REVIEW: Immortals Fenyx Rising, game where Greek mythology is taught between challenges and a lot of good humor

Table of Contents

1. history and setting
2. Gameplay
   1. Challenges
   2. Movement and exploration
   3. Combat
3. Learning and immersion in mythology
4. Immortals Fenyx Rising performance in the new generation
5. Conclusion

Following two great games, the developer Ubisoft decided to score one more game before the year ended. So after both “AAA” (triple A, high-end games) Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, in December we had a title in an unprecedented franchise, which takes on a very familiar theme for many people. Fenyx Rising Immortals, the ball of the moment, transports you to a fantasy Greek island, full of gods and monsters.

The game, which not coincidentally had the name “Gods and Monsters” before, conquers through art with vivid colors and good humor, which makes it much more natural to learn “by table” about this universe rich in stories. Available for both current and old generation consoles (and also for PC), I had the pleasure of playing it in its excellence on an Xbox Series X. After a journey of more than 50 hours, I tell you here my immersive experience with Immortals Fenyx Rising. The images below were all taken by me, in the game's photo mode, without editing.

history and setting

As the demigoddess Fenyx (you can also be a man, if you choose) you must save the home of the gods from the attacks of Typhon, which threatens the island with a deadly curse. So you're tasked with facing legendary monsters from Greek mythology, while watching your own story told from Zeus' point of view, filled with puns and shameless – but no less hilarious – jokes.

The colorful landscapes take over the map, which is an island divided into 7 regions, where we have a division suggestive of your progress. There is an initial region, one that will clearly be the scene of the final conflict, another apparently inaccessible and 4 of these designated for each god: Hephaestus, Afrodite, Athena e Ares. These four areas, which make up the “core” of the story, can be completed in any sequence you want. From there we understand a little bit of the game's rhythm, which becomes a strong point of Immortals Fenyx Rising as a whole.

After the second section of the map, you understand your routine: go to the new region, meet the god you need to help and do the quests. Even if each area takes little time, your surprise with new puzzles and scenarios is rewarding – even if, at first glance, you only spend a few hours exploring each terrain. Interesting that, with the shallow time dedicated to each section, the result is dynamic gameplay, rather than repetitive.

The main positive point of Immortals Fenyx Rising, in terms of story, is that it is not at all difficult to see your progress towards the conclusion of the journey. The areas have very straightforward missions and the gods give you 3 passive upgrades each (which the game calls Blessings). So, just a quick look at the menu to understand how far you've come. So this division into “four acts” works very well.

Instead of a plethora of side quests à la Assassin's Creed, in Immortals Fenyx Rising we have different minigames besides the story. In exchange for completing them, you receive various items, such as cosmetics or coins to upgrade, which we will explain further below. The most interesting, which deserves all the attention, is the lyre (that Greek stringed musical instrument). To solve all the challenges and find rewards you must play a giant lyre, based on musical notes you find around the world in a specific sequence - like Genius, that famous children's toy.

The structure and map full of hills and caves was very well designed, with buildings and the complement of fauna and flora being a palpable representation of each god. Right after the prologue, we have access to the Hall of the Gods, your base for creating equipment upgrades, skills and also visuals. Here we have a remnant of RPG elements brought from Assassin's Creed Odyssey, a game created by the same studio, where brainstorming resulted in the creation of Immortals Fenyx Rising. Greek mythology turns out to be the main point in common between both.

However, to extend the gameplay of Immortals, there are still Chambers of Tartarus with several challenges. They are nothing less than portals to another dimension, with a prize at the end of each path that help to progress the narrative. With this you help to save the gods from the comic curse that weakened them and altered the physical form of each – Ares became a rooster and Athena a child, for example. There are dozens of Chambers scattered around the island and this centralizes its gameplay. So this deserves an explanation of its own.

Gameplay

Challenges

There's no denying that Immortals Fenyx Rising was built around challenges, so nothing beats starting by talking about them. Among the puzzle-filled games I've played recently, Immortals would be on a scale between Spider-Man Miles Morales (light challenges) and The Witness (the latter being the hardest, as you need to think outside the box). In no time he presents extensive tutorials, leaving everything to the player's intuition, gradually escalating the complexity of the challenges into a comfortable subtlety.

The logic of the new puzzle types is never handed over on a plate; on the contrary, there is the feeling of freedom to do whatever test you want, whether manipulating cubes or stones, flying in the direction of the airflow, shooting arrows or jumping between platforms. who has played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and os God of War classics will feel right at home, as every kind of challenge has a familiar feel in terms of mechanics.

By the way, when talking about Greek mythology and puzzles, the first thing that comes to mind for gamers from the 2000s is probably the first God of War. Let's just say that GoW had more surreal and confusing challenges than Immortals. Also, here you can just arrive and try to solve something – in the main world, not counting the story missions. If you can't and give up, just go to another one. You don't have to go through the same place twice and question whether or not you should try to open such a passage, as you will usually be able to do so without any problems.

