We had a chance to play Immortals of Aveum in San Francisco and we have included our experiences and details about the game in our Immortals of Aveum Hands-On.
Last week we travelled to San Francisco at the invitation of EA Games to see their famous studios, where we had the chance to play the upcoming Immortals of Aveum for over 2 hours.
Immortals of Aveum Hands-On
First of all, Immortals of Aveum is set in a world that is moulded by magic. A world where the world can be changed with magic and its users can master these spells. This world was shattered by a great war called Everwar, where five different nations faced each other. At the end of this war, there are two surviving nations. The first of these is Lusium, our home nation, which is also the centre of the Immortals, the elite mage warriors who give the game its name.
Story
The nation of Rasharn, led by Sandrakk, who we can also call the main villain of the game, is portrayed as a nation that has been at war with us for years. In other words, the effect of political events on the Immortals of Aveum in the background is quite big. Already in the gameplay part, it is signalled that there may be some surprises in the story. By the way, the production team has done a meticulous job on cutscenes. I especially liked the part about the Everwar war.
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Characters
In the game we control a character named Jak. Jak is a character who originally grew up on the streets, but was taken to the immortals when his potential was discovered. His potential is that he can use all three types of magic. Normally, Immortals can only master one spell, and the good ones can master two different spells. The number of those who use three spells is very few. For this reason, you feel the expectation in the character in this adventure that we start as a rookie. Jak draws a character portrait who is trying to prove himself and therefore can be impulsive from time to time.
Speaking of spells, the place of spells in the world of Aveum is very important. As I mentioned at the beginning, all the battles and so on have been fought to capture this magic power. When you look at the world in general, you can physically see that spells cover the whole world like a network connection with cables.
Game Types
There are three different types of spells that we can use in the game. The spells are divided into three as Blue, Red and Green. For the blue spell, we can actually make a machine gun-like, long-distance weapon analogy. The green spell has more of an SMG, Uzi-style use. It does less damage, but you can make up for this deficit by firing rapid shots. Red magic is very effective in close hits and crowded enemies. It works a bit like a shotgun.
Of course, although the spells work in this way at first, you realise that they have different uses with the updates you make and the new equipment you get. For example, the red spell you use like a shotgun turns into a grenade launcher when you upgrade it. When you hit the opponent, you see that it explodes and deals area damage. In this way, the production team has positioned the update and equipment system in the game in a more important place.
Spells and Skill System
An ultimate-like skill system is also included in the game. Moreover, as you progress, you unlock different abilities in this regard. Here, you can send rocks flying upwards from the ground to the opponents, or you can create a multi-wave by opening your hands. Especially against crowded enemies, these special abilities do a lot of work. You can liken this system to the special abilities we assign to numbers in RPG games.
Apart from spells, we also have some features that add colour to the battle system. I’m not sure if the number of these will increase in the future, but these features, which we name one by one, are listed on the left side of the hud screen. Our first feature is a whip. Thanks to this whip, you can pull distant enemies closer and cause them to take more damage. We also have a laser that can hit the weak points of enemies and a special equipment that shoots a green jelly that slows them down.
This green jelly offers interesting solutions both in battles and puzzles. Yes, there is also a puzzle structure in the game. In general, you open doors by hitting the red, blue or green signs hidden in the game area with the relevant spell. But there are also different puzzles in the game. For example, when you shoot a button, you see that a huge block opens quickly but closes back immediately. This is where our green jelly feature comes into play.
By shooting this big block, you make it open and close more slowly. In this process, of course, we can quickly pass through the gold and reach our target. As you can see in the trailers, it seems that we will encounter such puzzles frequently in the game.
Puzzles
The point I am most curious about in the puzzle structure is how much this process will change in the later parts of the game. in other words, the world of the game is actually suitable for many different puzzle types. But if the puzzles continue in this structure and constantly repeat themselves, I think it will probably cause significant damage to the fluency of the game. For this reason, it will be possible to say clearer things about the puzzle balance in the full version.
The world of the game is designed a bit like a metroidvania. So even in the first areas, there are locked doors and places you can reach later. In other words, we can say that you will have the chance to return to these places as you get new features. On the other hand, the most important detail at the point of discovery is of course the chests you will find left and right.
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Let’s look to the most important question mark. When we look at the general functioning of the game, we see that a classic shooter genre is combined with a magical world. In rough terms, spells came instead of bullets. Of course, they reflected this change in a beautiful way in terms of atmosphere. On the application side, the game has significant problems.
The main problems are the pace and the monotony of the battles. The pace of the game drops frequently. In other words, you can neither be completely action orientated like Doom, nor can you progress tactically like other shooter games. At this point, the game couldn’t determine exactly which way it should go. Maybe because the part we played belonged to the first minutes, I may have sensed such a secretiveness. I hope it has a structure that opens up in the later stages.
Another point is the boss fights, which should actually be very fun. I fell into a big dilemma here too. Because in the middle of the part we play, there is a boss fight that is fun and you have to escape and squeeze like this. You memorise its pattern and take action accordingly. This boss fight is not bad. But there was a bigger boss fight at the end of the demo.
This boss fight, where we need to hit their weak points, is prepared in the logic of 20 years ago. What’s even more troublesome is that the playing field narrows so much that you can’t even realise the action going on in the middle. A balance in this regard is a must.
Conclusion
As a result, Immortals of Aveum is a promising game with a lot of question marks. The production team came up with very good ideas. While they succeeded in some of them, they could not get the necessary action in others. I had fun from time to time while playing, but I also encountered scenes that I found meaningless from time to time. As I said, if the later stages of the game have a more fluid and free from the mould, the stronger the possibility of encountering a fun shooter.
You can pre-order the game on Steam.
