Immortals of Aveum - Review
Over the years I have fallen off the Call of Duty wagon, I love the campaigns of the older games, but lately they seem to be much shorter and very by the numbers. Learning that the man who was the creative director for a few Call of Duty games and the original Dead Space, had started a new studio and was making a new shooter game, I was intrigued. Immortals of Aveum was not what I expected, I mean a magic shooter? There was no way it could be good, right?
Turns out it is actually very good and I really enjoyed my time with it. While Immortals of Aveum bills itself as a first-person title and given the directors history in game development, tacking on shooter to the genre might feel accurate. But rather than the game being like a magic Call of Duty, it actually plays more like a magic Metroid Prime. The game plays from a first person perspective, but unlike the Call of Duty campaigns, that tend to direct you from point to point, the game actually has a lot of exploration to do and some of it requires abilities you get later in the game. While the earlier portions are very directed, the game soon lets you off the hook to explore and attempt to find things and solve some mysteries of the world, but what about the story.
In the game you take on the role of Jak, a kid living with some friends, while under the shadow of the Everwar, which is being encouraged by Sandrakk, the leader of the Rasharnian army and the enemy of Lucium. While attempting to make a little money by stealing, the Rasharn army appears overhead and start taking shots at the city. Jak tries to get back to the house and the young kids that live there, but Jak and his friend Luna are ambushed by a Rasharnian magnus. While Luna has a Sigil in her hands, thanks to a thieving mission the pair were on, she proves no match for a trained magnus and is blasted off the platform and into the Wound below. Seeing everyone he knows perish, Jak loses control and unlocks his magic and after wiping out all the enemies, he passes out. Turns out that while Jak had some basic blue magic, he has unlocked all three types in full, Blue, Red and Green, which makes him a Triarch. Upon discovering this power he is recruited by Grand Magnus Kirkan to fight the Everwar. I could go more into detail on the story, with the characters you meet like Zendara, Devyn or even The Hand, but the story has so much going on, its worth discovering it for yourself. I will say though that the reveal of The Hand is something everyone should see coming, but no spoilers here.
Now it might sound like a lot of words in the above are a mix of randomness and you would be right, but as you play the game, you will start to understand more of them. The colours of the magic are the thing you will come to understand pretty early on, as they are core to most aspects of the world. The blue magic is the one that Jak can use prior to his becoming a Triarch and once he has proper access, it becomes the long range attack option. This was the weapon setting that I defaulted to most of the time, as it was powerful and had a decent count before the spell needed to be recharged. The most powerful spells come from the Red chaos magic, which as its name suggest is more explosive and then there is the quick, but less impactful Green life magic. Each colour has its uses, but its when you start to combine them together that you can get some interesting results. As I said, I stuck with blue most of the time, but there are some enemies that will take very little damage to some colours, normally if they are shrouded in green magic, then using anything other than green is a waste of your time.
While your sigil on your arm provides you with basic spells, you can also obtain Furies, Augments and more. The Augments are passive skills that once obtained are active all the time, hover being one of the earliest ones you obtain. Jak is able to double jump thanks to blue magic, but with hover you can clear larger gaps when exploring, but in combat, you can gain the high ground and we all know that is the best place to be. Furies are more destructive spells that require concentrated mana to use, the sigils absorb mana from the world, Furies require you to obtain crystalised mana to make use of. These spells can unleash waves of destruction, summon essentially mini-black holes and more and if you are using them against the right enemy, they can be very destructive. The game has even more magic options to aid you in the fight and that is a good thing as the enemies are quite crafty at times, some more so. Most of the enemies are going to be Rasharnian soldiers and within the ranks you have your basic soldier, the commanders, the specialists and then the brutish types, with each requiring different attacks to take down.
