EA's renewed commitment to single-player experiences continues with its upcoming fantasy-themed first-person shooter Immortals of Aveum. Since the game's announcement earlier this year, anticipation for the title has steadily grown thanks to the pedigree of the development team (who count BioShock, Borderlands, Call of Duty, and Metal Gear Solid vets among its staff) as well as the unique spin on first-person shooting in a fantasy-themed setting, using magic and spell casting instead of firearms. The combat and puzzle-solving gameplay showcased in the trailers for Immortals of Aveum help to establish it as the latest game in a long line of magic-based FPS that can trace their origins back to one title in particular - Hexen.
Released just one year after Doom arrived in 1993, Heretic was an atypical entry into the burgeoning first-person shooter genre and differentiated itself from other Doom-clones thanks to its use of a dark-fantasy setting and armaments. Additionally, Heretic was one of the first games in the genre to allow for players to use items from an inventory as well as look up or down. Through a publishing partnership with id Software, Raven Software would develop and release a sequel to Heretic in the form of Hexen a year later, which iterated on the groundwork laid in Heretic and would go on to inspire an entire subgenre of magic-themed first-person shooters inspired by Doom, of which Immortals of Aveum is the latest.
From Heretic to Hexen to Amid Evil and Beyond
The impact of Doom on the gaming landscape cannot be overstated, as the title simultaneously popularized one of the most important and successful video game genres while also completely redefining PC gaming. Doom's success, like many other titles before and after it, led to a host of other developers trying their hands at first-person shooters in an attempt to strike while the iron was hot. While many of these early FPS titles were shameless Doom-clones, a few of them stood out from the pack enough to be recognized as genre classics in their own right.
id Software recognized that Raven had something special in both Heretic and Hexen and partnered with the team to publish both titles through GT Interactive Software. Hexen separated itself from other contemporary FPS through its dark-fantasy setting and incorporation of not just medieval melee weapons and magic but also three distinct classes for players to choose from. The groundwork laid by Hexen would go on to influence other magic-themed FPS such as the criminally-overlooked Powerslave on the Sega Saturn and the critically-lauded indie FPS from 2019, Amid Evil. Now in 2023, fans have Immortals of Aveum to look forward to as the torchbearer of magical first-person shooters.
How Immortals of Aveum Can Reinvent Dark Fantasy-Themed FPS
Not content to rest on the laurels of the games that came before it, Immortals of Aveum already appears to be quite different from other fantasy-themed first-person shooters in the limited footage that has been revealed so far. The combat showcased in trailers shows the protagonist casting spells and even "reloading" between firing off bursts of magic, but also shows some interesting traversal and puzzle-solving elements including the use of a magic whip or grappling hook. Considering that BioShock is listed as one of the primary influences on Immortals of Aveum, it promises to be a very different game from Hexen or any of the retro-styled FPS it inspired.
Hopefully Immortals of Aveum will lean into its fantasy setting in its mechanics by incorporating branching skill trees and upgrade paths for the player character, offering an element of choice and character customization that would see the title dip its toe into RPG territory in the process.Ascendant Studios has been open regarding the games that influenced Immortals of Aveum, and it's quite the pedigree of titles for it to stand shoulder to shoulder with. If the developer can deliver on the promise shown in the trailers, fans of dark-fantasy and first-person shooters have another title to look forward to that walks on the path Hexen paved nearly 20 years ago.
Immortals of Aveum launches July 20, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.