If you’ve ever wanted to play a magic fantasy FPS, or live out your fantasies of being a badass Doctor Strange-like character, then Immortals of Aveum has likely piqued your interest. Our Immortals of Aveum hands-off preview praised the look and inspirations of the game, but for those hoping to see more of this IP in the future, well, you may just be in luck.
Speaking to The Loadout, Ascendant Studios CEO, Bret Robbins, doesn’t believe that Immortals of Aveum is a “one and done game”, but in fact, he’s looking to have the world of Aveum be a hotspot for plenty of stories. When asked about the potential for multiplayer, Robbins explains that he “wanted this to be a franchise and something that can be extended in a lot of different directions.”
During the hands-off preview event, it was revealed that multiplayer was tested during development, but isn’t part of the game at launch. Robbins says “we certainly have spent time thinking about multiplayer and different, the different forms that can take”, and to be honest, a multiplayer magic FPS shooter could easily become one of the best competitive FPS games, or certainly one of the most unique ones.
However, that doesn’t mean the world of Aveum can’t move past the story of Jak and his colleagues fighting in the Everwar. “I think all of the above [is] possible. I’ve never finished working on a game where I didn’t immediately want to do a better version of it”, Robbins explains on the notion of sequels and spin-offs. But with any promising franchise there’s also the problem of burnout, which is something many Call of Duty fans will know about by now.
As for whether Immortals of Aveum could see this problem, Robbins says “I think keeping it original, keeping it fresh, and keeping it exciting is always going to be the challenge. But you know, that’s a great challenge to have. It’s sort of why I do this”. However, Robbins also recognises that being “as popular as Call of Duty, […] that’s sort of a good problem to have”. Considering the financial success of one of Activision-Blizzard’s most popular games, that’s a fair comment to have.
Interestingly, if Immortals of Aveum does become a franchise, it will be one of the only EA Originals titles to start a series. The only other title in the EA Originals portfolio to get the sequel treatment is the Unravel series. Other games, such as It Takes Two or Lost in Random have yet to see an announcement of a sequel, with the former being unlikely to have one. With all of that being said, we’re just eagerly waiting the Immortals of Aveum release date to arrive, because we can’t wait to start casting spells and taking names.