Developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft, Immortals Fenyx Rising has finally entered the gaming market. Though it has been criticized for its resemblance to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we believe Immortals Fenyx Rising successfully draws its own path.
From its colorful world and characters to satisfying combat and progression, Immortals Fenyx Rising is a joy to play from start to finish, regardless of its inspirations.
Immortals Fenyx Rising Plot and History
Formerly known as Gods & Monsters, Immortals Fenyx Rising was originally announced in June 2019. It was re-announced this September under its new name. From the outside, it looked like a colorful open-world Ubisoft title with a few cool twists. Judging by what we’ve got, that assumption was mostly true.
In Immortals Fenyx Rising, we get in the shoes of a hero named Fenyx in the quest to rescue Greek gods from the control of an evil monster called Typhon. The game takes place in Golden Isles, a gorgeous and mystical setting that is home to every color available in the color palette.
The story is mostly told through the dialogue between Zeus and Prometheus, which is often hilarious and tongue-in-cheek. This immediately signals that the game is light-hearted in its delivery, despite its grand premise with an evil monster planning to end the gods.
Immortals Fenyx Rising Review
The first you notice when you first get into the game is the graphics. Immortals Fenyx Rising is an extremely pretty game. It nails the cartoony aesthetic with detailed and colorful environments, lively characters and enemies, and candescent effects.
Besides its eye-catching graphics, Immortals Fenyx Rising is consistently funny. The story is narrated uniquely, and the constant banter between Zeus and Prometheus will make you chuckle almost every time.
The story mainly revolves around helping the four gods that Typhon has transformed into hilarious creatures – Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, and Hephaistos. The game heavily emphasizes humor in its delivery while referencing actual Greek mythology in clever ways.
Just like its characters, the world of Immortals Fenyx Rising is colorful and a joy to explore. The map is made of seven different regions, and each of these regions has a very distinct aesthetic that is based on a Greek god from the game. From thick forests and green villages to yellow, steppe areas and mountainous regions, you will constantly feel as though you are exploring a different world.
Of course, since the game has an open-world design, you are free to explore all of it. Fenyx can climb almost everywhere and glide from any location, as long as he or she has enough stamina for it. While this can feel limiting at first, exploration and movement become more gratifying as you gradually upgrade these powers.
The most fun and satisfying part of Immortals Fenyx Rising, though, is its combat. It is fluid, responsive, and skill-based, and gets better as your character progresses. Traditionally, you can do a light attack, a heavy attack, parry, dodge and jump. If you dodge just before an enemy hits you, the time slows down and you get rewarded with a few free hits.
You can also perform aerial combos and use many different weapons throughout the game. These come together beautifully during combat and create a diverse and fast combat flow that is complimented beautifully by a well-implemented progression system. On top of being able to upgrade your gear, you can get new skills that improve your mobility, combat abilities, and tactical options.
Of course, as this is a game about gods, there are also Godly Powers you can wield. There are seven Godly Powers in Immortals Fenyx Rising, and each of them feels very powerful and impacts the gameplay in various ways. You can wield Hephaistos’ Hammer for massive crowd control, fire Apollo’s Arrows for ranged combat, or smash your enemies by throwing big rocks with Herakles’ Strength.
The puzzles, however, are the main weak point of this game. While Immortals Fenyx Rising draws apart from Breath of the Wild with its combat and progression, it is evident that the puzzle design was heavily inspired by it.
Unfortunately, the puzzles here aren’t nearly as interesting and rewarding. They aren’t game-breaking or awful by any means, but they feel very basic and monotonous most of the time. They often act as obstacles between you and the cool upgrade they are hiding.
Is Immortals Fenyx Rising Worth It?
Ultimately, Immortals Fenyx Rising is simply a fun game to play, simple as that. It has a light-hearted story with funny characters and tongue-in-cheek dialogue, and the combat and exploration stay consistently rewarding throughout its 30 hours-or-so campaign.
Those that are looking for a story and puzzles like Breath of the Wild’s may be disappointed. However, if you want great combat, satisfying progression, and a spectacular world to explore, then Immortals Fenyx Rising is a great game to pick up this holiday season.
If you are interested in a purely single-player game like this, Immortals Fenyx Rising is now available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia.
