First person shooters (FPS) can be considered the most important genre in the industry. I’m not saying this solely because of the influence of games like DOOM or the incredible sales of call of duty, but for the simple fact that they are already synonymous with video games. When gaming appears in popular culture, it is usually in the form of a subject yelling at the screen while pressing the triggers with intensity.
There’s nothing wrong with the popularity of shooters, but you have to admit that they have a problem: most of them get stuck on guns and bullets. Can’t shooters be something different? This is something that Ascendant Studios asked themselves, and they decided to deconstruct the genre and reinterpret it in Immortals of Aveuma different shooter from what we have seen in the AAA sphere in recent years.
We recently had the opportunity to take a look at the new project from Ascendant Studios that will be distributed under the EA Originals label. Could it be that he really manages to deliver something different?
Related video: Immortals of Aveum – Reveal Trailer | The Game Awards 2022
where does it come from Immortals of Aveum?
to understand what is Immortals of Aveum First it is necessary to know its origin. The project was born from the mind of Bret Robbins, a veteran who has worked on franchises such as call of duty, dead space and gex. One day, while working at Sledgehammer Games on an Activision FPS installment, he wondered: what would happen if this scene had a dragon instead of a helicopter? How about we get rid of the rocket launcher to put fireballs? It took years for that idea to start cooking, but at that moment the seed was planted that would become Immortals of Aveum.
After several years with this idea in mind, Robbins decided to found his own studio and recruited talented developers from all over the United States. The creative decided that one way to ensure that his new company started on the right foot was to finally make it happen. Immortals of Aveuma game that will try to give shooters a facelift by replacing weapons with magic.
Immortals of Aveum will transport us to Aveum, a fantasy world that is in a constant war in which 2 kingdoms fight for control of magic. In this context, you will enjoy a campaign of about 25 hours in which you will take control of Jak, a guy of humble origins who is apparently ordinary, but who ends up manifesting an impressive level of magic. His talent leads him to be part of the Immortals, a group of powerful warriors who in Aveum are seen as superheroes.
A shooter, with magic?
As Jak you will have to be a soldier in a war full of magical powers, fantasy worlds and dragons. With all this, an RPG may immediately come to mind, but in reality, in this case, the apple does not fall very far from the tree. Although the world of Aveum is far from World War II or a modern war, it is essentially a shooter. As his main method of defense, Jak has 3 types of magic (called sigils), which work as fast, long-range weapons; shotguns or automatic pistols. It is also funny that, at times, it is difficult for him to get away from his roots since the cinematography of Immortals of Aveum It looks like it’s straight out of any military movie and Jak isn’t shy about behaving like a US Army soldier.
In an interview with LEVEL UP, Kevin Boyle, executive producer of Immortals of Aveum, he told us a bit more about the different types of weapons. As he told us, the intention of Ascendant Studios is that players can exploit the progression system to have a lot of possibilities with each type of stealth, although each one will maintain some thematic consistency.
“I would say that there is a thematic consistency in the different colors of magic, right? The red color is always wider and deals high damage at close range, whether firing 3 times with narrow focus or once with wider focus. Assigning additional abilities and increasing your power level give you variations to what a standard stealth offers. I think players will find more variation than they would expect in a game that focuses on firearms. And that’s just talking about the sigils before getting into the totems, Furies and other magical effects that players can use,” he said.
Note, this does not mean that Immortals of Aveum be a simple reskin of call of duty. His combat has a frenetic pace that at times is much more reminiscent of DOOM than any installment of Activision Blizzard shooters. In fact, Boyle assured us that one of his goals was to deliver a game that felt “fast and responsive” to really give the feeling of being a combat mage, rather than some old wizard with a huge staff. To that must be added a mobility full of magic and secondary abilities that increase the arsenal and promise to make the battles even more exciting. For example, one of the stars in Jak’s arsenal will be a shield that allows him to fend off enemy attacks and even survive falls. He can also float and launch powers that stick to his opponent’s body. It’s a diverse arsenal that harnesses magic to make his creativity shine.
Boyle also explained that his goal was always to create a game that felt familiar to shooter fans, but without trying to mimic the use of weapons. Instead, he seeks to explore the limits of what is possible to do with magic.
“We definitely wanted it to be responsive and familiar to shooter fans, but no, not in a way that was actively trying to mimic weapons, right? I think the limits of what we can do with magic are very different than what we can achieve in the real world, so there are some interesting opportunities there. But we also wanted things to feel solid, responsive, and visual. And so I think we’ve managed to put together a nice mix of immediacy of magic using sigils and some more interesting control effects using totems,” Boyle told us.
all the magic of Immortals of Aveum It is accompanied by a progression system in which we can allocate skill points to improve our ability in different types of capes. The game gives an opportunity to explore old levels again to unlock new areas with the skills. In doing so, you will find rewards such as equipment that allows you to make Jak more powerful in the purest loot shooter style, but apparently simplified.
“Throughout the game, you earn talents, and you can spend these talents on a skill tree that has branches for red, blue, and green magic, which influence how powerful your sigils are, how powerful your shields are, how powerful your movement spells are, in your furies, and you can really use that skill tree to lean into different playstyles and be more effective at one thing than another. And even try new things and change how you’ve spent those points and change the gear you have equipped to suit your play style. You don’t necessarily have to pick one and stick with it,” Boyle told us.
From what we could see, Immortals of Aveum It’s not a game that tries to reinvent the wheel or revolutionize the first-person shooter genre. What he wants is to remind us that it is possible to make a game of this style without the need for guns, bullets and grenades. It is an opportunity to refresh a genre that for many is stagnant. You’ll make it? You’ll have to play it to find out, but Boyle already has reason to excite players.
“I think that Immortals of Aveum offers something that is unlike anything else out there, something unique and new that we have really put our hearts into. We are telling a story in this world about magic, conflict and the nature of magic, and how things have gone wrong. The way this person who was thought to only have a glimmer of magic turns out to be someone powerful and dangerous, and because of that he is caught up in the larger context of the conflict in the world. I think it’s a story that people will enjoy and we’re having a lot of fun with the game mechanics through which we express that story. I am looking forward to sharing it with the players as well”, he concluded.
What do you think about it Immortals of Aveum? Will you give it a try when it becomes available? Tell us in the comments.
Immortals of Aveum It will arrive on July 20, 2023. You can learn more about this release by clicking here.
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