[i]Disclaimer: I’ve played through Fenyx Rising twice to 100% completion each taking around 45 hours. In total I’ve played 100+ Hours on Ubisoft Launcher & PlayStation despite steam data. [/i]
[b]Immortals Fenyx Rising is a beautiful large & fun Greek Pantheon puzzle adventure game however it should be noted that despite claims saying otherwise it follows the same open world formula & design as Modern RPG Assassin's Creed titles just with a fun Greek Mythology story, aesthetic & tone to it. The gameplay also revolves around puzzles more than combat, so keep that in mind. [/b]
[h3]The Map & Greek Gods [/h3]
The Map is a LARGE Island split into 6 themes built around Greek Gods in the game & their respective myths, most of these areas can be explored at your own volition without a significant difficulty hike with the exception of Two Locations based on Story Progress; However similar to a metroidvania certain equipment & player upgrades are required to complete open world puzzles/dungeons/encounters on top of that the Path of Progression & of ease is clear, as it follows the same order as the following & the degradation of the land: [list][*]Clashing Rocks is the starting zone & prologue, home of Hermes and is a post battle desolate land with destroyed ships, statues & houses.
[*]Valley of Eternal Spring is more than likely your starting area with lush & vibrant fauna & land, housing Aphrodite, her myths and tales fitting of beauty as well as the Hall of the Gods HUB where you can interact with found gods, listen to their squabbles as well as upgrade Fenyx, their weapons and storage.
[*]The Grove of Kleos has similar vibrant aesthetics but instead holds locations of Academia and Wisdom for the Goddess Athena.
[*]The Forgelands has a dry stone & industrial aesthetic themed around Hephaestus and his forged items & contraptions.
[*]War's Den has statues & castles depicting a siege and war torn land even more so than Clashing Rocks as it house’s Ares.
[*]King's Peak is a snow & blizzard covered mountain peak themed around Zeus with awesome visuals of the Titanomachy.
[*]Gates of Tartarus is a volcano at the centre of the island and contains the strongest enemies in the game fitting of its name & housed myths. [/list]
The Island despite the LARGE quantity of puzzles is ripe with events, references and fights built from Greek Mythology and its retelling's, either through boss encounters, geometry, story & locations or via the commentary from Zeus & Prometheus as well as your own character Fenyx when encountering locations or events relevant to Myths and it ranges from serious retellings to goofy for the more out there myths.
[h3]Map Markers, Puzzles, Dungeons & Exploration [/h3]
Due to the scale of the map and the God's areas there are numerous map markers, all of which have to be found by the player through a modern Assassin’s Creed like search system after climbing up the tallest point in each Zone (usually a God’s Statue). Once at the top you enter a first person view, it unshrouds the section of the island on the full map and then you can scour the land in the first person view for points of interest like Puzzles, dungeons, currency, upgrade materials & quests. Most markers involve fun or grating challenges & puzzles to acquire the loot; the loot being Armor, weapons or phoenix skins each with their own aesthetics & ability alterations.
[b]Across the world are various puzzles & portals, each of which reward the player with the aforementioned loot as well as challenging & informing you of the various uses of your abilities beyond the obvious, the puzzles include:[/b][list]
[*]A Lyre Challenge where you have to memorise the played strings and play them back using your bow. Success = Loot
[*]A Sokoban like Challenge where you'll need to use your abilities to move boxes into gaps & onto pressure pads to open a door containing loot.
[*]Constellation challenges require you to find orbs scattered around the area and place them onto a grid in a match order to what is shown and displayed on the star board.
[*]The Flaming Arrows challenge requires you to use "bullet time" to shoot and arrow through fire and direct it towards an unlit pyre in order to unlock a door.
[*]Sliding puzzles with art depicting Greek Myths require you to slide slabs within a limited grid to the right positions in order to complete the puzzles however there is always only one slab left empty so you can move the pieces around.
[*]Weight based puzzles require you to use objects around the area to activate pressure pads that only activate at specific weight thresholds to ultimately open a door for loot.
[*]Time Trial based puzzles have you start at one location and you have to navigate the landscape to the finish line before time runs out. These usually require you to think on the fly and use abilities during the sprints. [/list]
As you progress these challenge aren't exclusive and will merge together providing greater challenge & difficulty with a number of the "late game" challenges requiring absurd player focus to complete. (This is not taking into account the DLC's where the difficulty goes haywire).
[b]Separate from Puzzles are Dungeons these require you to clear out enemies in the over world before heading into dungeons that involve the aforementioned puzzles or are multi staged combat arena's or eventually a combination of the two.[/b]
[h3]Combat, Abilities & Potions [/h3]
[b]Combat boils down to three types of weapons, the bow, hammer & sword with each having alterations to their abilities based on the Armour you have equipped at the time of combat, purchased upgrades and earned abilities.[/b]
The sword is the main weapon with swift strikes and combos, The Axe is for slow cleaving area of effect strikes that build up the enemies stun meter and the Bow is for long range chip damage or later, large Direct & AoE damage. The weapons feel a tad weak & basic to begin with but as with most adventure games they improve with time and you will unlock skills that improve their gameplay significantly like adding the ability to launch enemies, slow time while aiming with the bow, strike in the air with the axe, counter attack, double jump, air dash & more.
Outside of the aforementioned weapons there are God Powers that you acquire as you progress in the game and these change up gameplay during combat & puzzles considerably. There’s the shield bash to stun enemies and move short distances, strength to pick up nearby objects and throw them, Ares’ Spears that create an AoE lift up, Hephaestus’s Hammer for AoE stun strikes greater than the Axe, Apollo’s arrows for guides shots and Phoenix for Stealth related abilities.
These God Powers all require stamina to use so you have to use them sparingly for a majority of the game especially during puzzles but there are potions you can craft using materials gathered in the world that can offer slight reprieves & improvements upon use. All of which have their own upgrade trees to improve their performance. Health, Attack Damage, Defensive Power & Stamina. Stamina is also used when climbing surfaces making its potions important.
[h3]Conclusion [/h3]
Immortals Fenyx Rising is another Ubisoft game but with a Greek Mythology Coat of Paint and a fun take on the pantheon’s myths. It's puzzles heavy & the combat is simple yet effective with a power fantasy upgrade curve & conclusion but more time is spent doing puzzles than combat
If you’re burned on Open World Ubisoft-like titles I don’t think FR will change that but if you’re interested in its retelling & fun, I suggest watching the story & dialogue on youtube.
[b]It’s $60AUD retail and at launch I would recommend it to those who want a puzzle focussed action adventure game, so when it drops to $6AUD during sales, I would say Immortal’s Fenyx Rising is a steal at that price for those interested.[/b]
