Many years ago, there was a brilliant series of caster shooters that launched around the time of DOOM – Heretic and HeXen.

If that sounds familiar, you probably saw a ton of talk about it recently when Phil Spencer was wearing a shirt with the branding on during E3. It certainly set some tongues wagging.

But the reason I bring it up here is Immortals Of Aveum sort of feels like the spiritual successor to that. Kind of. But like we said in our first impressions, it’s also a little bit Bulletstorm and Destiny for good measure.

The thing with this one as well, you need to go quite deep in-game to really get a feel for its layers of systems, with new spells cropping up regularly and each fundamentally changing your approach to battle and traversal.

Blue spells act like a sniper rifle, really chipping away at enemy shields but also dealing most effective damage at range, especially if you aim for the head.

Green Magic is a bit like a mini machinegun with rapid fire shots that really pepper an enemy into submission, while Red Magic is your equivalent of a shotgun, powerful in close quarters.

That’s why I say this isn’t exactly a spiritual successor because this magic doesn’t really feel like…well…magic. Jak has other abilities like levitation which can carry him over platforms, as well as the blink ability we previously mentioned, along with a massive burst magic attack which can clear a map.

But the core weapons you use to fire at enemies, after a while, do feel a bit like guns. Even after upgrading them, their essence is mostly unchanged. It might have been nice to cast an icebolt or some lighting, maybe some other form of elemental attack. That said, it does work and it works well here, especially as EA have tried to cater to a more core, mainstream audience.

These powerful ‘weapons’ in your arsenal can all be upgraded individually via a magic tree which lets you increase elements like crit damage, regeneration and health via Ascensions. This is basically XP earned from killing enemies and indicated via a purple bar at the bottom of the screen.

It all feeds into a rather complex, deep combat system which can get surprisingly overwhelming at first, particularly when you shoot for higher difficulties and the game just throws enemies with powerful hits at you. Some can take as much as half a bar away without even really trying.

So you’re going to need to stick and move in order to stay alive. Which, inevitably, means the game ends up playing a bit like DOOM Infinite where you’re boxed into small arenas and have to defeat a wave to open up the way forward.

Using a combination of strikes, dominions and augments to stay alive, you also have Fury abilities which can really change the tide of battle but in order to keep on top of them, you’ll need to fill up a Mana Bar, as well as keep an eye on your health.

Immortals of Aveum is busy when it comes to combat, undoubtedly its focus area. You need to be having eyes all over the place, paying attention to the colour of the enemy so you know which spell is effective against it, then changing the spell you’re using, reloading your arm – no, not quite like Henry Cavill – using items like limpets or a spell blocker which interupts enemies mid-flow, all while watching above you or at your back.

It gets rough out there, honestly. Especially deep into the game, but what I love about Immortals is it makes you think, keeps you on your toes and certainly doesn’t lend itself to you going on autopilot. But you can also get really powerful, really quickly and take down some bosses with surprising ease. Depending on where you’re spending your points.

The story is less satisfying, sadly. The world is beautiful, a truly stunningly realised environment that falls somewhere between Marvel’s interpretation of Asgard, God of War, Wheel of Time, and the original Unreal with the big castles, architecture and enemies that bar some resemblances.

The scale is pretty big too, as you can jump around with portals, and even go around healing the world in a sort of Metroidvania style, removing corruption while revealing new areas to explore and visit.

Unfortunately, the performance does become more shaky the deeper you go, with cutscenes noticeably a step down in quality from the action on screen, animations in the background sluggish and some textures looking completely washed out.

That, and the awkward characterization at the beginning does carry over into later game, the conversation choices remain practically meaningless and sub-cast just aren’t as well presented as the brilliant Gina Torres and Darren Barnet. Every other character seems out of proportion and clunky, and none of them really stand out as interesting or compelling

The arcs are also pretty clumsy with the game spending most of its time explaining the overly flesched out lore with a drawn out ‘story time’ – and, sadly, you find yourself tuning out of it more than paying attention.

And if I’m being honest, most of the game’s biggest surprises or reveals you can see coming a mile away. Nothing really surprised me here.

Weirdly, the music also really got under my skin after a while with the same core loop just repeating over and over. Then in battle, I keep thinking I’m about to break out into a game of Among Us with an unexpected, but all-too-familiar riff. It’s been a while since a score has openly irritated me as much, honestly, but it stuck in my head for all the wrong reasons.

It’s a shame, as this is a game with promise and it’s probably a series that will have a better followup now that most of its rules and regulations are established. Such is the struggle new IP faces. Just recently, in fact, Atlas Fallen fell into a similar trap.

But I do have to give credit for the ambition and the attempt to do something different while also making it feel familiar. It’s such a difficult balancing act and it’s been a while since I’ve actually been invested in skilling up my abilities and diving into battle.

Immortals of Aveum probably would have benefitted launching later and spending a little more time in the oven. Releasing a new IP like this in such a crowded season does it absolutely no good, especially with, at times, the state of its performance.

There’s definite promise here, with some fantastic boss battles and great action sequences, along with a really interesting world you’ll enjoy exploring. It’s just such a shame the writing doesn’t provide that final, must-have ingredient to really make this the must-have experience it desperately needs to be.

Verdict

Immortals of Aveum has some real promise, offering a dynamic, fulfilling combat system that makes you think and keeps you on your toes. There’s a rich world offered here, with some beautiful environments and an enjoyable core loop. However, the story, forgettable characters and erratic performance really harm its prospects and hold it back from its full potential. 

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Pros

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Immortals of Aveum is out now on PC, Xbox and PS5

Code Kindly Provided by EA for review purposes

Played on PS5

You can also check out our first impressions here