So I Tried… Immortals Fenyx Rising

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time around, I went with Ubisoft’s Greek Mythology-inspired open-world title, Immortals Fenyx Rising.

What I thought it was

I mean, it’s a Ubisoft game, so of course it was going to feature a giant open world with hundreds of points of interest on the map, tonnes of loot and gear to collect, and way too many collectibles. That’s not to say I don’t like the type of games Ubisoft is known for, I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but the developer does have a habit of making games way too big. That said, I assumed Immortals would be the same, going so far as to just think of it as a cartoonified version of Assassin's Creed Odyssey. But, would my assumptions be correct?

What it actually is

Well, sort of. Right off the bat, it’s clear that Immortals doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it was a refreshing experience to play a Ubisoft title that was a little more laid back. For starters, it’s actually quite funny, with the Titan Prometheus telling the tale of Fenyx to everybody's favourite scumbag God, Zeus. This results in the two having a lot of back-and-forth banter as you play, with Prometheus trying to recount the journey of Fenyx, whilst Zeus chimes in with backhanded comments and mocking mortals at any given opportunity. There hasn’t been too much story development in the 30 minutes I’ve played thus far, although Fenyx surviving a shipwreck and being the only member of its crew not to be turned into stone does have me intrigued to find out more!

As for the gameplay, it sure does feel like an Ubisoft game! Within a few minutes, I was climbing a vantage point to defog a part of the map and locate any nearby treasures. However, the game very quickly reminded me of Breath of the Wild, as I explored two mini-dungeons and solved some simple platforming and physics puzzles to acquire new items. In fact, there are a lot of similarities between Immortals and Breath of the Wild, from the stamina system to the vibrant, colourful world begging to be explored. I love Zelda games, so for me, this feels kind of like playing one (just without an elf in a green hat), which is a huge plus for me, despite the lack of innovation on Ubisoft’s part.

Will I keep playing

Absolutely! After recently finishing Middle-earth: Shadow of War, with its bleak, desolate take on Mordor, I was in need of something a bit more light-hearted. The often comedic nature coupled with some great voice acting (Elias Toufexis as Prometheus is a standout performance) and fast-paced, relatively simplistic combat is just the game I need after something as serious as Shadow of War.

Sure, Immortals Fenyx Rising may not have won any awards for innovation, but for now, at least, I’m really quite enjoying exploring this land full of mythological monsters and egotistical Greek gods.