Immortals of Aveum first impressions: The Everwar comes to Xbox

Ascendant Studios' debut game Immortals of Aveum is now available on Xbox Series X|S. Here are our first impressions of the game's opening hours.

Tom West

Published 23 Aug 2023

The first-person shooter genre is filled with soldiers wielding ammo-fed weaponry on past, present, and future battlefields, so when Ascendant Studios announced that it was developing a magic-based shooter, I was instantly interested.

Immortals of Aveum launches on Xbox Series X|S

Immortals of Aveum launched on Xbox Series X|S this week, offering a single-player, narrative-driven adventure that sees us taking on the role of Jak, a young magic-wielding citizen of Lucium who is thrust into an Everwar against the forces of Rasharn. Our journey with Jak begins in the Underbridge section of Seren, which as the name suggests, is a part of the city built on the underside of a bridge. The young mage's beginning is a poor one and offers us a chance to learn some of the minor controls as we learn of Jak's origins as a thief, and the love he has for his fellow gang members, most notably its leader, Luna. Following an attack on Seren by enemy forces, and subsequently the loss of his friends, Jak's magical abilities manifest violently, drawing the attention of the grand magnus of the Immortals, Kirkan. Under Kirkan's tutelage, we're trained as a Triarch — a rare magic user that can wield all three magic types: blue, red, and green — and sent to fight for Lucium in the Everwar, with the chance to become a member of an elite order of Magni, the Immortals.

So far, I've put around five hours into Immortals of Aveum, growing Jak's skillset and uncovering the game's storyline. It's been a pretty enjoyable ride to this point, aided by the striking visuals achieved with Unreal Engine 5. The world is beautiful, and the battlefields are filled with bursts of vibrant color as mages on both sides of the war battle to the death. While it's visually impressive, the lack of brightness or HDR controls leaves some of the game pretty dark. I've been playing on an Xbox Series X and even in the main menu, the contrast seems to favor darker tones. When playing, darker corners are pitch black and it can become difficult to see the enemies lurking within. It certainly sets the scene and seems to work for the overall aesthetic, but it can be a pain at times — although not enough to bother me all too much.

I'm heading into the fifth mission now and have a full arsenal of magical abilities at my disposal. Jak's attacks are performed via Sigils on his right arm. You can equip three Sigils at a time, each linked to the three different magic types, which act much the same as contemporary FPS weapons. The blue Sigil offers Jak spells that act like semi-automatic rifles, the red Sigil acts much like a shotgun, and the green Sigil is akin to fully automatic rifles. Instead of cover-focused gameplay, Immortals of Aveum seems to favor mobility, and so Jak can equip Totems on his left hand that allow him to move around the battlefield, use a magical shield, and the like. I've been playing on the Immortal difficulty setting, which is the most challenging, and combat has been an exciting part of the game so far, and a pleasure to engage with. Enemies come in various forms, such as melee-based rushers, long-range snipers, or hulking brutes, and the need to adapt has been paramount: switching between Sigils, blocking incoming fire, slowing the larger brutes, or unleashing a devastating Fury spell to clear the battlefield.

While Jak's abilities offer similar firing styles to contemporary guns, there is something about blasting beams of energy at your enemies that just hits differently. Similar to my preferred playstyle with marksman and semi-automatic rifles in other games, I've come to favor Jak's blue magic. I'm currently wielding a Sigil that causes immense damage to enemies when I shoot at their shields or hit them with critical hits, and it genuinely feels powerful. Plus, thanks to the use of magic, there is the satisfaction of being able to pull an annoying enemy towards me and switch straight to my red magic to deliver a shotgun-style blast to their chest when I've had enough of their tomfoolery — you can't do that in Call of Duty or Battlefield.

immortals of aveum xbox first impressions

For the most part, each area seems to be in a linear setting with various side activities scattered throughout, including boxes of loot to find. It looks like you can return to areas at a later stage via portals to mop up anything you've missed or not had the correct abilities for. While the Immortals of Aveum achievements seem to include a few requirements linked to parts of the story, many of them task you with clearing out a lot of the side content, so the ability to return to previous areas should mean we can complete the game in one playthrough.

Immortals of Aveum has been a fun ride so far, but I'm only just starting out on my journey as a Triarch Magni, so I'm looking forward to seeing the colorful carnage I can create in the late game. The story has certainly set the scene for an epic adventure, even if it's currently a similar plotline to what we've seen before, and Jak is a likable character, so I have high hopes that I'll enjoy the rest of my time with Ascendant Studios' debut game. Even if all else fails, the combat itself is exciting enough to keep me going, so it's a winner in my book.

More Immortals of Aveum stories:

Xbox Series X|S First Impressions

Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.