Beyond them, you will also encounter constructs, magic-made beings that can aid you in battle or become a pain to deal with, again the right colour magic will be important. There is one particular construct that appears time and time again, with a very special enhanced version near the end of the campaign that will really test you. With all the abilities at your disposal, combat is more than just pew-pew all the time, yes there is a lot of that, but knowing when to dodge attacks, shield from them or even break away to regroup, will be the true test.
One aspect that I didn’t bother with early on was the skill tree, not for any reason other than I just forgot. Once I remembered, I jumped in and had almost a dozen points to spare, giving me plenty of choice on how I upgrade the three colours of magic. Given my use of Blue was the most common, I spent more points in there, but if you prefer to use Red magic, you might go and spend more points there, giving you a different playstyle. The other aspect you will spend time in is the equipment upgrade screen. You can obtain some new sigils, rings or other items from defeating powerful enemies, looking at The Six here, but you can also upgrade them. The sigils generally have a few upgrade cycles per item, you will often find yourself doing a few and then swapping out to a new piece. Most of the sigil upgrades are around damage, but the rings will modify your power, shields, recoil or other aspect, which again comes into varying up the playstyle. With the various systems, there is a lot to understand and while it can feel overwhelming, by the end, I was able to understand what I wanted and have the game work for me.
The presentation is there the game falls over a bit, for the most part the game looks and runs great, but there are times when the shine falls off. Sticking with the good, the main characters look incredible, with their faces based on the actors that bring them to life. When the Immortals are around their war table, you can easily get pulled into the events they are talking about, small gestures from their faces help to convey a more impactful response. Some faces, especially in the earlier parts of the game feel weird, but for the most part they are solid across the board. The world itself is brimming with things to see, from the leylines that criss-cross the land, to the trees and animals that call it home. You will visit a number of different locales throughout the adventure and while there are some similar aspects to each, the leylines being one of them, the rest is uniquely theirs.
There are two areas where the game raises concerns, the first is with the vibrancy of the life in the world. What I mean by this is that there are times when I would be walking through a town and there would be groups always standing around talking. There was never people moving from place to place, even on the eve of the final battle, they were still talking or sweeping, just never walking anywhere. The second area of concerns is with the loading of elements, mostly with textures and such. Some of the locations are quite large, which look great when things are loaded in, but more often than not, some elements would pop in. They were never major elements of course, just small details but they are so common that they become quite noticeable. In the later stages of the game, there were issues with the audio cutting in and out as well, mostly during cutscenes, which also impacts the experience.
That is actually a good reason to bring up the audio and here there is little to complain about. The cast is fantastic, with each actor bringing their characters to life in ways that make them feel believable. Once you meet Sandrakk for the first time, discovering the voice beneath the helmet feels like it doesn’t fit, but the more you interact with him, the more you realise it does work. Kirkan is brought to life by Gina Torres and she gives the role a real powerful impact, even when she is being mean, the facial work helps sell her bad-assery. The rest of the cast, including Darren Barnet as Jak, do an incredible job of selling you on the world being a real place. The games score is just as fantastic, the action picks up for battles, but when you just explore, it becomes part of the ambiance. There are a few melodies that did make me think of other works, which is not a great thing, but it’s still good overall.
Immortals of Aveum is a game that I was hoping I would enjoy, but it turns out I loved it. The world is brimming with lots to discover and while it has issues at times with things loading in, it never really detracts from the overall experience. The characters are grounded, that even the constant use of magic never makes them feel fake, which helps to make the stakes even more surreal. The freedom to ignore a mission and explore the world, helping folks or just hunting down near gear is incredible and when you couple that with the upgrade system, means no two plays could be the same. While the story is a one and done experience, its tale, the characters and the world make it one incredible journey.
The Score
9.5
Review code provided by Electronic Arts
The Pros
+The world is brimming with things to see and do, so saving it feels good
+Each character feels grounded in a real way, even the side characters you meet
The Cons
-The game does have some loading issues at times, leading to things popping up
-The identity of The Hand is so predictable, that its not even remotely surprising
