Immortals of Aveum Review – Modern Fantasy Warfare

There are many great first person shooters that take the player on adventures around the world using military technology. They may even travel to World Wars or hell. Immortals of Aveum carves out its own place in the broad genre of shooters by setting its first-person action in the fantasy realm of Aveum, and it’s refreshing to shoot at ax-wielding knights, magic sorcerers, dragons, and more. 

Immortals of Aveum’s mix of competent shooting and unique puzzle-like elements keeps most encounters exciting. Developer Ascendant Studios greatly emphasizes the narrative, and it’s hit or miss, depending on how well you gel with the cast’s cliche personalities. Nonetheless, I rolled credits impressed with this team’s first crack at this world and its mechanics, even if the final product could have used more polish. 

Jak is a Lightless, meaning he’s unable to use magic, but through a traumatic series of events, he becomes not just a magic-wielding Magni but eventually an Immortal, the most elite of magic users. This places him near the highest ranks of Lucium’s Lights Army, fighting in the Everwar. Jak has the ability to wield three different types of magic, including Force (blue), Chaos (red), and Life (green). Blue magic serves as Immortals of Aveum’s sniper or long-range rifle-type weapon, green is the machine gun of this world, and red is the shotgun. The different types of magic are more powerful against certain enemies. This adds a strategic element to combat. Jak uses sigils on his arm to fire magic. There are many sigils around Aveum with various stats and upgrade paths. There are a few other gear pieces to find and while upgrading each is straightforward, I’d be lying if I said I was invested in these stats.

Immortals of Aveum has all the systems needed to create a build for Jak – you can focus on Fury abilities, which are special attacks that require an easy-to-find resource to use, or on enemy shield destruction, for example – from sigils to amulets to rings, arm bands, and more. It was mainly because I felt comfortable in my current gear that I did not feel the need to experiment. I didn’t mind ignoring gear, though, because the action is good regardless of what I equipped. 

There are many standard enemies that can be defeated, but the stronger ones have shields which work with your magic sigils. You can use your magic to remove a blue-colored shield from an opponent. Ascendant does a great job of transforming enemy encounters into puzzle areas. I also died a lot in Immortals. As I played, I knew exactly what I was doing wrong. Which enemy to target first and when to use the Fury powers or tri-magic moves. I could feel my combat competence growing with each encounter, and I used more of each arena’s platforms, grapple hook rigs, and other platforming elements to glide around areas taking out swaths of enemies. 

Ascendant has a lot to offer outside of combat. After rolling my credits there were still plenty of locations to visit to get new gear, to complete the unique challenges rooms and to defeat any remaining bosses. I’ve never seen more chests in a game, but being able to blast them open with a quick trigger pull made it easy to dip a few seconds off the beaten path to find what’s inside. I’ve found that walls have gems which interact with the magic. It is possible that if I shoot a red gem using red magic it will open up a hidden chest. Ascendant continues to add layers of enjoyment to its puzzle-based mechanics. 

I love Immortals’ Aveum for the space it provides between all of the action. It has a semi-open-world, puzzles to solve, tons of collectibles. The path was not always clear, so I would often pull the platforming thread to see what it led me to. This often resulted in a rewarding reward. Sometimes the game left too much room between each action. More than a few times, I’d be ordered to go to the War Room so I’d walk there and watch a cutscene. Then, I’m told to go to my quarters in the Palathon, the Lights Army’s base hub. After another cutscene there, I’d be told to walk back to the War Room for another cutscene, and I wish all of this would have been one big cutscene – walking 20 seconds in between each brought me no joy or player agency. 

I’m surprised how much I enjoyed Immortals of Aveum’s story, especially given how often it threw proper nouns in my face alongside typical hero-speak and fantasy jargon. Aveum, a fantasy land, has characters and a world that feel very modern. You won’t find anything new regarding character growth and personality, and I saw where the narrative was heading from a mile away, but Immortals of Aveum’s story is saved from tropes and mundaneness with a refreshing straightforwardness in its message and politics. The characters are right to point this out. Even if the overall themes and plot tend to be muted by its pacing. 

Immortals of Aveum could have used more cooking time. The game runs 60 FPS but there is noticeable lag when combat becomes hectic. It can look like the visuals are muddy or scratchy. Ascendant knows about the issues with performance and has released a new patch that will address these. 

The game’s score is good fun, too, mixing a classic fantasy orchestra with 808s and other hip-hop beats to great effect. It’s the bow atop the game’s modern fantasy shooter wrapping. 

Ascendant has made a great effort in creating a game that’s different, unique, and not based on real wars or battles. Immortals of Aveum is a great first outing, mixing the fantasy genre’s vibes, storytelling, and world exploration with the gunplay of a modern shooter. Its magic action almost always feels great, except when the game’s performance turns a fun explosion of magic and colors into a muddy mess. The story, which took me 16 hours to get through, is predictable but competent enough to get Jak to the next set piece, and there’s plenty left to explore and accomplish after rolling credits that I’m excited to check out. Ascendant did a great job of emphasizing combative puzzle solving and exploration as well as first-person actions. Immortals of Aveum proves that this genre has plenty of room for growth outside of its usual releases.