Immortals Fenyx Rising Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Immortals Fenyx Rising
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:
Immortals Fenyx Rising artwork

It's hard to think about Ubisoft's games as innovative or disruptive any longer. In the last several years, the French giant only made safe bets on already established franchises and completely avoided bringing new single-player franchises to its fans. I haven't played a rather “unique” Ubisoft game since the French company launched Child of Light about six years ago.

Immortals Fenyx Rising is a new IP that blends so many winning formulas that it would be hard, even for Ubisoft, to miss the mark. Previously known as Gods & Monsters, Immortals Fenyx Rising is an action-adventure that borrows major gaming elements from other successful games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Darksiders, and Genshin Impact.

What sets it apart from these other games is the writing. I think it's safe to say that Immortals Fenyx Rising is a bid daddy joke, so if you're not into this kind of humor, you'll probably want to skip this game entirely or wait for a sale.

Unlike many of Ubisoft's characters, Fenyx is actually a likable protagonist that makes the journey enjoyable from start to finish. You start as a novice soldier stranded on the Golden Isles, trying to find a way to save a brother who's been mysteriously turned to stone along with the entire crew of the ship.

Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising
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Immortals Fenyx Rising is set in Greek mythology and the Golden Isles consists of seven distinct regions inspired by Greek gods. For example, Aphrodite's part of the island is populated with beautifully landscaped gardens and luxurious vegetation, while Ares' domain is defined by barren lands and ash.

Since Immortal Fenyx Rising is an open-world action-adventure game, you are free to explore the seven distinct regions by whatever order you prefer, although I found that some regions are slightly easier than others. Most of the time, you'll be fighting enemies inspired by Greek mythology, such as cyclops, harpies, medusa, and minotaurs.

Combat is fast, precise, and quite smooth. It reminds me of Darksiders and Genshin Impact, but without the complexities of these two. I'd say the combat system in Immortal Fenyx Rising is basic, but it does offer some interesting options that allow players to tackle boss fights in different ways. Fenyx has a wide array of powers at their disposal, which can be unlocked using Charon coins, a currency that you gain by solving puzzles and successfully completing challenges throughout the world.

There are a bunch of currency types and resources that Fenyx must gather on the Golden Isles to upgrade/unlock powers and weapons, as well as craft potions. Another important aspect of the game is that you don't have to worry about upgrading your weapons. Granted there are quite a few weapons that you can find in the game, they can be upgraded per class, not per item. Basically, this means that you can upgrade your swords or axes to make more damage, or you can raise the defense of your armor.

While this might sound too simple, it's actually a very smart decision since each weapon in the game has its own abilities. The catch is to mix & match the abilities on your weapon and armor to better fit your playstyle, and not worry that you'll lose any damage if you switch to another piece of gear.

Executing combos that include abilities and godly powers is very satisfying, and while there are quite a few to choose from, I found myself using only a couple of them (the most powerful ones) almost my entire playthrough.

Besides the satisfying combat system, Immortals Fenyx Rising has another trait in common with a well-known title – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the dungeons. The so-called Vaults of Tartaros are sometimes dungeons where you must solve puzzles to reach the end of arenas where you must defeat all enemies to be awarded a piece of Zeus' lightning, yet another important currency that helps you increase your stamina.

The vast majority of these vaults contain not only a piece of Zeus' lightning but also at least one piece of gear (armor/weapon) or skin. They're so well done that I stopped carrying about the loot and started doing them just for fun. I found myself smiling quite often after solving these puzzles, something that I didn't think I'd do playing a Ubisoft game.

Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising
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But that's just one piece of the pie. Unlike most of Ubisoft's games, Immortals Fenyx Rising does have a decent script and great voice actors that are doing their job exceptionally well. The writing is surprisingly good if you like single line dry humor, but straight up terrible if you hate corny jokes. Regardless of that, the voice acting is top-notch, with Elias Toufexis (Deus Ex) doing an exceptional job as the voice of Prometheus, alongside Daniel Matmor who's playing Zeus.

Although the story isn't overly complicated, it's the narrators – Prometheus and Zeus, who are making the journey incredibly enjoyable. The banter between the two characters throughout the game consistently made me chuckle. I also learned a lot of god-related stories from Greek mythology.

While it's true that the amount of activities in Immortals Fenyx Rising is overwhelming, I found it enjoyable enough to give Ubisoft a pass this time. What the game fails to achieve is putting the player on the right path toward the beginning of the adventure. I don't think I'm too far from the truth when I say that 90% of the players will start engaging in optional content before the game opens up. That can lead to frustration from not having all the tools at their disposal to overcome many of the challenges thrown at them.

Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising
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The Good

  • Solid combat
  • Addictive gameplay loop
  • Exceptional mini-games and puzzles
  • Great voice acting and soundtrack
  • I love me some dad jokes

The Bad

  • The amount of optional content is overwhelming
  • Doesn't bring anything new to the table

Conclusion

Despite not being groundbreaking or innovative, Immortals Fenyx Rising blends a couple of winning formulas from other games that work together almost flawlessly. The resemblance to Breath of the Wild is uncanny, but I'll take that any day over another Assassin's Creed rip-off. It might not be on par with Nintendo's masterpiece, but combat is solid and the puzzles and mini-games are a lot of fun.

I also loved the light-hearted tone and colorful visuals, something that I've rarely seen in a Ubisoft game. A little bit of a warning though, if you're not into dry humor, you might want to skip Immortals Fenyx Rising since this is a big dad joke.

I'd also like to add that while the game does include microtransactions, everything that you can buy in Immortals Fenyx Rising is purely cosmetic. I also encourage everyone who picks up the game to do the optional content to unlock some of the gorgeous-looking skins for armor and weapons. I didn't think I'd have so much fun playing another Ubisoft title, but here I am trying to 100% all the maps in the game.

story 8
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 

Immortals Fenyx Rising screenshots (45 Images)

Immortals Fenyx Rising artwork
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