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I love the idea of MMOs and raid fights, but found as I’ve gotten older that it is so easy to fall off for various reason. A big one is finding people to run with, since we get various commitments or maybe just drop a game due to lack of time or money for subscriptions. The idea of 33 Immortals really appeals to me, as I love the idea of jumping in and immediately being able to take on raids with other people dedicated to the same goal. However, the balancing, repetition of available maps, and lack of connection to my allies and character meant I was eying up FFXIV time cards for multiplayer raid experiences after only a few runs.
33 Immortals begins at the end. Our avatar died and is now a condemned soul. However, there is hope. Beatrice happened upon us after we’d fallen and recognizes us as a Rebel Soul. She invites us to join her Rebellion and gather with others in the Dark Woods. By going on journeys and jaunts into first Inferno, then later Purgatorio and Paradiso, we may become strong enough to defy our fate and perhaps achieve immortality.
When we kick off 33 Immortals, the game asks us to select one of four weapons. Some of these are better suited to solo play than others. And by solo, I mean going online alone without any people we know at the same time, since you’ll always be online and working with other, unknown individuals. The Sword of Justice is the all-rounder that is a close-range melee unit that can deal damage, guard against attacks, and summon Bubble Shields to protect others. If no one else you know plays, I feel like it’s basically the type of fighter you should be. The Daggers of Greed comes close to being another “solo” sort of unit, as its a close-range weapon that involves constant attacks and boosting damage and bone harvests, but the lack of defenses can leave you hurting if you’re surrounded. The Bow of Hope is the basic ranged attacker, which can be fine solo even if it wasn’t my favorite “I’m alone” class. The Staff of Sloth feels like the fully dependent on others role, given it sends out orbs to attack, break armor, and to slow down potentially a group of enemies.
Once you decide upon your weapon/role, gameplay progression essentially involves heading into one of the map’s three worlds, fighting enemies to unlock Torture Chambers, then challenging the boss to get keys to unlock the next space. Inferno has a max of 33 players possible. Besting Lucifer, boss of that realm, nets you a Purgatorio Key. That is a map 22 people can challenge and features new enemies and the boss Adam & Eve. Paradiso is an 11 person map with, again, a new location, more foes, and Wrath of God waiting for us. When you are in an area, you can pull up the map to find points of interest, places like Torture Chambers when they up, and locations of other players. However, if you are close to any of those things when running around, indicators will show up. It’s a traditional, overhead sort of action affair, with every character having a standard attack, a stronger one or guard, a special skill, and a dash ability.
Once we actually get into these maps is when things do start to get tedious or can fall apart in various ways. First of all, I found the difficulty to be unbalanced. While we can earn Feats that help provide bonuses like improved shrines, ability improvements, more Perk slots and Perk Tokens can be picked up and equipped to increase the odds of finding great Relics, stronger co-op powers, a shield, faster ally revival, more health, health regeneration, I felt like those didn’t always feel as meaningful once I found certain Perks and got the hang of Inferno. Like once I had Defiant Denial for the shield and Rejuvenated Vigor for the increased Rare and Epic Relic chance, I never felt a need to remove either. Since I was always playing alone and without allies, I found the weapon I wanted to use (Staff of Sloth) wasn’t as useful and went with Sword of Justice for guaranteed survivability.
This is also a game that starts to get boring within the first few hours. Part of it is because, in general, the art design and direction means every afterlife looks the same. It can make it difficult to get your bearings in Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso as a result. Another is that while there are some variations, there aren’t many. I’ve spotted three different options. It stops feeling fresh after about the first hour. Since it gets to a point where after you get some Perk Tokens, it doesn’t really feel like you need others, incentives to replay aren’t ample either. There are cosmetics, which can be found via in-game drops, by Eternal Shards, buying the $5.99 DLC packs, or other methods like Twitch drops, though I didn’t find anything too motivating beyond the Familiar cat and dog pets available via Stardust and Familiar Tokens. The only real incentive I found came from needing to continually return to past areas to get Purgatorio and Paradiso Keys from bosses to attempt harder challenges.
However, that element of 33 Immortals also means that, no matter how skilled you are, how you’ve boosted your stats, and which Perks and Relics you possess, it can be difficult to end up in a successful session where you earn one of the keys you need for one of the other maps. Especially early on in Inferno. Maybe the Torture Chambers near you will fill up before you get a spot in one of them. You could make it to the boss fight with people unaware of what they need to do to create a safe space from an unblockable and potentially deadly attack. (This ended up being an issue for me twice during Lucifer’s Eternal Sorrow, since you’d need to depend on everyone working together to shatter the crystals.) I really only started to enjoy myself again once I did reach Purgatorio.
I know I’ve come down on 33 Immortals a lot, but there are parts I admire. I love the idea. The concept is sound. The actual online multiplayer element also works great. I never had a match drop on me. Failures all came down to the group as a whole or my own personal failures. While I did wish the different maps in each area were a bit more distinct, everything is clearly marks and the overall in-game map we can cite is helpful. The moveset works well. The time in early access did clearly ensure it was prepared for launch and worked. It’s just the reliance on others and things present as incentives to repeatedly run locations didn’t personally incentivize me. I would again say that I think it gets better once you can start running Purgatorio, since by that point the 22 folks you’re working alongside are more aware of what needs to be done to succeed.
I appreciate the idea behind 33 Immortals and did experience fun runs, but it gets to be tedious and relies too heavily on others for success. I felt like I needed to go with the sword or daggers if I wanted to be assured I’d survive. There were many times when it seemed like the people I was fighting alongside, particularly in Inferno, weren’t as on-top of what needed to be done, which made it more difficult to get the keys needed for other areas. And even with the replaying, the unlocks didn’t feel as motivating as they could be. I do think there’s a place for it and others might have a better time than I did under more ideal circumstances, but it does feel like runs require certain pieces to fall into place to be at their best.
33 Immortals is available on the Xbox Series X and PC.
