In Immortal: Unchained by Toadman Interactive, your character is introduced as a living weapon who has been locked up for years because everyone fears your dangerous nature and lethal power. You have finally been unleashed from bondage for the purpose of destroying a weapon that could end all worlds, and you must fight your way through a harsh and unforgiving landscape filled with vicious enemies. Although the design is impressive and the premise is certainly dramatic, the uncoordinated controls left me feeling less like a living weapon and more like a confused, clumsy human gamer.
After a truly impressive opening sequence that explained how important your character is to the survival of all creation, I was very hyped to play. It was even more thrilling to be able to customize my character’s strengths (stealth, destruction, or long-range) and appearance, which is always a fun and creative process. However, as I tried out the opening controls, my excitement was gradually replaced by frustration. First, I want to acknowledge that whenever controls are concerned, there is always some element of subjectivity that comes into play, since they always vary by keyboard and internet connection. It is totally plausible that the controls could work better on a console or a different computer, but in my personal experience they were very slow and out of sync. It took almost three whole seconds of holding down a single key to trigger the desired control, and it was impossible to shift the angle of the camera while moving your character around. These may seem like simple details, but they made my gaming experience very frustrating in a matter of minutes. In fact, I could not play much longer than 30 minutes before having to take a break and playing a different game with smoother controls, just to de-stress. Once again, I want to stress that the controls issue may be more personal than game-related, but I have also played multiple games on the same laptop that have astounding controls and reaction time.
Moving on to the fighting aspect of the game, Immortal: Unchained is basically a solo mission of your character surviving and killing enemies at every turn. Your character does not come with weapons, but rather must find and scavenge them over time. When I played, new weapons were few and far between, and I appreciated this challenge because it forces you to adjust and play with different weapons for extended periods of time. For example, the first weapon I picked up was a pistol, and even though I personally despise using pistols, I had to get familiar and comfortable with its single-shot firing capacity. I actually ended up improving my pistol game, so I respect the skill-building involved. Unfortunately, the controls also became an issue that could not be ignored—no matter how hard I tried, I could not back up while shooting, and neither could I run back and turn around quicly enough to fire at incoming enemies. This became annoying as the extremely slow enemies were able to creep toward me at a snail’s pace and still damage me, all because of my clumsy mobility. In conclusion, Immortal: Unchained has a promising story and dark aesthetic, but it needs to improve its gameplay controls if they want to fully immerse us in the playing experience.
Check Out the Immortal: Unchained Story Trailer:
Immortal: Unchained will be available both digitally and at retail on the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on September 7, 2018 at an SRP of $49.99/£39.99/€49.99 on all three platforms.
From the moment I first played Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy on the original Xbox, I have always had an avid curiosity and enthusiasm for video games. I admire their ability to immerse us in completely different worlds, and I am always eager to see how they integrate the newest breakthroughs in digital technology to make virtual reality feel real. I am currently a senior at UC Berkeley, but when I'm not studying I always make time to play Xbox One with my younger brother.
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