An intuitive and “free” logic like that doesn’t happen in a 100% story-based game like GoW, where those who don’t know what to do were stuck with their progress, or chose to look for tutorials in gamer magazines – and on the internet, in times of today. In this relationship, Immortals Fenyx Rising is certainly closer to Breath of the Wild, an inevitable comparison between those who played both, not only for the artistic style.

Eventually you come across layers of mixed challenges, where you must apply learned logic in multiples to solve a larger one. When you need to unlock a special item, for example, you search for a part, which is behind a door; to open it you need to defeat enemies and get a key; the key is only attainable if you do an archery challenge, and so on.

All puzzles play with the laws of physics and are rarely time-limited. Because of this, patience is one of the pillars to understanding the rhythm of Immortals Fenyx Rising. A pity that sometimes the physics of objects decides not to work, with fine adjustments now and then, but everything is workable. Towards 100% of the game, I never missed any objective due to engine failure. Ironically, a few “forced” attempts (or pure trial and error) sometimes succeed, hastening progress.

The most frustrating situation is not trying to solve challenges that you know how to complete (and all you need is the “knack”), but the fact that the reward is often something minimal, like very few coins. In this case, we talk about optional story puzzles. As a result, only if you add up the coins by completing various challenges will you get a real reward. Those who seek to "zero" the game will have fun.

Movement and exploration

Here I dedicate the review to two delicate points of Immortals Fenyx Rising: animations, movement of the character as a whole and also his exploration by the map, about how intuitive and practical it is to move from one end to the other. Starting with the first, we have the stamina (stamina) bar, an obvious limiter that guides your control of Fenyx.

Unfortunately, what should be your focus can often irritate and require patience, as with just two or three upgrades you'll have a stamina bar large enough to handle your dodging, running, and flying paces. Since it controls all the movement, you just need a "knack" to get used to it in the first few hours of the game - assuming you start from a more arcade game, similar in third person. This stamina-driven surface-climbing mechanic is also similar to the latest Zelda's.

The island is evenly made up of land, but every now and then you need to go to the water. Swimming is the most tedious action in the game and is often not optional (you must go through the water to complete certain objectives). Remembering that it also depends on stamina, you find yourself trying to avoid coming in contact with water as much as possible.

As a counterpoint, Fenyx's flight brings great gameplay, with the option to make a boost boost to make everything more comfortable and intuitive. If you start from the top of a giant statue, you glide for a long time until your stamina runs out – and, on the other hand, you still enjoy the views of the island.

In areas where Immortals becomes almost a platform game, I found that jumping while running results in double jumping. Because all moves consume stamina, the accidental double jump can result in a “false flight” towards the ground. In the Chambers or at high points on the island, this is a terrible gameplay break, which you only learn by doing.

In general, the animations and movement are complementary to the actions, but dealing with an open world game where one of the main flagships is exploration, I admit that it could be a little more refined. A contrast to this is the exploration of the island, with easy access to the map and the option to place multiple marked points for you to guide yourself.

Since you have unparalleled freedom to complete tasks whenever you want, in whatever order and region you prefer, your locomotion becomes a mainstay of Immortals Fenyx Rising gameplay. One feature is having the option to fast travel (fast travel) to Chambers and other landmarks anytime. You can tame too mounts, an option I discovered “too late” with 20 hours of gameplay. Interacting with one of the animals found around the island results in you being able to call them whenever you want, to shorten the travel time between two points.

Still, Immortals Fenyx Rising encourages exploration in another way. Unlike Assassin's Creed, here you need to climb a high point to "peek" the landscape with binoculars, manually identifying and marking points of interest on the map - a challenge in itself for the impatient on duty.

Combat

Another very important point (and much debated since launch) of Immortals Fenyx Rising is the combat. In offense there are several divine powers to choose from and in defense there are only options to dodge and pair a hit. In general, the gameplay is very reminiscent of modern Assassin's Creed with a similarity to fun 2000s hack and slash franchises such as Devil May Cry. When you get the hang of it, it's spectacular and pleasurable.

There is limitation to 3 types of weapons and attacks: strong (axe), weak (sword) and the ranged bow and arrow. The good thing about the weapon upgrade is for the category, not just for a specific item, is that it doesn't worry you about choosing a single weapon to carry with you throughout the game. There are also potions, arrow capacity and armor upgrades.

By having the help of the gods (the passive blessings I mentioned earlier), we have a unique dynamic. After unlocking one of the skills, time slows down when you dodge just before the enemy lands the hit. With the right timing, in this range you can attack whoever you want, not just the one who tried to hit you. Other powers are gained from attack modifiers (right corner of screen), as well as consumable items to restore stamina and health.

Dealing with multiple enemies, the colorful visual pollution sometimes prevents you from predicting certain attacks, which makes it very difficult in large open field combats. Paring or dodging needs to be very accurate, but the overall difficulty of the game is not high – even for casual players.

