Immortals Fenyx Rising

Genre: Open-World Action-RPG

Players: 1

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: UbiSoft

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Review:

Immortals Fenyx Rising (from here on I’ll just call it Immortals) is an Open-World Action-RPG released on multiple platforms in 2020, including Nintendo Switch. In it, players explore a world inspired by Greek myth, fighting monsters and rescuing Greek gods from various dilemmas caused by the villainous Typhon.

Let’s get right down to it – this game is very clearly a Greek-flavored love letter to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Everything about it, from the way you climb, the way you glide, the way both are limited by stamina that you upgrade by finding and completing tasks on an overworld map, the way you reveal sections of the world by climbing massive structures to get a view of the area (well, okay, that bit Nintendo lifted from UbiSoft in the first place, so this is just UbiSoft taking it back), and even the way a perfect dodge slows down time for a moment to allow players a brief flurry of counter-attacks… it all feels extremely familiar.

However, I have always said there’s nothing wrong with being a copycat as long as you’re a good copycat, and if you’re going to copy another game there are few as deserving as Breath of the Wild, one of the greatest videogames of all time. So the question here is, is this a good copycat?

In terms of presentation, Immortals is an excellent and polished game, but clearly cuts have been made to things to get the game working on the Nintendo Switch – this version of the game has the landscape covered in a haze that washes out the visuals and lowers the draw distance. What’s more, there’s occasional pop-in, some of the scenery has lower detail, lighting and shadows are less elaborate. And of course, the resolution has been downgraded to 720p here compared to 1080p on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and the dynamic 4K resolution of next-gen platforms. Framerates also take a bit of a hit here – Where next-gen platforms can get a steady 60FPS and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One get a steady 30FPS, Nintendo Switch is a few frames shy of that, with a framerate that’s often closer to 27-28FPS (thanks to YouTuber ElAnalistaDeBits for the numbers).

Okay, so clearly this game looks better on other platforms. However, what’s surprising is just how little this matters. Yes, the hazy visuals when you’re getting a view of your surroundings is a bit frustrating, but beyond that the game looks really great on the Switch, and more than any other game I can point to, Immortals gives a shining example of how multiplatform games can still work on Nintendo Switch even as the industry increasingly turns to the next generation of game consoles. The world of Immortals looks absolutely gorgeous, with a slightly-stylized and slightly-cartoony look to them almost like a Pixar or Dreamworks film. The character models look fantastic, the environments are a spectacle to behold, and overall this game is one of the more visually-stunning games on the Nintendo Switch.

The sound here is excellent as well, with an appropriately epic orchestral soundtrack with choral elements. However, this soundtrack is overshadowed by the game’s voice acting, with the game being co-narrated by Zeus and Prometheus in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, and with the protagonist Fenyx himself/herself and the characters she meets full of personality as well… though I will say the game’s tongue-in-cheek tone frequently feels like it clashes with the epic tone its visuals and music often seems to be going for. It’s hard to stand in awe of an impressive monument or vista when it’s overlaid with Zeus and Prometheus making little verbal jabs at each other or otherwise squabbling. Also, Fenyx seems like a slightly stupid fanboy/fangirl through much of the game, commenting for far too long about how the artifacts they’re equipping themselves with must be “replicas” of those of the Greek heroes and myths they adore, and gushing like a teenager when meeting those mythical characters. Still, while I’m not a fan of some of the silly writing for these characters, I have to say that they are all absolutely well voice-acted and do a good job conveying strong personalities for all of the game’s characters.

As for the gameplay… yup, this is very Breath of the Wild-y. Though… in many ways simply not as good. It’s all sorts of little things too, nothing major I can point to as the thing that makes this a lesser game. Like… the way that combat just doesn’t feel as tight, the way the control layout feels clunky and unintuitive, the way the stuff you can upgrade requires multiple potential collectible trinkets instead of a few multi-purpose ones, the way players can only fast-travel to some types of map markers, but the game doesn’t really make it clear which ones… in so many little ways, this game keeps falling behind Zelda.

However, if I had to pick the biggest flaw here, it’s how the inherent design of the game just doesn’t really encourage the sort of exploration and discovery that was the core of the experience in Breath of the Wild. You scale to high places, look around for markers denoting a place of importance in the area around you, and then you go to those markers. I never felt tempted to stray from the path to investigate a point of interest, because these explorations rarely felt rewarded. At most, I might find some fruit or plants to craft potions, or a crystal to break for experience or stuff I could use for the game’s crafting… but the real treasures on the game’s map are best pinpointed before you go to an area and then tracked down.

Having said that, there is a lot that this game does still get right. Movement and traversal is still a joy here, and there’s definitely still the feeling of progress when you can upgrade your armor or your stamina bar, enabling you to climb higher or glide farther. And while there’s not as much incentive to explore every nook and cranny of the world around you, the world is nevertheless wonderful to traverse, filled with all sorts of fascinating monuments and spectacular landscapes. And while the combat isn’t as good as Breath of the Wild, it’s still quite fun once you get the hang of it.

If Immortals’s biggest failing is “it’s not as good as one of the greatest games of all time”, that’s not exactly a major failing, is it? And make no mistake, at no point did I feel like Immortals was anywhere near as good as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it very clearly wants to be. But despite being a distant second-best at what it’s trying to be… it’s still a fantastic game that’s well worth playing, with a wondrous world to explore with some excellent visuals. If you’ve had your fill of Zelda and want something new that’s similar to that but don’t want to wait until the Breath of the Wild sequel releases, Immortals should be a satisfying way to bridge that gap, and well worth playing on the Nintendo Switch even with the downgraded visuals.

tl;dr – Immortals Fenyx Rising is an Open-World Action-RPG that is very clearly taking more than a few pages from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for its Greek myth-themed adventure. And while it never comes close to being a rival for Zelda, it is nevertheless a solid entry in the genre, and one that looks surprisingly good on the Nintendo Switch, despite the downgrade from other platforms. Players who fancy a new adventure into a large open world should definitely give this game a look.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best RPG/Action-RPG, Most Underrated, Best Voice Acting, Best Graphics

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