Immortals of Aveum is a video game that should have never been green-lighted, according to a former Ascendant Studios employee who described the EA-published “magic shooter” as being “a truly awful idea” in a lengthy report about mass video game layoffs. Ascendant revealed that it had fired “about 45%” (i.e., ~40) of its employees in September 2023 after the game underperformed, selling significantly less than anticipated.
The former employee explained:
- “At a high level, Immortals was massively overscoped for a studio’s debut project. The development cost was around $85 million, and I think EA kicked in $40 million for marketing and distribution.”
- “Sure, there was some serious talent on the development team, but trying to make a AAA single-player shooter in today’s market was a truly awful idea, especially since it was a new IP that was also trying to leverage Unreal Engine 5.”
- “What ended up launching was a bloated, repetitive campaign that was far too long.”
Another employee, still at Ascendant, added:
- “It’s not a sequel or a remake, it doesn’t take 400 hours to beat, has zero microtransactions, no pointless open world grinding. Although not everyone loved it, it reviewed pretty well, currently sitting at a 74 on Open Critic and a Mostly Positive on Steam. No one bought it.”
- “There’s plenty of layoffs due to gross mismanagement and greed (looking at you Embracer), but there’s also plenty that happen because this is a stupidly volatile market that requires mountains of capital to participate in at a professional studio level. For all the things Ascendant did right (paying people well, an entirely remote studio, little overtime until the end, chill environment with lots of freedom to grow, respecting QA, hiring juniors, etc.), it did not work out.”
Recent reviews:
- “This is a very good game. It’s a brilliant shooter akin to Doom Eternal. You will have to cycle the weapons and powers otherwise you won’t stand a chance here. Each weapon and power is useful against one enemy type.”
- “An enjoyable single player shooter with a focus on the story being told and the high visual fidelity of Unreal Engine 5 using all the big features of that engine (Lumen, Nanite, Virtual Shadow Maps, and Niagara particle system). Unfortunately, due to a very busy 2023, high system requirements, and this being a new IP from a new developer, it didn’t sell very well.”
- “Magic is only cool when you do it with your hands. Don’t make me use a dinky little wand to cast my earth shattering spells. That is one reason why this game just plain rocks.”
- “This game has been out for 7 months and performance is still not good. I came in expecting a mediocre game and that’s what I’ve gotten so far. For $20 I can’t complain too much.”
Game description:
Immortals of Aveum is a single-player first person magic shooter that tells the story of Jak as he joins an elite order of battlemages to save a world on the edge of abyss.