Magic fingers

There are a lot of games releasing in 2023, so I would not be surprised to know that most people have not heard of Immortals of Aveum. This is weird as it has been highly advertised on a lot of events and trailers, and even included in several of Geoff Keighley’s programs over the last couple years. It also comes from a team of veteran developers in the industry including former Telltale staff as well as a host of members whose past works include Metal Gear Solid, BioShock, and Call of Duty just to name a few. It is a high profile collection of devs. It is also single player only, has a lengthy campaign, and is one of the first games to use Unreal Engine 5 on consoles.

Immortals of Aveum follows the journey of Jak, a soldier who is known in the world as an Unforseen. These are people who develop magic later in their lives. He is recruited into the Immortals by Lucium’s Grand Magnus Kirkan. The Immortals fight in the war for control of the world’s magic. The story has an interesting setting and it is told well, even if some of the dialogue tries to be much more deep and clever than it needs to be. I don’t need overly methodical dialogue in my magic shooty-shooty game. Still I admire the performances as most of the characters really deliver their lines well.

MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

On the surface Aveum feels like Call of Duty with wizards. The shooting is fast and the set pieces are epic. There is rarely a dull moment in its 20+ hour campaign. The shooting feels good too. Reminds me of the fast-paced action found in shooters like CoD or more akin to Unreal. The game kicks off with all three weapon types and you can earn more of those types of weapons as the game goes on. There is a sort of rail gun, a shotgun, and an automatic rifle, but with magic. Instead of bullets you are firing colored particles that whisk across the battlefield. Each weapon is assigned a specific color which plays into the combat and how to approach various situations.

Sadly swapping is done with a button press and there is no weapon wheel in sight. This becomes an issue with timing-based puzzles found later on in the game. Having to tap it constantly to cycle feels cumbersome in an age where weapon wheels and slowdown mechanics are abundant. In addition to these weapons there are also other devices Jak can use. Again you get these right at the outset and include a whip that can draw enemies closer or be used to swing across areas, as well as a shield that well shields Jak from incoming attacks. There are a lot of buttons to memorize within the first 30 minutes, but it was relatively easy to get used to.

While Aveum is a shooter at its core it does have other mechanics. There is a light gear aspect and even some gate-locked content along the way. Yes I am trying to avoid using the MV reference. These are not always evident though as I spent several minutes on a couple puzzles before giving up only to realize that I didn’t have the ability to complete them. The game does a poor job of conveying these and instead I ended up just fighting with it instead of moving on. Jak will also gain new abilities along the way including slow mo (which is in the game LET ME HAVE THE WEAPON WHEEL) and a double jump as well as some others. This transforms the game into more than just a magic shooter, which is nice.

I do feel like the play time just goes on too long though. This game feels a lot like single player titles from the 360/PS3 era in more than one way. This includes extensive padding to make it feel worth the price of admission. A solid 15 hour campaign is better than a stretched out 25 hour one. Not sure why developers continue to forget that.

Visually Aveum can be stunning. It is the first Unreal Engine 5 game to use things such as Lumen and Nanite and it shows. Some set pieces are simply jaw-dropping at times. This comes with a caveat though. The image quality is just not great. The folks at Digital Foundry stated the PS5 and Series X versions render at 720p while the Series S at nearly 480p. While the game doesn’t look that bad upscaled it still shines through in multiple areas. Things like Jak’s gauntlet shimmer as they move which looks awful. Some enemies also lack shadows. It feels almost like an early tech demo at times. The frame rate holds 60 a lot of the time, but it can dip and there is no option for any other mode.

Immortals of Aveum is a decent game that takes some risks with its technology. Some of those pay off, while others hold it back. The game itself is fun if not a bit too long and it just comes across as a decent game that feels undercooked at times. I enjoyed my time with it, but I am likely to forget it come the end of the year. In an overcrowded year this big budget gamble might not pay off, but I would certainly be in for this team’s next outing. The pieces for a great game are here, just need to fit them into place.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.