Immortals Fenyx Rising

TLDR; This is really fun game to play for 50-80 hours. Wait for a sale, buy it with "A New God" DLC and enjoy. DO NOT BUY "LOST GODS" DLC. VISUALS & SOUND DESIGN With cartoon stylized graphics this game looks like a fairy tale. This style fits very well with the setting and story - it all has its own, unique character. The visuals are very well done - I've found myself couple times just standing on top of the hill and admiring the view. Movement animations are alright, not bad, not excellent. The Fenyx's SFX are a bit repetitive after half of the game. Music is well done - it isn't the "Ori and the Blind Forest" excellent, but I loved the main theme. It also isn't used too often (Star Wars Outlaws problem) and doesn't get boring. MECHANICS The mechanics here are pretty standard - there's nothing super innovative. Couple special moves, similar to other games, wings to glide, moving objects and that's basically it. Combat mechanics are the biggest con of this game - it isn't very precise. Attacks connect into combos, and every third of the series has longer animation, which can't be stopped. As this is just a little annoying, the most annoying thing is selecting enemies or lack of this system. Fenyx roughly follows the directions you input through mouse/keyboard or pad, but has huge problems with changing directions mid-combo. I thought that standard "lock on target" system will help it, but turning lock-on disables your ability to sprint for some reason, and sprint is required for some special attacks to execute. The enemies unblockable attacks tend to lock on the character and you have to dodge pretty late into the animation to actually dodge it. For me, it was a little too late to be intentional, but you can learn it. To sum up - combat system is "just fine" for playing on Normal, maybe Hard. It's max I'd recommend, as for higher difficulties you'd need more precision, which this system just isn't capable of. WORLD&STORY World is built in pretty standard sectors: Spring one, Desert-y/Drought-y one, one Autumn-ish, Snowy Mountain and FINAL VOLCANO (such a classic :D ). The locations are done beautifully, each with its' own character. As this is Ubisoft game, it has been overflown with collectibles and activities to do all around the map. As this game mimics the Zeldas, you can't see them on the map until you scout for the each one and "reveal" it. The extra activities are well thought out and pretty fun to do - there are fights, boss fights, and couple types of puzzles to do. Puzzles range from toddler's easy, through enjoyably hard. Some of them are annoying to solve (as the they require precisely timing your actions and depending on not-very-precise movement mechanics). If you plan to do all of the achievements, brace for some grinding to collect all of the useless cosmetic armours. The base game requires about 70 hours + 10 hours for The New God DLC. From my point of view, this should be everything that covers achievements, as The Lost Gods is completely different from the base game and Easter Realm isn't even about Fenyx. The main story is fantastically written and acted - it is full of humour and jokes that fits Greek Mythology. I was really impressed with the story - I was expecting straightforward story just to keep you going through the map, and there are some unexpected twists. Through the whole game you listen to the Prometheus and Zeus commenting the story of Fenyx, which fills the emptiness you normally feel while doing sidequests. DLCs A New God This is the first DLC, which closes the story of Fenyx. It adds about 10 hours of gameplay, which consists of 90% puzzle solving. But: these puzzles are level-up from the game. They are harder, more interesting and simply better. I enjoyed every minute of this DLC. The story is still well written, with enjoyable dialogues which keep you on the track and nicely wraps the story. Myths of the Eastern Realm The second DLC, tells a story of a different character in the Chinese mythology. I haven't played it yet, maybe I'll come back here to review it after I play it. The Lost Gods This God-forsaken experiment shouldn't be a DLC. It changes most of the game mechanics, keeping the worst of them all. I understand it was a showcase of what this game engine can do, but I WOULD PREFER NOT TO KNOW. The game perspective is changed from TPP to the Isometric, which cuts your FOV so much, that you can't see the aerial enemies on the screen. Enemies damage is elevated by A LOT on a Normal, so every single fight is difficult. I like challenging games, but this is just annoying - 90% of deaths I had here were the ones when the character dodged to different direction that I entered. Here you can feel that not-very-precise movement and combat system much more. Story is not very engaging. It tries to tie the story with Fenyx, but it didn't work out for me - the new character, Ash, is just completely boring for the whole time, as her whole personality is "OK SO I AM GODS' SIDEKICK NOW" And the new skill tree. IT IS HIDEOUS. As it tries to offer more and add possibility to craft builds, you have to unlock slots to put the essences in. AND EVERY SLOT HAS TONS OF TEXT. It is just so unintuitive, and it is a problem not only with idea, but with whole UX and UI there. Ah yes, this isn't the end. On top of all that, YOU CAN'T SAVE A GAME. To save a game, you need to go to the Altar in-game, and pay save-a-game-fruit to save-a-game. AH, AND DON'T FORGET TO UPLOAD IT MANUALLY TO UBISOFT ONLINE SAVES, OR ELSE THE GAME WILL FORGET YOU SAVED A GAME. I lost 3 hours of grinding levels by that. And I was saving game at altars, I just didn't upload it manually to the "online save". And then, when I died in a hard fight, the game loaded the autosave from 3 hours earlier. After this, I gave up trying to like this DLC. OVERALL This is one of few examples of Ubisoft releasing a good game. It is all Ubisoft-y with open world, definitely too much optional content and forcing microtransactions in the main menu, but Ubisoft Quebec did there a really good job. I can honestly recommend buying the game with the "New God" DLC, to get the full story.