It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Ubisoft games, despite the issues both in-game and around the company itself. There is no denying that Ubisoft often falls foul of their own formulaic methods and get carried away with map markers. Regardless, Farcry, Assassins Creed and Watchdogs are some of my favourite gaming series.

A few years ago Ubisoft unveiled a brand new IP called Gods and Monsters. While I was initially excited, my level of interest changed along with the actual title (the original was better). I think this might have been due to the fact we had already seen a game based on Greek mythology from Ubisoft in the form of Assassins Creed Odyssey. Ubisoft is not afraid to reuse entire swathes of prior game assets for their new projects (Farcry Primal comes to mind): I was convinced this was a quick asset rehash and thus gave it a wide berth.

It was late last year when a friend was playing Immortals Fenix Rising (new name) and knowing my obsession with Assassins Creed; highly recommended I take another look. This was good timing as a demo had just become available so I started downloading it, assuming it would take an hour to confirm my assumptions and move on. The problem was that within minutes I realised this was no cheap knock off and I was actually having a lot of fun. I made a mental note to pick it up in the next sale and give it the full review it deserved on release: so here we are.

Finger of God

The game opens as the world (and heaven) have become a little unstuck due to an ancient evil being released (sound familiar?). The Gods have been knobbled in various ways and mortals have all been petrified to stone. After losing his powers Zeus visits Prometheus (who he currently has in chains on a mountain top) to seek his wisdom. It turns out that the fate of the gods rests in the hands of a mortal called Fenix; who as luck would have it still remains alive. After a basic character creator is included in the narration; you must set out to undo the evil deeds of Typhon.

Right from the off I love how the game events are being delivered via this conversation between Zeus and his insightful prisoner. Even smaller acts in the game will be commented on and, like Hades or Bastion, this delivery works very well. While the writing isn't going to blow anyone’s socks off, it is decent and the voice actors do a great job bringing the various characters to life. Through your adventures, you will rub up against many of the godly legends we have read about and watched on TV over the years. Achilles with his dodgy heel, Jason’s Golden Fleece and who could forget Perseus fighting the lethal Medusa. I also love how many of these characters are woven into the quests as either wraith bosses or the subject of Zeus’s bragging.

Breath of Fresh Air

I have always had a fairly uneven relationship with Nintendo, avoiding their products for the most part but jumping in for two seminal systems: the N64 and now the Switch. The former was a system banging around in my clubbing days and coming back from a night out to play a few hours of 4 player GoldenEye was a well-loved tradition. Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time were also groundbreaking games that I just couldn’t miss. 

In 2017 the Switch launched alongside a new Zelda game, one that would be a key system seller and a title that had me once again jumping into Nintendos ecosystem. Breath of the Wild will always hold a special place in my gaming memories; not only because it is a masterpiece in open-world adventure games but it is also the first game I completed with my son. While navigating this massive world it was always obvious that the hardware was being pushed to its absolute limits. It always intrigued me to consider how it would run on a high powered PC (and not using an emulator). Sadly I suspect we will never get an official PC version of Botw, but that is where Immortals comes in.

In many respects, Immortals does look and feel like Breath of the Wild (Botw). In fact, I’m not actually sure how Ubisoft hasn't been getting regular visits from Nintendo’s trigger happy lawyers in the last year. Like in Botw, you can climb pretty much any surface and this also comes with a stamina bar that limits how long you can climb before falling to your death. Not that stamina bars are exclusive to Botw, but it’s the way it is implemented and designed.

Just standing in a meadow, looking over the world you could at times think you were playing Nintendos latest open-world masterpiece. There is an organic quality to the environments, from how the grass undulates in the wind or the cell-shaded visuals that make the world looks so vibrant. There are also plenty of design choices that just scream Botw, such as how bosses are colour coded for difficulty with a neon-like quality. The vaults that are scattered across the land are also very reminiscent of the shrines in Botw, even down to manipulating huge blocks and spheres. I will say I’ve absolutely loved the puzzles in Immortals as they are well thought out and very challenging. 

If you have spent any amount of time in both Botw and Immortals it is clear that the world of Hyrule feels much more like a living breathing world with wildlife and biomes being much more fleshed out. Even fire is far more playful in Botw, being able to propagate on certain materials, solve puzzles and cook foods in real-time. Obviously, Ubisoft has been able to pump more clout into the character detail but I will say I actually prefer the one tone cell-shaded effect on Botw. One aspect of Immortals I do prefer, however, is the fact this can run at sixty FPS and above: this makes everything so much more fluid including the combat and physics.

