Immortals Fenyx Rising is a greek mythology inspired action-adventure game from Ubisoft Quebec, the team responsible for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Earlier this year, I was able to play early builds of the game and was really impressed by its gameplay. Fast forward to December and now Fenyx is ready for the whole world to enjoy.
Read on and find out why Immortals Fenyx Rising is my favourite new IP of 2020 and a serious contender for my game of the year 2020 choice.
Immortals Fenyx Rising Details
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Stadia, Amazon Luna and PC
Reviewed on: Stadia
Developer(s): Ubisoft Quebec
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Third-person, open world, Action-adventure
Modes: Single-player
Save the gods and prove you have what it takes
In Immortals Fenyx Rising you play as Fenyx, a new winged demigod, on a quest to save the Greek gods and their home from a dark curse. The story begins as Fenyx washes ashore upon the Golden Isle after her ship is torn apart from a storm. When she comes to, she finds that everyone has been turned to stone. Even her brother, the mighty warrior Ligyron, is nowhere to be found and assumed turned to stone.
It’s not long before Fenyx learns that Typhon, who was imprisoned under a mountain by Zeus and now has broken free, is behind all of this wrong doing. He has stolen the esecences of the Olympian gods, leaving them powerless, and is seeking to break the barrier between the mortal realm to reform the world in his own image. After learning of this evil doing, Fenyx agrees to battle against Typhon and restore the powers of the Olympians gods.
The story is unwittingly charming as it is told by Prometheus, who is imprisoned by Zeus high atop a snowy mountain. Zeus seeks Prometheus’ aid to defeat Typhon but Prometheus makes a bet that if a mortal, Fenyx, can defeat Typhon then he will be freed from his imprisonment. The banter between Zeus and Prometheus is full of comedy and had me in tears laughing at times.
A unique mix of traversal, fight, puzzles and exploration
Immortals Fenyx Rising is set in a large open world filled with a unique mix of traversal, puzzles and exploration. In fact, on the Golden Isle, there wasn’t much that you can’t climb, jump, or glide to. The island is separated into distinct regions governed by each of the gods.
One of the many things I like about Immortals Fenyx Rising is its focus on gameplay rather than stats and numbers. As a result, gameplay is easy to understand and combat is fun and addicting to master. The island is full of Greek mythology inspired enemies such as cyclops’, minotaurs and griffins to name a few. Speaking of combat, it’s not just about mashing buttons. It’s all about stringing moves together to create combos on both the ground and the air.
The Golden Isles contain many rifts, which teleport you to the Vaults of Tartaros. These are challenges that require platforming and puzzle solving to be successful. In addition, there are side-objectives and optional puzzles to solve that will need you added bonuses to unlock upgrade options. Speaking of which, there are several ways to increase Fenyx’s abilities and obtain new powers as you play.
Cartoon style visuals with colours that literally pop right out of the screen
Ubisoft Quebec uses cartoon style visuals for the game that have a distinctly Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild feel to them. The colours absolutely pop right out the screen that make for a gorgeous and colourful world to explore. Included are two graphical modes to play in. One that prioritizes frame rate, 60fps, and one that prioritizes resolution, 4K at 30fps.
I spent most of my time playing at 60fps as it just makes the action feel more fluid and natural. Flying around the Golden Isle is breathtaking and I found myself more than a few times using Daidalos’s wings to take in all the sights and sounds.
As I mentioned earlier, the comical banter between Zeus and Prometheus is one of the highlights of the game. Dialogue is filled with comedy injected classic mythological stories that have a genuine charm and humour to them.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is my favourite new IP of 2020
No questions asked, Immortals Fenyx Rising is my favourite new IP this year and a serious contender for my pick of game of the year. Ubisoft Quebec has created a brand new IP that features gameplay that is easy to pick up and play, an intriguing and often comical story and stylized visuals that completely won me over.
Even though the game is heavily focused on greek mythology, you don’t have to have any knowledge at all about it. The game’s story does an excellent job of explaining who everyone is and their relationships. During Fenyx’s journey, she transforms from a “fraile warrior” who lives in the shadows of her brother, to a strong, powerful and confident warrior who defies the odds. As a result, her journey is filled with self doubt, only to be dismissed as she succeeds in every quest.
As a result, her self confidence grows and at the end of the game she has proven to everyone and herself that she is a worthy opponent. Zeus undergoes a similar self realization but that the way he has been treating everybody, including his own kids, has been hurtful and deceitful. The main story takes around 20-25 hours to complete. However, there is still plenty more to see and do so if you wish.
+ Gorgeous open world to explore
+ Fresh and entertaining story that is fully of comedy
+ Easy to pick up and play gameplay
+ Fantastic voice acting
– Character creator has no real use or impact
OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF IMMORTALS FENYX RISING
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Lasting Appeal/Replayability: 4/5
Overall Rating 4.3/5 (86%)
Get Immortals Fenyx Rising for Xbox One / Xbox Series X
Buy Immortals Fenyx Rising for PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5
Purchase Immortals Fenyx Rising for Nintendo Switch
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Thanks for the review. I have been on the fence with this title but the more I’ve read, the more I want to try it!
Nice to see this game getting some love, I hope it does well for Ubi so that we can see more games like this in the future. When I first tried Immortals I had just put serious hours into the latest Assassins Creed, and honestly at first I wasn’t sure I liked it. The controls tripped me up, the ‘far sight’ (how you find objectives on the maps) seemed flaky and it just felt odd. But, something kept me playing, and after a few hours I realized that I really really liked this game. Now over 20 hours in, I think I like it more than any other Ubi open world game! I love it, it’s like meditation to me at this point, a relaxing and enjoyable way to wind down a day.
I really do want to give this game a try but it’s not in the budget this year. We just bought a home so any extra money is tied up there until we move and know what we may need to spend right away.
The only thing I’ve seen that I don’t like in this game is the seemingly slow flight. Aside from that and the terrible name change, it looks great.
Thanks Jon I am getting this on Stadia thanks to you and the review
Thank you best buy for canceling my order of the PS5. After waiting in the queue and spending an hour to have my order processed, I got my order confirmed. I called 2 days ago (I had to wait for 3 hours…) and confirmed with your customer service that everything in my order was correct. Today my order was canceled without any reason. I called your customer service, which was actually extremely rude, and he refuses to give me any explanation or let me speak with someone else. His answer is to re-order the item. Like this is possible…
Hi Adrian,
I sent your comment to the customer service team at Best Buy Canada’s head office to investigate.
Best regards,
Martin
I’m so excited to play this game on my Switch! I wish the Switch version didn’t lose so much graphically, but I understand that it isn’t as capable a system as the others.
Thanks for the review Jon! I’m excited to see where Ubisoft takes this franchise in the future.
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