Immortals Fenyx Rising Xbox Series X Review

People complaining about unoriginality from companies like Ubisoft should have a look at their new game Immortals Fenyx Rising. While not a unique idea, it certainly takes a different direction from what we have come to know in games from Ubisoft. For one, it’s not another Assassins Creed game (nor Watch Dogs, even though games in those series have been released in recent months).

Immortals Fenyx Rising is a slightly different calibre of game than what Ubisoft is usually known for (games with a realistic setting), clearly taking a lot of inspiration from the likes of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which it has been highly compared to, and for good reason. Immortals is very cartoon-like in its graphics, with equally dry voice acting, but that’s not a bad thing here as it fits the overall tongue-in-cheek tone of the game, even though it might take some getting used to.

The story takes inspiration from ancient Greek mythology and follows the journey of main protagonist, Fenyx, as he – or rather “they”, as you can customise your main character to your liking – sets out to free the essences of four God’s in order to take on Typhon, a monster who has unleashed hell upon the land of the Golden Isle. The story is narrated by two such Gods, Zeus and Prometheus, whose humorous banter can sometimes be as equally dry as the voice acting, but nonetheless amusing.

An open world game, unlike a lot of Ubisoft games, Immortals Fenyx Rising is actually not full of bloat. The missions you take on all serve to help you in some way, be it by giving you health items, upgrades, new armour or helmets, new weapons and so fourth. Flowers you find out in the field are used to make potions, and enemies you defeat will reward you with materials to upgrade your weapons.

Fenyx is well equipped for dealing with the many and varied enemies, and even though the game feels like an RPG, there’s no experience points to be gained, but Fenyx can upgrade nonetheless. Fenyx can upgrade his weapons, which include a sword, axe and a bow and arrow, and can upgrade his armour, which he finds in various treasure chests located throughout the map, and within Tartaros vaults. You’ll even be able to find different visuals for the weapons and armour you find; these don’t add anything to gameplay and are purely for aesthetics. Fenyx upgrades his equipment at the Hall of Gods, a place where, as the name aptly states, you’ll eventually be able to find all four Gods whose essences you have managed to release.

The map offers much for you to do; there are many Tartaros vaults for you to find and explore – in which you will find treasure chests and the all-important Zeus’s Lightning bolt to upgrade Fenyx’s stamina, stamina being used as Fenyx’s power source, allowing him to glide, climb, run and use his special abilities. These vaults act as mini puzzles, in which you’ll either have to solve a maze of puzzles or fight a wave of enemies. On the main map you’ll also find Lyre puzzles, in which you find small lyres dotted about and will need to copy the rhythm they play on a bigger lyre; Constellation puzzles, Bow and Arrow challenges, trekking challenges and much more. There’s never a shortage of things to do, and the rewards are always worth the effort.

There are also potions that Fenyx can use, of which there are four; health, stamina, defense and power. Health is self-explanatory, as is stamina, as mentioned, this being the most important of all as Fenyx uses stamina for a lot of his actions. Using both a defense potion and power potion during combat I found greatly increases Fenyx’s abilities, and he will take down powerful enemies fairly easily, combined with his upgrades.

Immortals Fenyx Rising takes obvious inspiration from Breath of the Wild but, as a Ubisoft game, it’s also a breath of fresh air, and it’s one that other Ubisoft games could learn from. It’s a game with a beautiful sprawling world, a plentiful amount of well designed puzzles, fast, fluid and enjoyable combat, a likably silly story, and an unusual lack of bloat. There’s much to like then, and with 40+ hours of engaging gameplay, this is definitely an ancient adventure worth undertaking.