Play Immortals of Aveum, you’d be forgiven for not realizing that this is a studio’s debut game. Stepping onto the balcony of a castle reveals bizarre science-fantasy architecture on the horizon, the scale of the magical battle unfolding beneath you, and the polish of it all on a scale we don’t typically associate with a first game .
This feeling is very conscious. Ascendent Studios founder and CEO Bret Robbins has worked on a few very Big games in the past and he didn’t want to take a step back in his new venture:
“I wanted to make a big game from the start,” he tells me. “I’ve worked on a lot of big games – I worked on Call of Duty for nine years before I started Ascendent Empty roomI had worked on The Lord of the Rings and James Bond. That’s why it wasn’t a problem for me to do something ambitious. I knew the games had gotten so great – so big – these days that I had to do something big for us to be competitive.”
After an hour-long demo at an early level, you can feel that ambition. I take main character Jak to the front lines of a magical war where hissing particle effects fill the screen at every turn, I’m picked up and set down by a roar dragon, I jump into an underground temple and face off against a top team of warriors from the invading Empire from Rasharn, and then I get to take revenge on the same dragon in a boss fight. It is a much.
How did a debut studio (with a relatively modest 100-person team for a game of this size) achieve something of this magnitude? The key is concentration – Immortals of Aveum wants to be a narrative single player FPS with lots of combat systems and high fidelity effects and is fully focused on that goal.
“Some of the best games have that focus,” Robbins says. “I definitely had that when we were working on it Empty room.
The view is immediately clear. This is a classic FPS in wizard costume – your three main magic ‘strikes’, broken down into red, blue and green magic, work in largely familiar ways. Red is a shotgun-like blast at close range. Blue is something of a bolt-action rifle, offering accurate long-range strikes. Green is a sinister Uzi that fires dozens of weaker shots in a short amount of time. It makes fights tight and often tactical, forcing you to switch between your spells at high speed. Adding to this are rage abilities, higher damage spells tied to a mana bar that give you flexibility in controlling larger areas with multiple enemies. This range of abilities will change throughout the game, with lengthy talent trees for each magic color, equipment that alters status, and sigils that affect how each strike works.
There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes, but based on the trailers so far, you might have expected this to be a throwback FPS campaign, a linear shooter focused on set pieces and spectacle. Robbins dismisses this perception:
“I wanted this to be one Part of the experience, and we certainly have some linear cinematic levels – like what you played today – that convey that more directly [feeling of]”I’m in the middle of a war, I’m in the middle of this crazy situation,” but the game is a lot bigger. There are large nonlinear stroke ranges and full exploration spaces. There are many ways to revisit previous areas and unlock new areas with new abilities; There is a full dialogue system that allows me to approach and talk to many of the characters to learn more about their backstory and more information. There are puzzles – there is a lot of optional content.”
Robbins estimates that players will expect a 30-40 hour gameplay experience to play through all of the game’s optional content. After my interview, I’m even more impressed with the scope of what Ascendent is working on here – and so is Robbins:
“The fact that we’ve achieved what we’ve achieved in the time we had, with a new team, new technology, during a pandemic – all the challenges we’ve had – the fact that we are here to start this thing, I’m just so proud of it.”
Immortals of Aveum Coming to Xbox Series X|S on July 20th.
Immortals of Aveum™ Deluxe Edition
Electronic Arts
$79.99
$71.99
Pre-order* the Immortals of Aveum™ Deluxe Edition and receive the Ancient Relics of Aveum Pack, which includes: – Purified Arclight – a unique blue sigil that unlocks more power for Jak’s blue Strike spells and the Shatter Fury spell ! – Wrath of the Triarch – can be equipped as either a red, green or blue sigil of Jak and increases critical hit damage. – Ring of the Immortals – increases shred against all three colors of magic. – Ring of Rasharn – increases spell damage for all three colors of magic. – Aristeyan Ring – increases rage damage for all three colors of magic. – Bracer of the Colossal – grants increased armor and healing crystal regeneration. – Sky Island Gauntlet – increases armor and shield health while reducing dodge cooldown. – Dresnyr Lens – increases spellbreak damage and increases the overall power of red magic spells. – Lucian Chain – increases the overall power of blue magic and reduces the cooldown of whip control spells. – Vial of the Pentacade – increases the duration of limpet control spells and increases the overall power of green magic. Immortals of Aveum is a single-player first-person magic shooter that tells the story of Jak who joins an elite order of battle mages to save a world on the brink of collapse. With legions of soldiers on both sides of Everwar, he must uncover the mysteries of Aveum’s troubled past if there is any hope of saving his future. Master three forces of magic and unleash spells with deadly skill in a game that defies FPS conventions. Be the battle mage. Join the Order of the Immortals, the champion protectors of Lucium, and become Jak, an elite Triarch Magnus. Master your magic. Fast, fluid, first-person, spell-based combat that’s easy to learn and satisfying to master, rewarding players for clever chain attacks and well-timed counterattacks. Unleash your arsenal of magic spells. Unlock and upgrade more than 25 spells and 80 talents. Discover, upgrade, and craft hundreds of magical gear to align your playstyle with all three forces of magic. Save a world on the brink of abyss. Jak and Lucium’s elite immortals must fight to uncover the mysteries of Aveum’s past if there is any hope of saving his future. Immortals of Aveum is being developed by Ascendant Studios, an independent AAA team led by Dead Space™ and Call of Duty® Creative Director Bret Robbins, and published by EA Originals. *Conditions and restrictions apply. For more information, see https://www.ea.com/games/immortals-of-aveum/immortals-of-aveum/disclaimers.
Immortals by Aveum™
Electronic Arts
$69.99
$62.99
Pre-order* Immortals of Aveum™ and receive the Purified Arclight, a unique blue sigil that unlocks more power for Jak’s blue Strike spells and the Shatter Fury spell! Immortals of Aveum is a single-player first-person magic shooter that tells the story of Jak who joins an elite order of battle mages to save a world on the brink of collapse. With legions of soldiers on both sides of Everwar, he must uncover the mysteries of Aveum’s troubled past if there is any hope of saving his future. Master three forces of magic and unleash spells with deadly skill in a game that defies FPS conventions. Be the battle mage. Join the Order of the Immortals, the champion protectors of Lucium, and become Jak, an elite Triarch Magnus. Master your magic. Fast-paced, fluid, spell-based first-person combat that’s easy to learn and satisfying to master, rewarding players for clever chain attacks and well-timed counterattacks. Unleash your arsenal of magic spells. Unlock and upgrade more than 25 spells and 80 talents. Discover, upgrade, and craft hundreds of magical gear to align your playstyle with all three forces of magic. Save a world on the brink of abyss. Jak and Lucium’s elite immortals must fight to uncover the mysteries of Aveum’s past if there is any hope of saving his future. Immortals of Aveum is being developed by Ascendant Studios, an independent AAA team led by Dead Space™ and Call of Duty® Creative Director Bret Robbins, and published by EA Originals. *Conditions and restrictions apply. For more information, see https://www.ea.com/games/immortals-of-aveum/immortals-of-aveum/disclaimers.