Immortals Fenyx Rising code for Nintendo Switch was provided by Ubisoft so, thanks to them

When a game releases to overwhelming praise, an odd phenomenon begins to occur. Suddenly every title in the same or similar genre to the game in question is compared to it directly. During the 90s and even today, any title that attempts to be a game about capturing creatures and having them fight for you is directly compared to Pokémon or accused of being a Pokémon clone.

Now, this is natural given that people are going to draw comparisons between properties that seem similar, especially if it’s one of the only examples they can think of. However, this can be mildly problematic as this leads to plenty of great titles having their entire identity summed up as an inferior version of whatever compared title is on the players’ mind, never measured for its own accomplishments. In the interest of arresting this unfair bias, I invite you to take a deep look at The Battle for the Gods, and judge it for its own merits, while simultaneously examining the inspiration it has taken. 

Immortals Fenyx Rising is an action-adventure title developed by Ubisoft. Taking control of the mortal hero, Fenyx, players will explore the Greek paradise of the Golden Isles which has been corrupted by the influence of the titan Typhon. With the aid of Hermes, Fenyx sets out to restore the gods of Olympus to their former glory and stop Typhon before he brings ruin to the world.

Exploring the Golden Isle

Fenyx flying over the Golden Isle

Immortals Fenyx Rising presents its players with a massive open world to explore as they solve puzzles, climb mountains and slay monsters to free the Golden Isle from its curse. With any good open world, players need to feel incentivized to continue exploring and this is one of Immortals’ strongest aspects. The Golden Isle is filled with many secrets to find and challenges from the gods (earning you extra perks) which further pushes players to seek out every last corner of this world. 

From testing the might of Fenyx in combat to completing a simple task using your wit, every inch of the Golden Isle is brimming with objectives to complete and this includes the streamlined side-quest system. When interacting with Hermes, players have the option to take on an extra quest that will earn them rewards such as weapons or tools to upgrade their equipment. These side objectives are never blocking progress and instead, serve to allow players the opportunity to get stronger through simple jobs that’ll prepare them for tougher challenges down the road. 

Immortals Fenyx Rising’s world does feel void of life due to a lack of any NPCs or other living beings to interact with aside from the creatures Fenyx will slay. While a beautiful setting with tons of objectives and goals to fill out the time players will spend here, the Golden Isle suffers from being a bit on the empty side in regards to any people inhabiting the settlements players come across.

Fighting for the Gods

Fenyx fighting a Minotaur

The combat in Immortals is quite addictive and well designed. Players have access to both heavy and light attacks with the ability to strafe. Making use of all of your abilities, combat will turn into this sort of dance as you learn the patterns of your foes. There is quite a large variety of monsters to slay, so combat encounters are always interesting as unique combinations inevitably crop up. One battle might feature a group of soldiers and the slow-moving gorgon, while another will pit players against that same gorgon but now the powerful Minotaur is a combatant.

New moves and skills can be learned through a skill tree, granting Fenyx a large variety to his arsenal to decimate Typhon’s monsters with. These skills are earned by completing the challenges mentioned earlier, tying progress to exploration in a fairly unique way. While chests will still grant players new gear, it’s through these coins earned by completing challenges that allow complete customization, turning Fenyx into the warrior that best suits your preferred playstyle.

Boss encounters are a true test, showcasing the sum of everything players have learned and created so far. Each fight in Immortals is equally memorable as each enemy is both formattable and dynamic, which makes for extremely satisfying boss battles. The only notable issue found with boss encounters is that the size of the hitbox of attacks doesn’t always correlate to the visual attached. Plenty of moments occurred during my playthrough, where I’d be sent flying by an attack that had long since played out. It puts a damper on the instincts of the player which is a large part of the usual success of Fenyx’s combat system.

Navigating Tartarus

Fenyx attempting to solve a puzzle

The other half of the player’s time in Immortals Fenyx Rising will be spent solving puzzles in the many vaults of Tartarus to reclaim Zeus’ lightning or the essences of each of the gods. While the combat in Immortals is rich and addicting, the puzzle aspect leaves much to be desired. Not only do the puzzles lack any variety but, frankly the puzzles themselves never become more difficult to solve as the game goes forward. 

As an example, rolling a large ball or moving stones makes up the bulk of what players will be required to do. The game will add a few extra steps between objectives, but typically the answer to an issue will be the first thing any player will think to do. This lack of thought causes one of the central aspects of this title to be robbed of any of the intriguing concepts it could have had. 

However, these criticisms apply mainly to the vaults of Tartarus. When entering into a god’s personal dungeon, it‘s easy to presume that the designers had saved all their creative ideas for this specific environment, as it’s some of the most enjoyable content of the game. The puzzles take a huge leap in creative and intuitive ideas with more unique visuals incorporated as well. Such as Aphrodite’s dungeon, which features a forest aesthetic, since she has been transformed into a tree.

Story of a Mortal Hero

Fenyx in various armor sets

The story is absolutely incredible and fascinates anybody with even the slightest interest in Greek mythology. The portrayal of Zeus and the other gods is absolutely hilarious with each portrayed in such an amusingly accurate way. From listening to Zeus’s many hilarious judgments of Fenyx as a mortal or seeing his poor tendencies as a lover and father, it’s a refreshing take on the king of the gods. The writing’s top-notch with each line of dialogue filled with personality as we learn about the world Fenyx inhabits. 

Fenyx doesn’t have an established gender as players can choose to be either male or female. This was initially a concern as the writers may fail to create a compelling protagonist under these circumstances. Fenyx however, is an extremely lovable character who has a charm rare to see in avatars. Both male and female versions of the characters are voice acted quite well and give fantastic performances, allowing players to truly immerse themselves in the world Ubisoft has created. Every voice actor gives a great performance with tons of personality in characters such as Hermes or a commanding presence of Typhon.

The entire story is narrated by Zeus and Prometheus as they bicker back and forth over whether Fenyx will be able to succeed in his quest and it’s one of the best parts of Immortals Fenyx Rising. There is undeniable chemistry between these two characters that turns every line of dialogue between the two into absolute gold.

The Beauty of Immortals

The Golden Isle

Ubisoft absolutely deserves praise for how beautiful and accurate the Golden Isle appears. The entire island appears as if you’re looking at a classic painting. Filled with vibrant pastel colors and incredible lighting, adding a tinge of realism to a dream-like area. This being contrasted with the dark reds and harsh blacks of Typhon’s domain adds a striking contrast between the two settings that give the environment a memorable and unique appearance.

The actual animation of our characters is a little less impressive. During cinematics, everybody animates with a cartoonish number of movements but, without the faces or expressions to match. Every character comes off as somewhat unbelievable, which hurts an otherwise gorgeous title. The designs of the characters and monsters are superb at staying true to Greek depictions while giving each a unique flair.

It’s important that I mention while playing the Switch version, the title had a tendency to crash while attempting to boot up or during gameplay.  Even at one point crashing twice before I had reached the title screen. This Is a huge issue in regards to the optimization of this title. It’s encouraged that players save often.

Overall, Immortals Fenyx Rising is a beautiful and enjoyable title that pays respect to the Greek stories that inspired it while taking its own unique approach to it. That’s it for this review, thank you for reading, and until next time…

If you’re looking for more content to read then check out our coverages of HyperX’s New PC and Console Peripherals.