Ascendant Studios debuted its first trailer for Immortals of Aveum, a magic-focused first-person shooter published by EA Originals. Retailing for $70, it’s meaty game and requires 20 to 25 hours to complete. Its visuals are also cutting-edge, relying on Unreal Engine 5.1 and technologies like Nanite and Lumen. As reported by MP1st in its hands-off preview, the transitions from cinematics to gameplay are seamless.
Interestingly, though in development for five years, creative director Bret Robbins has envisioned such a title for the past three decades. It took shape when Robbins worked on Call of Duty and began replacing aspects like magic, dragons and mages. After deciding to make the game, he teamed with investor Brian Sheth and Ascendant Studios was formed.
It quickly grew to 25 developers and then 50, with employees from Hangar 13, Cloud Chamber, Sledgehammer Games and more joining. Though the COVID-19 pandemic impacted development, the studio expanded further, crossing 100 triple-A developers.
Immortals of Aveum is out on July 20th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. However, Ascendant Studios is already looking to make it franchise that “can be extended in a lot of different directions.”