Immortals Fenyx Rising
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
I've been interested in this game since the moment I first became aware of it. I thought the graphics looked amazing, and the premise of an open world game in ancient Greece, complete with magic and gods appealed to me. But still, I was in no rush to go out and buy the game. I'm a gamer who never buys anything brand new. I only buy when there is a sale or if I can find it used for cheap. Well, this game falls into the latter category. I bought a used copy of this game at Gurnee Mills back in 2022, along with a handful of other cheap games.
I finally got around to playing this after it sat in my backlog for more than half a year. The reviews I'd read coming into it had all been positive. I had high expectations for it. Would it live up to those expectations? Let's break it down!
Story:
You pick either a male or female character. I made my character a woman, so I'll refer to Fenyx as "her" throughout the entirety of my review. Just so you know.
Fenx is a passenger on a ship that crashes onto the Isle of the Gods. All her shipmates are turned to stone. Fenyx explores the area looking for help, only to discover that the gods have had their essences stolen by the evil Typhon. As Fenyx explores, she gets more and more powerful. She discovers all kinds of famous artifacts that are known in Greek mythology (like her wings) and incorporates them into her arsenal. She is also infused with powers from the gods as she completes missions for them. Over the course of the game you essentially transform from just a normal person into the ultimate badass.
Fenyx's ultimate goal is to defeat Typhon, restore the essence of the gods, and free the island. Before I go on I should tell you I'm skipping over an important part of the story. The entirety of this game is narrated orally by Prometheus to Zeus in "present time", as if this is a story that happened long ago. Present day Zeus is being threatened by Typhon, and he wants to know how to defeat him. Prometheus makes a bet with Zeus that if a mortal can defeat Typhon, he will free Prometheus from his imprisonment. Thus begins his story.
Turns out, this is all happening in real time. Fenyx arrives and defeats Typhon for Zeus. Zeus goes back on his promise to Prometheus, however, when he finds out Fenyx is his daughter. She is no mortal.
The whole story is infused with a lot of fun and is bursting with personality. Most of the important Greek gods are represented here. They are all portrayed almost like over the top cartoon characters. The game definitely has a sense of humor. When you meet Ares, he has been turned into a rooster. Hephaestus is a tree. You do tasks for them and restore them back to their full power. If you like Greek mythology you will like this game. Where God of War is grim and serious, this game has a more zany approach.
If you aren't into Greek mythology, you may find yourself skipping through a lot of boring cutscenes. I'm not a big Greek mythology person myself, so during some of these long, drawn out "funny" conversations I found myself getting quite impatient. I'm sure the dialogue is tailored to people who are really into this shit. And that is just not me.
Gameplay:
I've heard that this game is similar to Breath of the Wild. I have never played Breath of the Wild before, so I can't tell you if if this is accurate or not. I've always wanted to play that game, but I don't have a Switch yet. Since that game is often built up as one of the greatest games ever made, that must mean Immortals Fenyx Rising is also an incredible, amazing game, right? Well, I hate to say this, but if Breath of the Wild is similar to this game, I don't really have an urge to rush out and get it anymore. Not that this game is bad or anything, far from it, I just didn't find it to be particularly original or groundbreaking of a gameplay experience.
Of the games out there that I have played, I'd compare this to some kind of mashup of the Horizon series, Assassin's Creed, Nier, and the Witcher - but with a more magical and lighthearted tone to it. It's fun, addicting, and I'd even go so far as to say this is a really good game. Maybe even a really, really good game. Best thing to do is go out there and play it for yourself.
The game starts with a world that is wide open. You have to climb to the top of the nearest statue and "survey the area". This takes the fog off the map of the region that you are in. You can then use your Greek mythology equivalent of binoculars and further survey the area in greater detail, adding things like collectibles, enemies, treasure chests, and vault locations to your map. Also on your map you have quests from the gods and goddesses that you must complete. This is one of those games where there are about a bajillion things on the map, literally everywhere you turn. For someone with OCD like me who has to collect everything in sight, this game drove me nuts - but not in an unpleasant way.
It was very addicting. Just one more chest. Just one more adamantine shard. Just one more vault. One more puzzle. Immortals kept me up for many long nights after my three year old would go to bed. This game took a few days for it to really hit its groove with me, however. Those first few playing sessions, I wasn't really "feeling it" like I thought I would. After a while, though, the game really began to grow on me.
Combat is very fun. You have standard strong and regular attacks. Different button combinations result in different attack combos from your character. You can fire arrows. You can parry and counter. You can dodge, which slows things down to Matrix-speed if you perform it successfully. You can pick up and throw things at your enemies. You even learn magical powers that will help you in battle.
