Call of Duty with magic – this is how “Immortals of Aveum” plays.

The desire of action fans for a worthy heir to the classic “Dark Messiah of Might and Magic” is great, because the best magic shooters appeared more than 15 years ago. “Immortals of Aveum” aims to close this gap and combines its spectacular magical action with the virtues of the highly successful “Call of Duty” series. Until now, one could only speculate about the quality of «Immortals of Aveum». Now we could play the debut work of the Californian Ascendant Studios, which was geared purely for solo players, for several hours at publisher EA’s headquarters.

Immortal Battle Mage In “Immortals of Aveum”

you take on the role of orphaned Jak, who grows up amidst the turmoil of the so-called Everwar. After the death of his parents, he is accepted into the ranks of the Immortals, a guild of powerful battle mages who want to end the war – and Big Bad Sandrakk, who is also responsible for the death of Jak’s parents. The scientific fantasy game does not fight with swords or big guns, but only with magic. But it mainly differs visually and less playfully from an ordinary first-person shooter. Because the red, blue, and green spells we’re firing with Jak’s right arm look different, but end up being very similar to shotguns (red), shotguns (blue), or more medium-range machine guns (green). You even have to reload the different forms of magic, the red close magic also contains variants reminiscent of flamethrowers, just like you have to do in a classic military shooter.

Modern engine, outdated gameplay

Otherwise, the parallels with “Call of Duty” can hardly be overlooked. The developers around Creative Director Bret Robbins, who previously worked in responsible positions at “CoD” creator Sledgehammer Games, attach great importance to precise controls, a pleasant movement or constant 60 frames to ensure high playability. As with some “CoD” offshoots, this also comes at the expense of presentation. “Immortals of Aveum” certainly doesn’t look bad, especially in terms of the magical effects, but stylistically like a fantasy mush at times. If we hadn’t known that Unreal 5.1 uses Epic Games’ next-gen engine, we wouldn’t necessarily have seen that in many corners of the game.

Despite the similarities, “Immortals of Aveum” is more than a “Call of Duty” in the setting of scientific fantasies. The pace of the game is considerably faster, with the opponents often attacking en masse, making the fights sometimes more hectic than necessary. Especially with enemies, who teleport several times from one corner to the other in the often arena-like battles within seconds, provide variety, but can also be annoying. In addition to the basic magical skills, there are other resources that also help against these and other types of enemies. You pull most of the smaller opponents towards you with a magic whip, even from a greater distance, and finish them off with the red magic. For self-protection, activate a magic shield or slow down your individual targets to attack them better. There are also powerful special spells that can blast a rock wall out of the ground or cause a powerful explosion at close range. Apparently you get these specials or the left hand abilities like the shield quite linearly over the course of the game. You can also improve the normal attack skills yourself by making forges or even unlocking new variants. The range of items such as rings and amulets, which are divided into rarity categories, seems a bit excessive for a solo game. That fits in a “division”, but less so in a game that’s over after the 25 hour campaign

From spectacular to embarrassing

According to the previous impressions, “Immortals of Aveum” is quite linear. There are always optional tasks, such as caves on the edge or loot chests that are not directly accessible, that will give you extra gold or better equipment. Otherwise there was little opportunity to deviate from the central path until now. But there are also bigger extra areas, where you can expect extra battles and bosses, or where you can even pick up more magic spells that you wouldn’t get otherwise. However, we were unable to enter these areas because Jak still lacked a certain ability to open the passage. But there could also be a principle behind it, which is also apparent from the fast travel portals placed in the predominantly tubular floors, which are inactive in our country.

How much added value these additional areas provide and how crucial they are to the success of the campaign remains to be seen. But there are also spectacular battles. Among other things, we had to confront a real dragon, which sometimes attacks us close to the ground, sometimes flying past. We dodge many of his attacks by jumping over his red magic balls with a double jump or by dodging a charge attack with a conditional accurate dash. This fight is visually and acoustically impressive, but this fight, which probably takes place early in the game, is rather primitive in terms of gameplay. However, it only gets really bad at the very end. There we face a rock golem on a small battlefield. Time and time again he hands out wrestlers with his massive stone legs, under which we are literally buried. So we’re really in the middle of his arms and pushed around unrealistically. The colossus impresses, but the combat is so embarrassingly poorly designed that one can only hope it’s an exception. Because if that’s even halfway the norm, then “Immortals of Aveum” would get more than just a few points in the B class.

perspective

Immortals of Aveum can easily be described as a magical shooter with huge Call of Duty vibes. Because despite all the special features, the game from Ascendant Studios often feels like a “CoD” with magic. This in itself is not bad and especially fun in the normal battles. But especially the embarrassing boss fight at the end of the demo offers plenty of room for skepticism. No, “Immortals of Aveum” won’t be a bad game, but whether the magic shooter will go beyond solid mediocrity is not yet certain, even after the hands-on, which lasted several hours.