At E3 2019, Ubisoft caught many by surprise by announcing a video game that hadn’t been heard of until then . He did it with a brief teaser in which some important details were anticipated: it was a game with a cartoon aesthetic, based on combat and platforming and set in a world that started from Greek mythology. It was called Gods & Monsters and we heard little else about it until, after a couple of delays, it made a stellar comeback with a facelift and a new name: Immortals Fenyx Rising . Will the wait and the changes have been worth it?
The birth of a new hero
Immortals Fenyx Rising is a new IP from Ubisoft and that means that it is a blank canvas , a different and independent product from the brands they already have that must attract attention and conquer the players. It is a game that undoubtedly drinks from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey , delivery of the saga that takes place in Ancient Greece and that its own creators recognized that it had served as an inspiration, but in which they carried out a very significant change by abandoning the historical section and focus exclusively on mythology .
“Fenyx’s story stems from something called ‘Titanomachy,’ an ancient lost poem that tells of the struggle between the Titans and the gods. It is not known what that text said but it could have been the story of Feyx ”, says Jeffrey Yohalem, Lead Narrative Designer of the game . And it is true that the game, like the Assassin’s Creed saga, does something very well: it takes a world, some events and some pre-established characters that we already know and takes them to its terrain to give it its own style. In addition, Immortals Fenyx Rising has a significant advantage over Ubisoft’s flagship and that is that by focusing on mythology rather than history, creative freedom is multiplied tenfold .
The title offers us an attractive and colorful world , full of all kinds of creatures that we will have to face with our sword and full of missions and orders that we will discover while we explore it freely. Nothing that we have not seen in the last hits of the company, right? Well yes and no. It is true that Immortals Fenyx Rising does not come to break schemes or redefine the world of video games but it does manage to take a step forward and distance itself from the formula of other Ubisoft titles both in form and in substance.
Mechanics
Immortals Fenyx Rising is built on three pillars: exploration, puzzle solving, and combat . Each of them works quite well on its own (with its pluses and minuses) but it is the combination of all three that makes the in-game experience very entertaining.
The great virtue of the exploration is that it is relatively fast and the map is not very large , so that one can go from one area to another on foot or on a mount in a few minutes, enjoying the landscape and the many details that we find. in the environment, without making the journey heavy or tedious. We also have the wings of Daedalus (Icarus’s father) , which will save us from great falls and allow us to fly through the skies of the Golden Island quickly, comfortably and very visually. The downside that we can put to the exploration of the game lies in the objective map, which we will gradually unlock by climbing to a high vantage point in each area and that will make us search and mark all the points of interest in it. While this is useful, it is reminiscent of the mechanics of the old Assassin’s Creed and takes a certain mystery out of our walk around the world.
The solving of puzzles and puzzles is, for us, one of the strengths of the game . They are fun, resourceful, consistent, and challenging. There are them all over the map and their resolution will provide us with all kinds of rewards, from new pieces of armor to access to closed areas. During the first moments of the game it will seem that the way to follow with each puzzle is more or less obvious since it is based on a series of fixed elements with which to interact moving them from here to there, placing them in X position, pressing platforms, repeating patterns or shooting arrows at them; But as we move forward we can appreciate how hard the Immortals Fenyx Rising team has worked to shape and weigh these puzzles . Things will get complicated and on more than one occasion we will need to show great skill or consider other ways than the usual ones to meet our objectives.
The last leg of this stool (unfortunately the one that limps the most) is combat. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but it ends up being the weakest by comparison . The controls in combat and the actions that we have at our disposal are basically the same that we have seen in the last Assassin’s Creed (light hit, heavy hit, dodge and block) with the addition of divine powers and abilities that we will unlock. It’s certainly more than enough to dish out swords and blast your way through hordes of enemies , but it ends up feeling a bit limited. The same thing happens with the enemies, who have an overwhelming variety and who tend to attack in groups to make things more difficult for you, but they reach a point where we already see them coming and the fighting with them becomes somewhat… mechanical .