The upgrades for collecting multiple items simultaneously (pressing a single button), dealing more damage, multiple dodges and swimming faster are the essence of type RPGs. Your game rhythm is facilitated. Now, jump and dodge (in midair) upgrades should be a mechanic of the game itself, not something you take a long time to unlock. I only discovered the upgrade after fighting some bosses where this skill would make things a lot easier, as it is something intuitive – and mandatory, in my gameplay.

In boss fights, the slow-motion dodge saves you many times and is a technique you can abuse. Depending on the enemy's timing, just attack 3x, dodge, wait for his blow to dodge, attack 3x more and repeat. Sometimes, however, this becomes a mandatory element. With flying enemies, for example, that fly low and you must dodge at the right moment to “freeze” time and attack close to the ground.

At one point, I was in the boss fight area in the open (within limits, about 7 steps away from the boundary) and there was the “reset imminent” warning. That is, the boss would return to full health bar. Because I was successively attacked, I couldn't get out of the specific point in the reset state. Said and done: boss came back to full life, even in 3 minutes of fight. Bugs like this can be fixed with future updates.

Another weak point is that it is impossible to cancel jump combos while in the air, which is critical for all types of combat (animals, monsters, mass-weak minions and bosses). This is fixed with a skill, but by the time you acquire it, hours have passed. Other than that, the combat gameplay is pretty good.

Learning and immersion in mythology

The comic atmosphere of Immortals Fenyx Rising was able to attract young people and adults with a good sense of humor. Luckily, both gamer profiles can learn a lot about mythology. Unlike Assassin's Creed, where we have real locations and accurate (and true) historical facts, the story of Immortals is only in the realm of fantasy.

Even though Zeus cracks a lot of jokes and makes punctual comments throughout the game, there's a lot to learn about the personality of the gods. With Fenyx's journey itself (I won't spoil it!) we also understand a lot about the mythological universe. Bounties, weapons and objects have an almost poetic reading of the legends and origins of Greek heroes.

Original Greek tales usually talk, for example, about Gaia ripping part of her own body (to create iron) and her being “fertile with full breasts”, but in Immortals we have an obvious filter for the violence and sexualization of entities. Gods are still faithfully represented and it is clear that all kinds of jokes are made with a good heart, without lacking respect.

Visually, Immortals Fenyx Rising is spectacular. A very simple comparison can be made with Disney/Pixar films, for example, where the cartoon drawings still maintain the classic essence, but they take with them lighting, reflections, shadows and realistic textures. Even more in the new generation, the graphic performance of the game does not sin.

However, the facial animations leave a lot to be desired. Even with great acting and excellent dialogue writing, the expressions are very reminiscent of games from three generations ago (the consoles of the 2000s, such as PlayStation 2 and Xbox). In a title where telling a story is one of the most important things, caution should be greater.

Immortals Fenyx Rising performance in the new generation

Immortals Fenyx Rising, like AC Valhalla, has a free update to perform well on the new generation of consoles. As stated in the introduction of this review, I was able to play it on Xbox Series X in 4K at 60 frames per second, which is the best way to experience the game.

A huge difference compared to the Xbox One version, for example, is the loading time, whether on fast travel or on game launch. I got an average of 8 seconds on loading screens throughout the game. In the short term, it seems that the time “saved” was little, but I can guarantee that after 50 hours of history you end up with a balance of tens of minutes in your favor.

Below, check out the trailer featuring the highlights:

Following the tradition of games for both generations, you can choose to prioritize mode performance ou graphic quality. So for those who have powerful video games whose functions are enabled, this alternative is very pleasing. Among the dozens of hours on Immortals Fenyx Rising, I didn't experience any drop in performance.

The only problem was that the game unexpectedly crashed from time to time when upgrading the Hall of the Gods, an optimization problem that was later fixed – and until the time of publishing this review, it didn't happen again, on this same occasion. Textures and lighting are even better with HDR enabled, completing the game's colorful look.

Conclusion

Fenyx Rising Immortals is a franchise-independent title, and yet it has captured the hearts of many – even owners of last-gen consoles. In times where backward compatibility, sequels and the nostalgia factor take over the gamer market, I'm happy to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the game.

The aesthetics that for many can remember Fortnite it actually has an original charm. Colors serve a purpose in representing different sections of the island, buildings have realistic surfaces and characters really seem to come to life. The slight lack of attention in certain aspects does not make for a 100% polished game, but the controls at a familiar pace for those who enjoy classic games of the genre (recent RPG titles and some hack and slash from the 2000s) manage to neutralize the slips.

As I play, Immortals Fenyx Rising delivers what it promises; as material for studying Greek mythology, you have a slightly better repertoire of classical stories; and as entertainment content, we have the fun jokes that catch you unexpectedly – ​​and might even make you smile.

Immortals Fenyx Rising is on sale at stores like Amazon for PlayStation and Xbox – old and current generation, with free update. So, did you like the game? Tell us in the comments below!