Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
At the end of 2020, Ubisoft Quebec introduced the gaming world to Fenyx. Immortals Fenix Rising saw players journey across the Golden Isle on an adventure to save the world from an evil titan. There was a full open-world, challenging puzzles, action, and a whole lot of quipping. There was so much quipping from the game's characters. But Fenyx's story isn't over just yet. The first piece of DLC tells the story of A New God and while it offers more of what makes Fenyx Rising a fun romp, it's also missing a few of its better elements.
A New God takes place in the aftermath of the main Fenyx Rising story. Those concerned about spoilers will be thoroughly warned beforehand, so those who haven't finished the main game may not want to take part in this story just yet. That also means we'll likewise tiptoe around the main plot details, given that they contain some spoilers for the campaign. What we can say about A New God is that Fenyx goes from the Golden Isle to the skybound kingdom of Olympos.
The idea of A New God is to take on various trials for each of the gods that Fenyx encounters throughout the main story. Each of those gods has three different trials, which play out similarly to the Vaults of Tartaros. These are basically giant puzzle sections, many of which introduce different ideas and mechanics not seen in the base game. One big difference, however, is that these puzzle sections are lengthy and can require precision and backtracking. And yes, precision is key, because if there's one thing that's slightly off, it could muck up the entire puzzle and require you to start over, erasing about 10 minutes' worth of work. This DLC is not for the impatient.
On top of mastering new puzzle elements, players will also have to maximize the use of their Godly Powers in ways they may not have had to in the main campaign. There are several areas where Fenyx will need to reach greater heights with Ares' Wrath, avoid lasers with Athena's Dash, or bash objects to far distances with Hephaestus' Hammer. Some sequences will require a combination of those elements in a single stretch. You can't get away with being conservative with Godly Powers like you can in the campaign. You'll have to use them all at some point and learn to master them, which is a nice touch.
While A New God emphasizes certain elements of Fenyx Rising's mechanics, it downplays some others to an unfortunate degree. Part of the fun of the main campaign was exploring the Golden Isle, facing challenging encounters, finding side quests, and taking part in different puzzles. Exploration is downplayed heavily in A New God. Yes, there's a new open world to see, but it's far less enjoyable than running around the Golden Isle.
For one thing, many of the walls and surfaces cannot be climbed. That's a two-part bummer. From a superficial perspective, part of the fun of exploring the Golden Isle is climbing the cliffsides, reaching higher areas, and getting a bird's-eye view of the massive landscape below. It was one of the most appealing aspects of Fenyx Rising as a whole and that's not present in A New God.
The other thing is, it makes gliding a slightly more frustrating experience. Since the walls can't be climbed, it means that if you're short on your glide, you'll fall to the chasms below. At the end of the day, Olympos is a nice piece of new scenery, but the inability to switch back and forth between the new area and the Golden Isle means A New God's playground feels a lot smaller.
I said in our original Immortals Fenyx Rising review that the game's clever puzzles was one of its high points. A New God emphasizes that particular aspect of the game and it's better for doing so. It's also a richer experience for using Fenyx's different abilities.
As a continuation of the main Fenyx Rising story, I enjoyed this. Even the Fenyx Rising style of quip-heavy humor came across better here, because it wasn't coming at me a mile a minute like it did in the main story. I don't think I'll get much use of the new unlockables outside of this DLC, but for some well thought-out puzzles and more of the Fenyx Rising humor made A New God worth exploring.
These impressions were based on a PC digital code provided by the publisher. Immortals Fenyx Rising: A New God will be available Thursday, January 28 on the Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, the PlayStation Store, the Microsoft Store, and the Nintendo eShop as part of the $39.99 Season Pass. The game is rated T.