Immortals Fenyx Rising is Worthy of the Gods! – Busy Gamer Review
Gods, Monsters, and a whole lot of dry humor
are the big draws of Immortal Fenyx Rising.
Ubisoft has used its vast experience in open world
titles to make an adventure game teaming with
personality and fun. It may have similarities
to other games in both Ubisoft’s own catalog
and from other companies, but for busy gamers,
that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Fenyx’s
adventure is a light-hearted joy to play. Let’s
see why this game is worthy of the gods in our
Busy Gamer Review of Immortals: Fenyx Rising.
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Let’s get this out of the way right off
the bat. Yes, Immortals Fenyx Rising is
a Breath of the Wild clone. But we aren’t
here to compare. So, let’s move forward.
Typhon has broken out of Tartarus, snatched
the essence of the gods Athena, Ares,
Aphrodite, and Hephaistos, and turned all
the people to stone. Well, except for Fenyx.
Now Fenyx, must adventure across the Golden Isle
to restore the gods, and defeat Typhon. The story
unfolds in a non-linear style, that allows you
to travel to whichever region of the map you want
and restore each god in
To keep a narrative bow on the whole ordeal, Zeus
and Prometheus chronicle your tale, via voiceover,
and set the tone with dry and witty banter. The
humor may not be for everyone, but I found it
charming and genuinely funny in some moments.
Between the humor and the setting, Ubisoft has
done an outstanding job creating a game that
is a “summer reading” equivalent for gaming.
Immortals is light-hearted, uncomplicated,
and a blast to play. After creating your version
of Fenyx, which you can modify later if you wish,
you set out on the hero’s journey. Your
primary weapons are the sword of Achilles,
the axe of Atalanta, and the bow of Odysseys
that were left behind by the fallen heroes.
More on them later. After running into
Hermes, gaining the wings of Daedalus,
and entering the Hall of the Gods, the
rest of the Golden Isle opens up with the
Hall of the Gods functioning as your home
base through the remainder of the game.
Exploring the Golden Isle is a treat. It’s a
beautifully designed location that is a joy to
explore. After climbing to the top of any 1 of
the 4 primary statues located in each region,
you’ll have the chance to use “Far Sight”
to scout for goodies and challenges,
or… you don’t have to. If you prefer to explore
and find all the secrets without guidance,
just skip the Far Sight feature. I did a combo of
both and it made for surprises in my journey and a
reliable guide to find where critical resources
where hiding if I needed them fast. This may
sound like another Ubisoft game full of busy work
icons, but most of the icons on your map are easy
to check off and you’ll want to regularly upgrade
and unlock powers to keep the difficulty in check.
Nothing is level locked, but if you want a more
relaxing experience, keep gathering resources to
keep Fenyx strong. Different plants can be used
for potion, various challenges can be used to
gain Coins of Charon, and Zeus’s lightning and
Ambrosia can be used to increase stamina and
health respectively. The various challenges might
seem like busy work but only take a try or two to
complete and are surprisingly fun. And chests
are in the open or protected by a simple puzzle
or combat encounter. Lightning is the hardest
to get, but also the most fun since its found
in the end of almost every Vault of Tartarus.
The vaults are the mini dungeons spread across
the Golden Isle. Each one is a puzzle,
platformer challenge, combat encounter,
or some combination thereof. And each region also
has a god or goddess vault and wraith vault. The
god or goddess vault is a large vault that needs
to be completed as part of the main story quest.
These are the longest sections of the game,
so make sure you leave a little extra time
to play when you start, though progress is saved
throughout the vault. These are more challenging
and usually revolve around a single mechanic used
to increasing difficulty. The other unique vaults
are the wraith vaults. Remember the fallen
heroes mentioned earlier? In each region,
as you play well, Typhon releases a Wraith of the
fallen heroes, like Achilles and Herakles to ruin
your day. To get them to stop messing with your
life, you’ll need to enter their Wraith Vault and
defeat them once and for all. The wraith vaults
are optional, but a blast because of the combat.
Finally, I come to the combat. Combat in Immortal
Fenyx Rising is amazing. Light and heavy attacks
mixed with bow shots and quick dashes make for
the basics, but mix in the god powers to deal
heavy and stun damage, and Fenyx is a one-hero
wrecking machine. Ares’s Rage, Athena’s Dash,
and even your companion Phosphorus do great damage
to multiple enemies. And you’ll need them as the
number of foes and their strength greatly increase
as you get deeper into the game. And the variety
of enemy types is pretty good. I didn’t show
them all here to keep from spoiling too much,
but they are there and are a fun challenge.
The game really does a great job of giving
the power fantasy required with this type of
game while still making Fenyx vulnerable.
One last item I want to touch on and it’s
a bit of a negative. It risks spoilers,
so skip to the time on the screen to
avoid them and get to my final thoughts.
Ok. After releasing the 4 gods, Fenyx travels to
King’s Peak. This snowy final region is a single
mission to get to the top of the mountain. Getting
to the top is a bit of a repetitive slog. Enemies
are littered on this very long path, and there are
sections that use challenges, like the navigation
or constellation challenges to block your
progress. The challenges aren’t that hard, but the
whole thing feels like it’s an unnecessary content
stretch. And it was easy to get lost between the
path going back up and down, snow making for
difficult visibility, and an environmental
hazard that takes away Fenyx’s stamina. I had
to reload my save a few times because I missed
a jump and got stuck in a place I couldn’t climb
out of or get down from without dying. I was more
relieved than satisfied when finished and this was
the only damper on a nearly perfect experience.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is an amazing game with a
horrible title. God and Monster was better. Its
world is gorgeous. Its combat is topnotch and easy
to control. Its story is humorous and enjoyable.
I really loved almost every minute of playing this
adventure and its one of my favorite games to come
out in 2020. And it’s the perfect kind of escapist
experience for busy gamers. So, for Busy Gamers,
Immortals Fenyx Rising is Time Well Spent.
What was your favorite Greek myth to learn
about growing up? Let us know in the
comments. If you like more Greek gameplay,
check out our review of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
or watch this other video we recently made.
