Immortals of Aveum

Immortals of Aveum is a first-person shooter that, instead of classic weapons, builds on magic — the player, as young mage Jak, fights using three color-coded types of magical attacks, blue, red, and green, which functionally replace conventional firearms from shotguns to sniper rifles, and gradually combines them with additional abilities and upgrades. The story takes place in a fantasy world torn by an eternal war over a magical resource called the Fount, and combines linear action sequences with exploration of larger locations full of collectibles and side quests that expand the main storyline and the relationships between characters. The player also gradually unlocks upgrades for magical weapons, called Sigils, which adds another layer of customization to combat.

On Xbox Series X/S, the game visually benefits from richly detailed environments and spectacular magical battles that take advantage of the new-generation consoles' power to display a large number of particle effects at once without losing smoothness during hectic firefights. The musical and sound design underscores the epic tone of the narrative and, together with cinematic cutscenes and motion-capture animations, gives the game a blockbuster feel that Ascendant Studios evidently aimed for in its first major production.

Immortals of Aveum was received as an ambitious attempt to bring the energy of modern shooters into a fantasy setting, with the idea of replacing weapons with magic while retaining the same speed and precision of aiming that players are used to from classic FPS games earning the most praise. As the debut title of a newly founded studio, Immortals of Aveum showed that the first-person shooter genre still has room for unconventional ideas, and on Xbox Series X/S it offered a technically accomplished showcase of what the new console generation is capable of.

Why play it: Thanks to the idea of replacing weapons with magic while retaining the speed and precision of classic shooters, it's an interesting choice for FPS fans looking for a technically accomplished new-generation spectacle.