![]() The latter escaped its underworld prison and now wages war against the gods. In the centre of the map is a large volcano that is the home of the monstrous Typhon. The phoenix that accompanies the player character (Fenyx) is visible in the foreground, right. A view across part of one of the islands. There is also the Hall of the Gods, which serves as the base of operations for Fenyx’s adventures. ![]() In the game, the Golden Isle also features the homes of some of the Olympian gods, most notably Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Ares, and Athena. There, in Greek mythology, some ancient heroes live after death, such as Menelaus (by virtue of having married Helen, the daughter of Zeus). ![]() It is probably based on the Golden Isles, White Island, or Isles of the Blessed. It turns out that Fenyx has arrived on the Golden Isle. Fenyx wakes up on an unknown beach and discovers that all of their crewmates, including their brother, have been turned to stone. ![]() They were on the way back from war when their ship was destroyed in a storm. The player character, who can be male or female and is always named Fenyx (a decidely weird way to render the Greek Phoinix), is a shield bearer. The plot for Immortals: Fenyx Rising is simple. Immortals abandons any pretext regarding historical accuracy and fully embraces mythology – and it’s arguably a better game for it. Odyssey frequently referenced ancient Greek mythology, with the developers even arranging for the player character to fight a number of monsters, such as the Minotaur, hidden away in the bowels of the palace at Knossos. The advanced, alien Isu that somehow feature in the mess that is Assassin’s Creed overall plot always struck me as inspired by Erich von Däniken’s risible Chariots of the Gods (1968).įortunately, Immortals: Fenyx Rising (2020) is a brand new game, unshackled from Assassin’s Creed’s legacy. There are ancient conspiracies and struggles between Assassins and Templars that recall the kind of stuff that Dan Brown churns out. Importantly, though, it did feel “authentic” – even though that is largely a subjective measure when it comes to historical fiction.īut Odyssey was still an Assassin’s Creed game, which meant that it came with baggage that I didn’t care much for. The developers got a lot of things right with regards to the setting, including material culture, but also made a few “mistakes”. The game drew heavy inspiration from pop culture, especially the movie 300. How did Odyssey depict Classical Greece? This was an interesting subject to explore. It was a monumental game to which I have devoted a series of articles I also talked about it for the national radio here in the Netherlands and in videos for Invicta History, and gave a few short lectures about it at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. The main pull of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was its historical setting: the Peloponnesian War of 431-404 BC that pitted Athens against Sparta. What felt like a short time after the release of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (2018), publisher Ubisoft announced a new game, Gods & Monsters, which would take Odyssey and merge it with the more stylized and colourful art style, as well as some of the gameplay elements, of Nintendo’s Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Each god that Fenyx resurrects has a distinct area of the game world, and when they are all reassembled Typhon can finally be taken on directly.This article was originally published on the defunct Ancient World Magazine website and is now re-published here. Plus, she can get on with the main storyline, which involves restoring various gods, one by one.Īphrodite, for example, has been transformed by Typhon into a tree, so Fenyx must free her by completing a number of missions, such as rolling a pearl into the sea to generate foam which will dissolve her roots then burning corrupted seeds in a huge vault, before defeating a boss to acquire the essence that will restore her.Īthena, meanwhile, has been transformed into a rather peeved little girl, and her story arc throws up a very different set of missions. Initially hooking up with Hermes, once Fenyx makes it to the Hall of the Gods she can upgrade her stats and buy new moves and powers using coins of Charon earned by completing tasks. Ambrosia, for example, can be used to upgrade Fenyx’s health. ![]() Above ground, there are countless pursuits on offer: various side missions which yield useful objects (such as a phoenix called Phosphor whose aerial attacks can be directed), flight challenges, music puzzles based on giant lyres, hidden chests to uncover, and a vast array of useful items and resources to collect. The game world is liberally studded with vaults – basically dungeons in the underworld containing a wide variety of increasingly elaborate and mostly excellent puzzles. ![]()
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