Highlights
- Summer 2023 will bring a wave of exciting video game releases, including Baldur's Gate 3 and Armored Core 6, but Immortals of Aveum by Ascendant Studios could be the breakout hit.
- Immortals of Aveum is a first-person fantasy shooter inspired by Doom and Call of Duty. The game is developed by Ascendant Studios and published by EA, with a talented and experienced team led by founder Bret Robbins.
- Bret Robbins has an impressive career in the gaming industry, starting as an Assistant Lead Tester in 1996 and working on notable titles such as Dead Space and Call of Duty. He left Sledgehammer Games to establish his own studio, Ascendant Studios, and is now leading the development of Immortals of Aveum, set to launch on August 22, 2023.
Though gamers are currently experiencing a bit of a slower period for new releases, Summer 2023 is about to see another huge influx of exciting video game drops. The highly-anticipated Baldur's Gate 3 hits its full release on PlayStation and PC in early August, FromSoftware's beloved mech-simulator franchise makes its return on August 25 with Armored Core 6, and the long-awaited Sea of Stars finally makes its debut at the end of the month. But of everything releasing in August, it might just be Ascendant Studios' Immortals of Aveum that manages to become a breakout hit.
A first-person fantasy shooter heavily inspired by the likes of Doom and Call of Duty,Immortals of Aveum is the debut game by Ascendant Studios, being published by EA. But while Immortals of Aveum is technically the studio's first title, that doesn't mean that its talented team isn't incredibly experienced already, and the developer's head and founder, Bret Robbins, has worked across the video game industry consistently for the last few decades.
Every Game Ascendant Studios' Bret Robbins Has Worked On
- Pandemonium! - Assistant Lead Tester
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain - Tester
- Gex: Enter the Gecko - Designer
- Akuji: The Heartless - Designer
- Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko - Additional Design
- The Legacy of Kain Series: Blood Omen 2 - Designer and Script Writer
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Lead Designer
- 007: From Russia with Love - Lead Designer
- Dead Space (2008) - Creative Director
- Dead Space: Extraction - Special Thanks
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Creative Director at Sledgehammer Games
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Creative Director at Sledgehammer Games
- Call of Duty: WWII - Creative Director at Sledgehammer Games
The very first documented appearance of Bret Robbins in the video game industry occurred all the way back in 1996, with Robbins taking on an Assistant Lead Tester role for the trippy PS1 platformer Pandemonium!, developed by Toys for Bob, the studio that's now most well-known for the recent Crash Bandicoot games. Robbins continued in the industry as a tester for a little while, working on the first Legacy of Kain game also back in 1996. Soon after, Robbins began working as a Designer, first working on the tongue-in-cheek action-platformer Gex: Enter the Gecko, which is about to get a Limited Run remaster alongside the other two games in the PS1 Gex trilogy.
By the early 2000s, Bret Robbins had amassed quite the resume, and he landed a Lead Designer role on the now-beloved Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King game, which was developed by EA Redwood Shores, which would go on to become Visceral Games. At Redwood, Robbins would also act as a Lead Designer on the 007: From Russia With Love game, which technically features the final instance of Sean Connery playing the titular role. Robbins then took a big step up for his next role in the games industry, acting as Creative Director of 2008's Dead Space.
Soon after Dead Space's release, Robbins joined a big group of EA Redwood developers that decided to split off and create their own studio. Named Sledgehammer Games, this studio wasted no time capitalizing on the widespread success of Dead Space and approached Activision with an offer to join forces to create a new third-person Call of Duty. Activision accepted the offer, and Robbins became Sledgehammer Games' Creative Director. Though the third-person Call of Duty would be put on hold, Robbins worked on several Call of Duty titles over the next decade, including Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and Call of Duty: WW2.
Bret Robbins has had quite an impressive career so far, and it seems to only be getting more so by the moment. Back in March 2019, Robbins announced his departure from Sledgehammer Games and confirmed that he'd be setting up his own studio named Ascendant Studios. As its founder and CEO, Robbins seems to be leading his studio to success, with Immortals of Aveum looking very promising so far.
Immortals of Aveum launches on August 22, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.