One of the things I really liked about this game is the fact that your enemies have a stun meter. Performing strong attacks against them, or throwing things at them, or using special attacks fills up this stun meter. When the enemy character hits their breaking point, they lose consciousness while their meter drains again. While they are knocked out, they are defenseless and can be relentlessly pummeled by your attacks.
This whole game has you going from location to location on the map - collecting things, fighting enemies, and performing missions. Along the way you also pick up crafting items and other collectibles that you can use to level up your character. Your "home base" in this game is the Temple of the Gods, where you can use the things you have collected to level up your character and his or her weapons. You can also craft potions, adjust your appearance, buy items from Hermes's shop, and take quests off the bulletin board of the gods. You are going to find yourself fast traveling here quite often.
Also on the map you will find vaults, which take you to the pits of Tartarus to solve puzzles and perform trials. Some of the mechanics in these vaults are quite neat. I like the rolling balls and the boxes that float when you hit them, and can be tossed around to act as ledges to jump on. These puzzles and trials are quite clever and really make you use your head. I heard that there is something similar to this in Breath of the Wild, and that's where a lot of these comparisons come from. As I said, I haven't played that game - so I really can't comment one way or the other.
While I've talked about things I like about the game so far, let's discuss the negative. The difficulty level of the game is high, and will result in you dying a lot. The problem? The load times are absolutely hideous. You have to sit through these loading screens when you fast travel or enter a vault, too. Ugh. I lost so much time of my life sitting through these loading screens, and I am getting mad just thinking about it.
The early portions of the game don't do a good job explaining things for you, either. I don't need my hand held, but some direction would have been nice. I had to figure out how everything worked on my own. Normally I wouldn't care, as this formula works quite well in some other games. The problem here is that there are some areas early in the game where it would say I didn't have the correct "Godly powers" to continue, and other areas where I was encountering fights I could not possibly win. One quest even had me jumping from cloud to cloud to collect some missing artifacts, but the gaps between clouds were too big and my character clearly was not able to make it across all the way. I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing wrong.
The storyline can also be a bit dull from time to time. It's hard to take these cartoon caricatures seriously. Zeus and Prometheus's endless banter is annoying. Some of these conversations in the cutscenes are overly long. I was tempted to skip through them from time to time.
The absolute worst thing about this game, however, was a glitch that occurred about halfway through it. I was suddenly not able to save or use fast travel. I looked it up online, and there was no fix for it other than to load an old save state. I pushed forward, hoping that if I made it to a point where the game would auto-save, I wouldn't lose my progress. I probably played for over two hours. When I turned the game off and came back to it, I was back at my last save point directly after the glitch began. Couldn't save or fast travel still. I had lost all that progress. But wait! The only way to fix the glitch was to load an old save file from before the glitch occurred. The problem? My last save file was from over two hours ago. So I again would have to play through a large chunk of the game for a second time. This nearly ruined the game for me. I almost stopped playing. But I liked this game so much, I couldn't stay away.
Negatives aside, I still had a fun time with this game. When things "clicked" for me on my third or fourth day of playing this game - I was not able to put it down until I was finished with it. Very fun and addicting title.
Graphics:
This game looks really, really fantastic. It's bright, colorful, and bursting with life and personality. The landscapes are beautiful. The different areas of the map are wonderfully designed. The humans, gods, and enemies all look great too. I really like how my created character looked. She was super hot.
The vaults may be the most memorable thing about the game for me visually. I love the trippy effects, the colors, and the way the stars and the background design looks. They all seem to have that mystical, magical quality to them that - to me - are one of the defining aspects of this game.
Sound:
Everything in this game sounds great. The music, the ambient sound effects, the voice acting. It really helps bring this world to life and add to that magical quality of the game. I loved my character's voice. Not only did she look cute, but she sounded like the part as well, especially with that accent of hers. Such a fun character!
My one complaint is something I've already mentioned: the constant bickering between Zeus and Prometheus that you listen to as you play. It gets old, fast.
Overall:
Despite my initial misgivings, this game grew on me fast. Its slow start is something that I will forget over time. When I think back on my time with the game, I'm going to think of exploring the map, performing challenges, solving puzzles, collecting items, and the game's sweet, sweet combat system.
This is a very fun and addictive game. If you are like me and you like exploring a game's map to full completion, collecting everything in sight, and unlocking everything there is to unlock, you will like this game. If you like Greek mythology and are looking for something more lighthearted than God of War, you will like this game. If you like puzzle solving and platforming challenges, you will like this game. There is something here for everyone.
I'd definitely recommend Immortals Fenyx Rising. I came into the game expecting to give it a B+, but the more I sit here talking about the game and the more I keep building it up in my own mind, I think it's better than that.
THE GRADE:
A-
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