“Immortals of Aveum” played: First-person shooter with fantasy flair

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Fantasy with a difference: The makers of “Immortals of Aveum” rely on fast-paced first-person shooter banging instead of the usual role-playing game grind. No wonder, since the former developers of “Call of Duty” and “Dead Space” are hiding behind Ascendant Studios.

The Eternal War

For millennia, a relentless war has raged on the world of Aveum. The Battle Mage Caste of the “Blessed” lead legions of soldiers from battle to battle in order to achieve their ultimate goal: control of magic. Among the recipients is young Jak, who thanks to his magical talents is drawn out of the slums into this war. Together with his friends, he becomes the key figure in an eternal war that harbors a dark secret.

“Immortals of Aveum” is a genuine first person shooter in an idiosyncratic fantasy scenario. Huge ships sometimes float through the sky while we experience adventures in a kind of cyberspace. Where battles are fought in rounds in role-playing games, here things get straight to the point. Instead of bullets, fireballs and lightning bolts fly around the enemies’ ears. After a short time, our hero Jak has numerous skills with which he eliminates opponents. It plays like a cross between Doom, Control and Borderlands. Old genre fans will be reminded of games like “Heretic” or its successor “Hexen”.

What is noticeable after just a few minutes: the story sequences are staged in a surprisingly high quality. Some well-known actors and actresses such as Darren Barnet from the Netflix hit “Never in my life” or Gina Torres from “Firefly” and “Suits” take on the leading roles in the fantasy saga. There are also detailed facial animations and a high-quality soundtrack. Technically, however, things weren’t running smoothly: Our test version had major starting problems, a day 1 patch should help.

Fast-paced first-person shooter

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In keeping with the genre, Jak’s adventure is told as a linear action-adventure that sends the hero from one mission to the next. Most of the time he ends up in a kill arena where he has to take out a few waves of enemies like in “Doom” or “Control”. They either appear out of nowhere as melee fighters, throw acid bombs or try to hit us from afar with magic arrows. Of course there are also bosses. At least in our opening hours they were rather unspectacular and easy to trick.

At the heart of the game is control over the three magic classes “Red”, “Blue” and “Green”. While the former is best compared to a shotgun and deals damage at close range, the “Blue” and “Green” are all about precision and speed. Similar to “Borderlands”, it depends on which opponents the players use their weapons against, because each of them has their weak points.

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In order to survive the individual enemy waves, our hero must also use a few magical abilities. He can use a whip to pull enemies towards him and he can slow them down with a magic ray. A few splash damage will take out multiple enemies at once. As in an RPG, Jak also gets skill points that he can invest in passive or active skills. It may take some time for us to get used to the interaction of the individual skills during the hours of play, but when used correctly, they ensure spectacular and fast-paced combat techniques.

Little variety

Magic also has uses outside of combat. In small puzzles, Jak can activate colored symbols to open doors or chests. Sometimes he can also move huge statues via telekinesis and swings on so-called lines of force, which bring him quickly from one place to the next. There are also challenge missions where Jak can win special loot. Much of this is optional. If you just want to march through the story, you don’t have to go through every corner of the somewhat tubular sections.

A real hero, despite good reflexes, is helpless if the equipment is missing. Matching the three magic classes, there are corresponding weapons, which are divided into three weapon types per class. There is everything a shooter’s heart desires, from a fireball to a magic shotgun to rapid-fire attacks with guided projectiles. There are also rings or bracers for passive bonuses. All equipment can be upgraded at a Forge. There Jak can also expand his healing powers or forge new weapons. Here, too, the development studio relies on the tried and tested – nothing is groundbreakingly new here.

In the end, the feeling remains that more could have been possible here. The staging of the story sequences is at triple-A level, the mission design is bobbing along. Together with the technical problems with our test version, the question arises whether a few months longer development time would not have benefited the game. A diamond in the rough that lacks polish.

interim conclusion

“Immortals of Aveum” is a fast-paced first-person shooter that sets itself apart from the big genre competition with its fantasy scenario. The development studio playfully mixes elements of great role models such as “Doom”, “Control” or “Borderlands” for spectacular fights. That could be great, but it’s often slowed down in our play sessions by the monotonous missions. Kill Arena followed Kill Arena – no change. In addition, there are some technical flaws in our test version, which again make us wonder why developers don’t get the time they need to mature a game. In the end, this is a game for genre fans who would like to try out a scenario other than “Call of Duty” or “Doom”.

“Immortals of Aveum” will be released on August 22nd for Windows, PS and Xbox Series. It costs about 70 euros. USK from 16. For our test, we played the Windows version for a few hours.

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