The union of these three pillars is found in the gates of Tartarus, the dungeons of Immortals Fenyx Rising . These are labyrinthine constructions that are very different from each other that will test our knowledge of the world, our ingenuity and our skill with weapons in exchange for juicy rewards . There are some that can be finished in five minutes and there are some that will take us an hour or more, but all of them are interesting and worthwhile.
Narrative
So far, as we mentioned, it is not that we have said anything new about Immortals Fenyx Rising . Where are those elements that we talked about before and that supposedly differentiate it from other similar games? In his own story and, above all, in the way he tells it .
Fenyx’s tale is the classic hero’s journey, the epic that will lead an ordinary person to become the key to saving the world . This cyclical plot, of change and personal growth, blends with “a background, characters and existing relationships that come from Greek mythology,” explains Jeffrey Yohalem. It is noted that the game was developed from a deep study of the myths and legends of the classical world and with great respect for them, deepening their meaning and importance for a society that “explained reality through these myths” but It also makes them his own by giving them a different tone than what we are used to. “Many approaches that have been made to Greek mythology are dark and very serious and ignore the humor that existed in those myths. We wanted to delve into that humor and highlight that these characters have weaknesses, they make mistakes… I wanted to explore that and make people laugh ”, confesses Yohalem.
Indeed, humor is a key piece of the game. The action and dialogue are fun and witty at the same time , subtle when they have to be and rogue at other times. “We wanted to have an epic story that was fun at the same time, like when you think of something like Guardians of the Galaxy, ” Jeffrey Yohalem tells us. The cartoon style, colorful and carefree, helps all these elements maintain a certain harmony with each other but what really makes sparks fly is the presence of two narrators who could well act as a comic duo on Saturday Night Live : Zeus and Prometheus .
“Although they have a … complicated relationship , Zeus needs Prometheus to fight Typhon and these two ‘friends’ give us a lot of material for drama and comedy.” The truth is that the inclusion of these two characters as omnipresent narrators seemed to us an interesting addition to the story, a narrative element with which to speed up the plot a bit. However, as we progressed through the game and spent more time with them, we discovered that they are characters as important as Fenyx or the other gods and their comments, jokes, pullitas and the breaking of the fourth wall that they do occasionally have given us truly interesting moments. inside the game.
With all this in mind, Immortals Fenyx Rising builds a story with a clear epic and humorous tone, classic narrative structures and just enough freedom for the player to decide where they want to go at all times and how they want to live their story . “I have always believed that the narrative must exist in different places simultaneously and that each of them is a hook for the player to develop, but being able to decide with which ones and in what order.” Target accomplished, Jeffrey .
A new BOTW?
And we end this analysis by highlighting one of the comments that have been heard the most since the game was announced and that are still heard and read out there. The comparisons are hateful but yes, it is undeniable that Immortals Fenyx Rising takes as a clear reference the games of The Legend of Zelda and more specifically its latest installment, Breath of the Wild . This is noticeable both in the visual finish and in the exploration and puzzle solving mechanics , but it would be too simplistic to stay with this and assume that it is a copy of the legendary Nintendo game.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is much (much) more than just a version of a Zelda. It is a game that knows where to look and what it wants to achieve , which takes the most popular mechanics of other similar games and naturally incorporates them into its own structure. Jeffrey Yohalem himself told us like this: “there were many games that inspired the team’s work and I can see that the influence of Zelda is important (…). However, I like this because I think it will attract a lot of people who will be surprised to see the twists of the story and the structure , realizing that it is not a Zelda. “
For us, Immortals Fenyx Rising has gone from what could have been a minor title to one of the most satisfying and entertaining experiences of the year. Its light tone, its simple mechanics and its narrative and audiovisual style make it a surprising title because of how well it is built and how fun it is to play, showing that not everything has to be dramatic or deep to be good. It is a game that you approach almost out of curiosity, to see what happens, but that achieves its objective : to transport you to that colorful and beautiful fantasy world in which to live adventures, solve mysteries and be a hero.
And it is that, sometimes, nothing more is needed.