The Power of One

Immortals is a big game, huge in fact and each section of the Golden Isles are packed with puzzles, combat opportunities and treasure to plunder. There is a good selection of foes to deal with along your journey from small boars to gigantic gryphons. The game does recycle these as you progress with a colour grading system, this works pretty well but can leave later areas feeling a little less enchanting. Enemies themselves have an impressive range of attacks which certainly keep you on your toes. There is a fantastic sense of impact when you strike your foes and when defeated they will go hurtling around like a burst balloon.

What I absolutely love about Immortals combat is how the wonderful physics add much more depth and comedy value. Sure you can pitch boulders at your foes with Herculean strength but while pulling said stone to your hands; it will also clout anything else in its path. Giants will literally rip trees up and javelin them in your direction, which you can catch mid-air and wang back at their surprised faces. Enemy attacks will also impact each other when the fur starts flying and this can lead to some hilarious own goals. 

You start with a basic light and heavy attack but these will soon expand to a decent assortment thanks to a decent skill tree. As you complete the various challenges you gain currency which can then be spent on said skills. As well as these there are also a special set of abilities that have a more godly look to them. Ranging from a huge hammer, a spiked uppercut to your mystical bird attack; these all add another flavour to the goings-on. Just do yourself a favour and remap the keys from one to four or you will be mistakenly using potions in every fight.  Phosphor, a Phoenix-like bird you rescue, who will fly with you as you adventure and I love how she enjoys different abilities depending on the skin she has active.

You also have various gear slots to consider as you find new items but these are set pieces unlike the RNG in Assassins Creed games. Some are cosmetic; such as your Icarus wings, while others such as the helmet and body can have fairly dramatic effects on what you can do. Of course, the Ubisoft store is packed with gorgeous skins that cover all of these slots and all can be bought with real cash. However, if you take the time to complete the various challenges; some of these can be earned in-game. The final upgrades you will want to consider are the blessings of the gods themselves. Each of the four main areas has a fallen god that needs to have their essence restored. As you work through the quest objectives these righteous beings will bestow new abilities and improvements upon you. The way your character development is linked to the zones themselves makes the game feel well-paced.

Mongrels make the best Dogs

The other game that Immortals has been heavily compared to is Ubisoft’s own Assassins Creed and for good reason. While Assassins Creed games do have plenty of supernatural elements they are still delivered on the backdrop of realism. In Immortals we see a definite shift towards the more fantastical in both gameplay and looks. This has unshackled the developers, giving them more creative oomph in how the world looks and plays. Fenix is only mortal but thanks to the godly artefacts on offer she soon becomes very powerful indeed. Her wings allow her to leap and glide around (courtesy of Icarus’s wing) and the magical bracers of Hercules imbue her with god-like strength. 

I can see the DNA of Assassins Creed running right through the core of Immortals, both in the way you climb objects and fight enemies. You must even climb to a high vantage point in each zone in order to remove the fog of war, a common feature in Ubisoft titles. There is a sneaking element to the combat and eventually, you gain the ability you can cloak entirely. Thanks to the new push towards action over stealth, this is another area where the two games overlap.

Is it PC?

As I have mentioned, Immortals is a beautiful game that has a bright colour gamut and a world that is larger than life. I will say that while the many Vistas look impressive I do feel a little fog or atmospheric obstruction would have been beneficial as distant places look a little too clean. This was how the recent GTA remaster came a cropper; when they removed the fog to ‘improve’ the draw distance but this left the game exposed and feeling smaller. Considering how much detail and effects are happening at any one time I have found the performance to be really decent. I did read about the awful character faces when the game first came out and I initially felt the same. However, over the past two weeks, the character visuals have grown on me and I think this is down to the excellent animation. In many respects, the world and its lively inhabitants feel like they are moulded from digital clay.

The sound effects are all top-notch with plenty of variety. I think the environmental sounds such as swimming or the underwater effects could have been a little better but this is a very minor point. It is also a pity that they went to the trouble of including underwater swimming but it never gets used much apart from the odd puzzle here and there. The music is also great, reacting to what is happening on screen accordingly. I would say that there are not any real stand out tracks and what there are can blend into each other by the end of a three-hour session. 

Conclusion

I was wrong about Immortals Fenix Rising; so wrong that I felt compelled to write this review. My main worry was that with games like Assassins Creed (especially Odyssey) existing; there wouldn’t be much room left for another gargantuan open-world romp across Greek myths. I do think that the reasoning behind my initial predictions were sound, but ultimately this shows you should never judge a game until you’ve gone hands-on with it. Yet with some thoughtful game design, deft control mechanics and some wonderful world-building; Immortals manages to be its own game despite the obvious influences that have gotten it here. 

My run through the main campaign clocked in at fifty hours and this does not include the three pieces of DLC which I have yet to try (maybe an update when I do). So for now I will leave Fenix there and hope that Ubisoft decides to make a sequel in the future. If not, then I can see myself coming back again to play this epic adventure when the urge takes my fancy.