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Is Immortals Fenyx Rising worth it?
I love Greek mythology, ever since I got my hands on Age Mythology back in 2003. Even in college, I couldn’t resist taking a class on Classical Antiquity! So, when I heard there was an open-world game based on Greek mythology I was very intrigued.
I knew I wanted to get the Nintendo Switch version but because of how the graphics looked on the trailers I ended up postponing my purchase until new year’s eve.
And, when I finally got my hands on it I was having a really hard time getting into it because of this issue… But, I pressed on, since I was enjoying the gameplay and the tone of the game.
Then, after a couple more gaming sessions, I got used to how it looked. The problem is still there but I tolerate it.
This was my major issue with Immortals Fenyx Rising, and honestly, I only have mostly good things to say from here on, starting with its story. It’s not the deepest of narratives but it does its job well enough.
It revolves around Typhon, a massive beast that was trapped under a mountain by the gods.
Eons have passed and Typhon managed to escape, laying waste to the land of the Olympian Gods, severing them from their godly essences, and robbing them of their powers.
However, Zeus managed to escape Typhon’s wrath and went to Prometheus for help.
But, instead of directly helping Zeus Prometheus bets on whether a mortal could defeat Typhon.
From here on the story of Fenyx begins and his/her journey will be constantly narrated by Prometheus and Zeus.
Prometheus usually narrates with a serious tone while Zeus is just a goof that takes every opportunity to crack a joke.
I really enjoyed this since there aren’t many characters to interact in the land of the gods, since everyone was turned to stone by Typhon.
So, now that you know about the story you must be wondering about the gameplay right? As I said before this is an open-world game and to traverse it you can count on several godly weapons and abilities.
Weapons can be found in chests around the world and inside Tartarus Vaults, which are mini-dungeons where you must use your skills and wits to solve the puzzle they put in front of you.
Although these puzzles aren’t super-hard they really made me stop and think about how to approach them, since some of them have various ways of reaching the same end.
It’s all about which abilities and powers you have at your disposal.
At the end of each Tartarus Vault, you’ll always find a Lightning Bolt from Zeus which can be used to upgrade your stamina, so you can run, climb, glide, and swim for longer periods of time, and also spam your godly abilities.
In the first couple of hours you’ll have all the abilities you’ll need to conquer most of these vaults but some of them have optional chests that can only be reached by unlocking new abilities.
To unlock them you must scour the land for different challenges that will earn you Charon coins. These coins can be traded to unlock all the abilities you need and even enhance the ones you already have.
But powers and stamina aren’t the only things you can upgrade! Your health, your equipment, and even your potions are upgradable. And, how do you upgrade them?
By exploring and finding the items you need to upgrade them obviously!
Every time you go out and explore you are making your character stronger and closer to the goal of defeating Typhon.
And, if you manage to max out your character you’ll without a doubt feel like a god while you crush your enemies.
But how do you crush them? You have at your disposal three main weapons, the sword, the axe, and the bow.
My favorite one is without a doubt the axe, it might not be as fast as the sword but it can stun enemies and deals massive damage with the set of armor I have right now!
As for the bow, I only use it with the Appollo’s Arrow ability which slows down time and lets you steer your arrow, which is perfect for headshots.
However, just relying on these weapons won’t be enough, sometimes you need to take a defensive approach and decide when to strike.
You have two main defensive options, the dodge, and the parry. Both are great but I find myself dodging more than parrying since I like how time slows when you dodge an attack just at the right time allowing you to deliver a flurry of attacks.
Another approach you can have to a battle is seeing if there are any rocks nearby and launch them!
They deal a great amount of damage and may even induce stun. Also, you can use a monster’s attacks against themselves.
For example, when a Minotaur charges at you try to make him crash against a wall. This will stun him for a couple of seconds making it wide open for any type of attack.
It was really fun to discover the depth of the combat systems and the more skills I unlocked the deeper it got!
As a result, I can approach the same situation in many different ways, making it not feel repetitive or boring. Honestly, I had a lot of fun with the combat system, well done.
But, if if you’d ask me what’s my favorite thing to do in this game I’d say it’s rushing through the map.
I can be on top of my horse running at full speed and suddenly throw myself down a cliff, open my wings and just glide for as long as I have stamina just to admire the scenery.
At one time I’ll be going through a lush green forest but then I find myself in a land devastated by war and then go through fields of white snow. Although the graphics took a hit this game’s landscapes still look gorgeous.
Now, there’s another thing that I’m not much of a fan of but I just pretend it doesn’t exist, which is a cash shop.
A shop where you use a currency that can be bought with real money. You can complete some daily quests to earn this currency but I don’t even bother with them since I feel they take me away from the purpose of the game.
It’s true that all the items in the shop are cosmetic only but it’s still kind of scammy to put microtransactions in a game that costs 60€ and has purchasable DLC.
All in all, this a very solid game with many hours of quality content despite the flaws I mentioned.
You’ll have fun exploring, battling, and completing puzzles while getting a healthy dose of Greek mythology knowledge.
However, the humor might not be for everyone’s tastes (I love it!). And, if you plan on purchasing it, consider getting it on a system other than the Nintendo Switch if graphics are a big part of your gaming choices.
Happy gaming!