Ubisoft’s open-world gameImmortals Fenyx Risingis an epic action-adventure that weaves a narrative through a world inspired by Greek mythology. Playing as a customizable Fenyx, gamers explore the lush landscapes and monster-strewn environments by foot, on horseback, or by taking to the skies as they navigate the seven distinct realms modeled after Greek gods. It’s undoubtedly a beautiful game and received praise for its engrossing narrative, balanced humor, and fun combat. However, for better or worse,Immortals Fenyx Risingalso received multiple comparisons to Nintendo’s genre-definingThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Games are always going to be inspired by other games. This is true of any medium where outputs interact with each other instead of existing in separate bubbles, and creativity is consciously and unconsciously a combination of different influences. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, as fans of one game can find other titles that they’re almost guaranteed to like if they follow in a similar vein. However, it can be detrimental to the newer game, and players are hoping thatImmortals Fenyx Rising’s sequel tries to set itself apart fromBreath of the Wildmore than its predecessor managed to.
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Similarities To Breath Of The Wild
On the surface,Immortals Fenyx Risingis very similar toBreath of the Wild. Both games utilize that sun-drenched aesthetic of verdant environments with a slightly cartoonish artsyle. They both feature physics-based puzzles that are dotted around their large, open-world maps that require players to do a bit of thinking in between the action and combat. In terms of traversal,bothImmortals Fenyx RisingandBreath of the Wildinvolve elements of airborne travel as well as a very nifty climbing mechanic to help scale areas.
It’s no surprise thatBreath of the Wildhas been used as a point of comparison for so many other games. It was hugely successful at launch and continues to be talked about to this day and held up as an example of what video games are capable of. The freedom of the open world and thegame’s elevation of classicZeldaelements made it a hit, and other developers were unsurprisingly paying close attention so that subsequent games could attempt to follow suit.Immortals Fenyx Risingdoes present its own fresh take on this formula and includes many features of its own to present a different gaming experience, but it hasn’t been able to escape the comparisons.
Why The Sequel Needs To be Different
Breath of the Wildisn’t the only title that’s been held as a benchmark and used as an inspiration, and it certainly won’t be the last. Thanks to thesuccess of FromSoftware’s Soulsborne games, Souslikes have flooded the video game market, usually with diminishing returns apart from a few outliers. Most fans don’t mind even the most blatant copycats, as long as the game in question is still well-made and fun to play, but others aren’t too keen on the trend. Some fans want something original when they pick up a new title and are more interested in how developers can keep pushing boundaries instead of how successfully they can retread old ground.
With Ubisoft apparentlyworking on theImmortals Fenyx Risingsequel, many players are already looking ahead to what the next game in the series could be like. There’s speculation about the setting and what other mythological inspirations it could take from, but conversations inevitably fall back toBreath of the Wildonce again. The comparisons may be made too liberally in some quarters, andImmortals Fenyx Risingmay never be able to escape fully the other game’s shadow, but the sequel is Ubisoft’s chance to branch out and take more risks now that it’s established a successful foundation for the franchise. TheImmortals Fenyx Risingsequel needs to offer players something new, not just something they’ve seen elsewhere before.
Immortals Fenyx Risingis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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