IMMORTALS FENYX RISING A CRYING SHAME UPGRADE
IMMORTALS FENYX RISING A CRYING SHAME FULL

It's by no means a perfect story – there's a lot of guff about Fenyx's brother, who no one cares about – but it's full of warmth, character, and plenty of mythological research. Most of Immortals Fenyx Rising is trying so hard to be something else, but the story is its own beast, unshackled to what came before. This narration varies from gratingly goofy to genuinely funny, with moments like a notable credits fake-out and multiple tongue-in-cheek references to modern technology and other games.

The game's events are narrated by Prometheus – he of the 'perpetually-having-his-liver-eaten-by-a-bird torture' fame – to Zeus, king of the gods. The story is where Immortals Fenyx Rising finally steps out of Zelda's shadow. Because each area is modelled on a different god – Athena, Aphrodite, Ares and Hephaistos – there are some concessions to the aesthetic of each one, like Heph getting a bunch of broken automatons and huge forge fires, and Athena's land being full of temples and libraries, but largely these areas are all a bit samey. The main four areas are colourful, but they're all either green or a dusty brownish-orange that just turns into visual sludge. Immortals Fenyx Rising's world is pretty from a distance, but quite boring up close, and not very pretty on the Switch in particular.

A lot of the puzzles end up being frustratingly tricky, either because of the fiddly physics engine or because vital elements – like buttons, blocks, and levers – are exactly the same shade of bronze as everything else. Odysseus Challenges are about bow-and-arrow skills Lyre Challenges require you to memorise a tune, run hundreds of metres, and then recreate it on a big lyre Constellation Challenges mean finding a bunch of glowy balls and slotting them into a grid in the correct configuration and Fresco Challenges are sliding-block puzzles that can, quite frankly, go to hell.

IMMORTALS FENYX RISING A CRYING SHAME UPGRADE

There are also puzzles that don't affect the main plotline but net you a bunch of rewards to upgrade your character and loadout. The puzzles mostly take the form of 'push-block-on-switch', 'roll-ball-into-hole', and 'shoot thing with bow and arrow', and Fenyx interacts with most objects by utilising a power that's basically Breath of the Wild's Magnesis. They even look a lot like the shrines, with the same blue-and-bronze ancient technology aesthetic. The most egregious borrowing of mechanics is, perhaps, the puzzles – both in the overworld and in underground action-platforming levels called 'Vaults of Tartarus' – that have a lot in common with Breath of the Wild's famous shrines. The combat is fun, drawing inspiration from Souls-like dodge-parry-hit combos, but comes into its own after a few skill tree upgrades. Fenyx is tasked with freeing the gods one by one, enlisting their help in the form of Blessings that slightly improve some aspect of her combat abilities.Īrmed with a sword, an axe, a bow, and various special attacks that unlock as you play, Fenyx fights all manner of beasts cribbed from myth: minotaurs, chimeras, hecatoncheires, and gorgons can be found alongside regular swordsmen and animals. The titular Fenyx is a myth superfan, and it's up to her (or him, depending on your avatar choice) to defeat the evil monster-god Typhon, who has imprisoned some of the Olympians in an attempt to seize power. Made as a spinoff of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Immortals Fenyx Rising deals with the gods and monsters of Ancient Greek myth, albeit in a much more lighthearted way than its Ubisoft stablemate Odyssey did. The game is the off-brand cereal version of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, mixed with a large helping of Assassin's Creed and a generous dash of God of War. Comparing a game to another game can feel lazy, but Immortals Fenyx Rising – which used to go by the far superior title of Gods and Monsters – isn't shy about hiding its influences.

Immortals fenyx rising a crying shame