Immortals of Aveum

First-person shooters and fantasy games are a dime a dozen these days, so I understand why many didn't pay any attention to Ascendant Studios' Immortals of Aveum before both Ben and yours truly shared some very positive impressions after playing an early version a few months ago. That's actually great, because this means you'll be even more surprised when playing what's easily one of the best games of 2023 and one of the best FPS games in a decade.

Big words, but it says something when I completely lost myself in Immortals of Aveum and played for ten hours straight the first day. This coming from a guy that has grown tired of the Call of Duty-likes and overly pretentious fantasy games. That means Ascendant's debut title had its odds staked against it, so how does it manage to beat them? It starts with the story and universe in general.

The developers weren't lying when reiterating they wanted to avoid the fantasy clichés several times. Not only do they usually manage to do this, but even make fun of them at the same time. Sure, you're still getting a couple of predictable twists and turns. They're just extremely rare and far between, and the fun - and deeper than expected - characters taking us through the interesting and engaging story more than make up for them. Top that with the collectible reading material, optional conversations and fascinating world-design that shows how much thought and passion the team has put into building a captivating new universe, and those of you looking for a memorable cinematic experience with a soundtrack you find yourself humming are in for a treat. Even with the cringy one-liner in the trailer below.

Still, gameplay is always king in my book, which is why I'm happy to say Immortals of Aveum delivers in that department as well. I've seen people say the magic just seems like reskinned guns. That's kind of true, but the changes and possibilities being a wizard (called Magni here) bring to the table take the combat to another level. Whether it's being able to seamlessly swap between the three magic types (each with their own strengths and weaknesses against different enemies), special skills and powerful Fury spells while running, dashing and swinging through areas, or just the visual and audible flair replacing guns and soldiers with all these colours, cosplayer-inspiring Sigils and cool-looking creatures. Hours will go by when you get in the flow fighting different kinds of enemies in awe-inspiring environments. Especially when you're free to explore and solve puzzles in between these action-filled moments.

Puzzles were one of my main concerns after my small taste in April, so this has been the most pleasant surprise playing the final game. Call of Duty, Dead Space and The Walking Dead might have been the most popular games used when talking about the developers' past, but it feels like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Portal and The Talos Principle could have joined the list. So many imaginative, entertaining and diverse ways of using everything you can do to open new areas, find new spells, gain experience points and get new gear. There are some really good ones in the world where you have to combine your magic, grapple hook-inspired leash, time slowing ability, general awareness and more to do everything in the Metroidvania world (being able to revisit places with new abilities to solve puzzles), but most of the best puzzles and challenges are found in the 26 Shrin...Shroudfane portals that bring you to special theme-based places. You'll get to truly show off your skills against the six strongest enemies here, as well as your dexterity, agility, timing and more in really fun ways. If only the rewards were consistently as good...

Because Immortals of Aveum isn't perfect. One of my concerns from the preview is still present in the final product: lacklustre rewards. Solving mind-bending puzzles is fun, but some of the excitement goes straight out the window when you only get some gold and other fairly common resources for it. I spent around 35 hours doing absolutely everything in the game on the hardest difficulty and spending a lot of time thoroughly searching every corner for Easter eggs, which left me with a ton of somewhat needless gold and resources. This means I could easily respec my abilities to be better prepared for fights against certain enemies and upgrade my gear, but I'd rather see some more spells, Sigils and such than stuff you also get for defeating enemies. I understand the reasoning about having predetermined rewards instead of going the loot pool route Diablo IV draws people in with these days, as it makes the best rewards even more impactful, but it could be better balanced here.

The game also lacks some polish. Certain scenes lose impact because they're missing sound, a couple of cinematic sequences look washed out compared to others, dumb/easily manipulated enemies, the framerate dropping when opening a door or entering an area where enemies will appear and progress being stopped because you can't kill something that vanished inside a wall or down in an abyss are just some of the issues with the PlayStation 5 version at the time of writing. Such a shame when Immortals of Aveum looks, sounds and feels absolutely outstanding the large majority of the time, so I hope most of this gets fixed with a patch or two.

One small nitpick that probably won't be fixed is that I wish the game had a few more enemy types. Don't get me wrong, it's better than feared, but seeing the same enemy just with a different magical alignment always grinds my gears even if it forces you to changes things up once in a while.

These disappointments don't stop me from thinking of Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. All beloved games starting some of the best and biggest franchises in the world. Immortals of Aveum is even better than those, so I truly hope it gets the attention, recognition and sales it deserves in one of the best years in gaming. Ascendant Studios' debut title is filled with greatness. Gorgeous visuals, a fun and intriguing story with memorable characters, engaging and thrilling combat and well balanced puzzles make up what's easily a must-play game. You just have to look past a few technical issues and some limitations that usually come with games without a limitless budget and workforce. It's been very easy for me, as I'm now just sitting here dreaming of where Ascendant Studios and Immortals of Aveum goes from this amazing first step.