to speak, but it fell flat on its faces.

Ascendant Studios/Electronic Arts

But sure, I can excuse a lot of dumb stuff in video games if, at their core, they’re still fun to play. Borderlands, one of my favourite franchises is utterly stupid. Immortals from Aveum just doesn’t do it for me. It’s like a Disneyland show. Doom EternalIt’s a game that allows you to experiment with a variety of visually stunning mechanics, often to your detriment. Apart from the three main colors for magic weapons — blue magic handles like pistols and sniper rifles, red is your shotguns and rocket launchers, and green constitutes all manner of machine guns — Immortals from AveumIt gave me so many abilities, I didn’t know which one to use. Each magic spell had its own visual effects, making it easy to miss enemies or environmental clues.

Immortals from AveumApplaud them for trying out something different and new. It’s not every day that a studio attempts to aesthetically reinvent the first-person shooter genre with its debut game, and it’s clear the folks at Ascendant Studios tried their damndest to make the “Call of Duty but with magic” concept work. It’s a stunning game, but despite its modern features like stat-boosting items and skill trees it doesn’t quite live up to expectations. Immortals from AveumThe game is as soulless, as are the military shooters that it draws its inspiration from. It’s a paint-by-numbers buffet of contemporary tropes, and even when regarded against the full scope of creative and moral bankruptcy in the AAA space, it somehow still manages to fade into the scenery.

Immortals from Aveum The game was released Aug. 22, on PlayStation 5, Windows PCs, and Xbox Series X. Electronic Arts provided a PS5 pre-release code for the game’s review. Vox Media is affiliated with other companies. Vox Media earns commissions from affiliate products, although this doesn’t influence the editorial content. Find out more about affiliate links. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.