The level of detail that’s gone into representing this myths and legends, the amount of research that’s informed these core aspects of the game, it’s absolutely phenomenal. But if, like me, you grew up watching Hercules and reading books about ancient mythology, or hell, even just have a very slight interest in cool stuff, this is going to absolutely rock your socks off. I mean, if you absolutely hate Greek mythology (you heathen), then this game isn’t for you. It’s not just the story, not just the characters and the monsters, but every weapon, piece of armour, every mechanic and ability - it’s all a product of Greek mythology, and that’s deeply interesting. A lot of that enjoyment comes down to how interspersed the story, and the world, is with Greek mythology.Įvery aspect of this game is inspired in part by Greek mythology. Really, I thought at first that having two old guys having snarky conversations with each other as you complete tasks would get tiring after a while, but it’s hilarious and engaging the entire 40-hour runtime of the game, and beyond. Almost every action you take along the story, as long as while you’re just exploring the world, prompts a short conversation between the two gods - and it totally rules. It’s an unfolding story just as much as it is a conversation between two old frenemies. Fenyx’s story is told not by some faceless narrator, but by the gods themselves - specifically by Prometheus, chained to the top of a mountain, waiting for an eagle to peck out his liver, to Zeus, the king of the gods. Any other game would be content to let the story tell itself, but when you’re setting a game in the world of ancient Greek myths, filled to the brim with colourful characters, why not use those characters? And that’s what Immortals does.
That alone would be interesting enough, but it’s the framing around the story that really sets Immortals apart. His brother and crew turned to stone, smashed, and presumed dead, Fenyx takes up his brother’s arms, and sets about exploring the island. Without somebody to steer and man the ship, it meets a destructive fate, tossing Fenyx overboard where he eventually washes up, the sole survivor, on the fated island of the gods. Described as a storyteller and a shieldbearer, but certainly not a warrior, Fenyx’s entire crew (along with every other mortal) is turned to stone on a seafaring trip past the Isles. Set on the fictional Golden Isles, during the time of Greek myths and legends, Immortals has you taking on the role of Fenyx, a voiced, but entirely customisable lead. Let’s start with the story, because so much of Immortals is built on top of its storytelling. I can even forgive changing the name from Gods & Monsters.
They’re very big shoes to fill, but the result is a game that feels exactly like it was made just for me, and nobody else.
Immortals takes all of these aspects, throws them out the window, then rebuilds them into something new. There are a few reasons why, reasons I’ll undoubtedly come to talk about in an opinion piece somewhere down the line, but to condense that all down: I didn’t like its approach to exploration, I didn’t like its approach to storytelling, and I absolutely hated its weapon durability system. I know, that’s basically blasphemy for the deputy editor of a Nintendo-focused website, but it’s the truth. Unlike most people, I did not particularly enjoy Breath of the Wild. We could talk for days about whether or not the game is a “clone”, or whether it’s a step towards a newly established genre, but at the end of the day one is, at least in part, inspired by the other, and I think it’s okay to land on that as the beginning and the end of such a conversation. So let’s get it out of the way: yes, Immortals is very clearly inspired by Breath of the Wild, and anyone who tries to say otherwise is either lying to you or lying to themselves. I have written and rewritten this review half a dozen times at this point, trying to frame it in such a way that I don’t directly compare it to Breath of the Wild, but the two games are inexorably linked - as such, so will my review be. It is frankly quite difficult to talk about Immortals Fenyx Rising without The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild entering the discussion.
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