A sequel to Ubisoft Quebec’s Immortals Fenyx Rising is currently rumored to be in pre-production, and while the studio has yet to officially confirm what the focus of the game will be, speculation almost unanimously agrees that it will do away with its ancient Greek setting and move to the Polynesian Islands. But although the new setting offers the young series a chance to overcome some of its growing pains, the fate of the franchise as a whole could ultimately come down to how well the Immortals Fenyx Rising sequel is able to make a case for itself.
Upon its release in 2020, Immortals Fenyx Rising was almost instantly compared both conceptually and stylistically to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as well as Ubisoft Quebec’s other ancient Greek child, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. And although comparisons to such a benchmark open-world title as Breath of the Wild should under no circumstances be misconstrued for censure or condemnation, Immortals Fenyx Rising still had a difficult time escaping the shadow of both games.
Immortals Fenyx Rising Got A Lot Right
Despite its comparisons to other open-world games, critics generally did react favorably to the game. Reviews of Immortals Fenyx Rising praised the ways it used the mechanics of its predecessors to its advantage. Moreover, the way its writing blends satire with themes about family and self-acceptance particularly stood out as a refreshing balance to the light-heartedness of their delivery. The tone of Immortals Fenyx Rising, in effect, doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it also never verges towards complete irreverence. This is important to keep in mind when thinking about how the franchise can make a case for itself, especially in the ways that it signals where in the genre developers think Immortals Fenyx Rising should be situated.
From a gameplay perspective, Immortals Fenyx Rising is one of Ubisoft’s strongest titles in recent memory. It offers players a large, populated open-world map with puzzles and mini-games to explore for several hours. The ability to glide through the air makes traversal easy and fun, and combat works for the game. These strengths are not new to open-world adventure games, but even from the outset Immortals Fenyx Rising never promises players that they’d bring something never-before-seen to the table.
Although some may argue that Immortal Fenyx Rising’s best way to handle future titles would be to do away with the aspects that it borrowed from Breath of the Wild and Assassin’s Creed, it should actually resist the urge to be a pioneer in the genre and instead focus on delivering polished, engaging gameplay with careful attention to the cultures and mythologies it explores. Paying attention to these aspects of the game and improving upon those it borrowed from other titles could, ironically, position I mmortals Fenyx Rising and its successors to be one of the most interesting franchises Ubisoft has to offer.
The Sequel Stick to What It Can Do Best
Focusing on the rich mythology of the Polynesian Islands supplies Ubisoft with more than enough material to weave into the story of the potential sequel. The way Immortals handled the mythology of ancient Greece attracted most players to the game, and more importantly kept them playing. Additionally, Ubisoft has been criticized in the past for its focus on Western culture, so the move to an under-represented history would help the studio resist the temptation to recycle too much of its dialogue and questlines.
Immortals Fenyx Rising definitely faces a challenge trying to escape the shadow of Breath of the Wild and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. But while some may see these similarities as a handicap to the game, it is actually more helpful than harmful. Breath of the Wild is a genre-defining game, and the expectation that any video game worthy of notice should reinvent the wheel is unreasonable. Instead, developers of Immortals Fenyx Rising’s sequel should focus on doing justice to the Polynesian Islands’ rich mythology and culture in order to offer something fresh, polished, and engaging that will carry the studio and franchise, but not necessarily the open-world genre, forward.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Stadia, Xbox One, PC