‘Immortals Fenyx Rising’ review

(Disclosure: Ubisoft provided a copy of the game for this review. The game launched on December 3)

There’s an argument to be made that the last few Assassin’s Creed entries have taken a “quantity over quality” approach with its open world formula. The large, sprawling maps of those games are littered with things to collect, outposts to liberate, towers to climb, and quests to take on, yet only a fraction of them feel rewarding to complete. The majority feel like they’re there to pad out the map and extend the game’s length. 

Immortals Fenyx Rising sometimes falls into those same trappings, but offers a fairly interesting 30- to 50-hour adventure bolstered by fun combat and an open world that exudes charm. 

You play as the titular Fenyx, a lowly shield-bearer washed ashore in the Golden Isles, the land of the Greek gods. These gods, however, have been stripped of their powers by the monstrous giant Typhon, and it’s up to you to make things right. 

Your adventure is narrated by Zeus and Prometheus, who on the onset establishes the game’s comedic tone. God of War, this is definitely not. Zeus and Prometheus quip at each other and poke fun at things that happen in your journey, reminding you that the story doesn’t take itself too seriously. The jokes don’t always land, but the self-aware storytelling seemingly lends well to this type of game. 

Screenshot from Immortals Fenyx Rising

The open world itself is a feast for the eyes, with the game incorporating a cartoony art style that works well with evoking the lightheartedness of the story along with giving environments and characters a distinctive charm.

Much of the Golden Isles’ beauty comes from its use of a vibrant color palette to paint the many vistas, dungeons, and temples you visit in your journey. They’re gorgeous to look at, pushing you to keep exploring as you progress through the game.

It’s also a stark contrast from the muted look of Ubisoft’s other open worlds, helping this newly launched intellectual property stand out from the company’s other franchises. 

A link to the past

From the opening hours of Immortals, it’s apparent that developers Ubisoft Quebec was heavily inspired by Nintendo’s 2017 masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That’s not to say the game is a direct copy and paste. It’s just that much of the core gameplay loop shares uncanny similarities to Zelda and can feel familiar for people who’ve played that game.

As Fenyx, you spend most of your time exploring and traversing the game’s map. It, of course, helps that nearly every structure, statue, or mountain in the game can be scaled as long as you have enough stamina to reach the top, much like in Breath of the Wild. 

Reaching certain high places lets you mark side activities and collectibles on your heads-up display. However, having this ability, I think, interferes with the joy of exploration. Venturing out to those places yourself out of sheer curiosity is not the same as being guided by a map marker on your display.

Screenshot from Immortals Fenyx Rising

You lose that feeling of wonder and awe of uncovering a mystery on your own. Sure, you can always choose not to use the feature, but it’s inclusion in a way suggests that the game is not as confident in letting you explore without any sort of guidance. 

Immortals also feature a lot of physics-based puzzles, most of which involve pushing blocks onto pressure plates on the ground, hitting targets with your bow, or finding hidden objects in the environment.

There’s not a whole lot of variety in what the puzzles ask you to do, which sometimes makes them feel like they’re overstaying their welcome. They’re still enjoyable in quick short bursts, but are rarely elaborate enough to challenge your thinking skills.

When it comes down to it, most of the puzzles are completely optional and are just there to give you extra loot that you can use to unlock new moves and boost your stamina bar. You don’t want to skip too many of them, though, as the game has a great progression system that lets your abilities become more powerful at a good pace. 

Satisfying combat

Powering up your abilities come into play in what is arguably the game’s strongest aspect, combat. Fenyx has a wide variety of moves that let you stylishly dispatch your foes. The general hacking and slashing has an oomph to it, making it all the more satisfying to string together moves in flashy combos. 

Fenyx can also parry or dodge attacks. Parrying lets you stun your enemies or send projectiles back at them while dodging at the right moment slows down time for a few seconds. 

Screenshot from Immortals Fenyx Rising

On top of all this, you can use some of Fenyx’s puzzle-solving abilities in combat as well. For instance, you can magically lift objects and hurl them at enemies or engage enemies from afar with your bow.

One minor complaint: locking onto enemies doesn’t lock the camera, which makes it really hard to keep track of who you’re locked onto. 

The combat of Immortals is not particularly deep or difficult, but it still brings an engaging enough experience to keep you hooked until the end. 

Immortals Fenyx Rising doesn’t exactly break any new ground by borrowing a lot of gameplay ideas from the likes of Breath of the Wild, and it’s not shy to admit that. While much of the game, from combat to free roaming are fun, Immortals doesn’t quite reach the heights of its inspiration. Regardless, the game, for the most part, is immensely enjoyable and is worth a try for fans of the open world genre. – Rappler.com