Immortals Fenyx Rising's first piece of DLC, A New God, expands on the complexity of the base game's puzzles, testing the mettle of players but providing only a handful of opportunities for combat, exploration, and story.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is undoubtedly an underrated piece of 2020 gaming. It plucked just enough from Breath of the Wild and the greater pool of Ubisoft ideas to become not a carbon copy but an expansive world packed with action, varying levels of humor, and a celestial labyrinth of Olympian puzzles.
Poring over the deep corners of the game, I found myself constantly surprised by the effort the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey developers put into instilling their Greek mythology game with a pantheon of combat and puzzle-based challenges that fluctuated in difficulty and intricacy. Fenyx had a number of powers and traversal options that gave players numerous opportunities to solve and traverse obstacles. There were times a puzzle could be beaten without necessarily being solved or a combat technique would provide a final burst of movement to overcome an otherwise impassable hurdle.
A New God, Immortals‘ first piece of DLC, focuses tightly on the base game’s traversal and puzzle challenges, stripping out the open world, upgrade trees, and story that players came to recognize during their time in the Golden Isle.
The DLC begins after the conclusion of the main story: Typhon is defeated and the Greek world and its gods are saved from destruction. Fenyx, in their newfound glory, is now offered a seat among those same gods he or she freed during the game. First, however, Fenyx must complete a series of challenges proving their worth. With this simple premise there are a few places for A New God to go but it reigns in any spectacular twists or long-in-the-tooth beats. Did the humor in Immortals make you cringe? You’ll probably be thankful there isn’t much dialogue here. Despite admitting that not every joke landed, the tone Ubisoft set never felt that strange. It was a goofy game and I laughed more than I expected to. Expect similar sentiments to ring true through this DLC.
Fenyx will come across Zeus, Hermes, Athena, Hephaestus, Ares, and Aphrodite and they all retain their same personalities and personal flairs. Admittedly, I missed the banter between Zeus and Prometheus as their narration provided context and an interesting spin on well-known mythology. Most of the dialogue in the DLC is expository with a dash of humor sprinkled in. A god will provide idle chatter about what aspects of Fenyx are being tested before and after a puzzle or thank and congratulate them for the fall of Typhon. I’m not sure how many players will come into this DLC thinking it will be plot-driven but it’s helpful to get any expectations in check before undertaking what’s to come.
Olympos serves as the central hub for players. Unlike Immortals, challenges do not take place in the Vaults of Tartaros. The Vaults were bathed in purples and swirling celestial nebulas where Olympos is less sinister and more heavenly. The space is doused with fluffy cream-colored clouds, washed in warm pink hues and glittering with gold. Marble buildings and platforms act as floating constructs that would make any Bespin dweller blush. It is a breathtaking space that embraces the visuals Ubisoft strove for with each distinct area of Immortals.
Much like the Golden Isle, Olympos is sectioned off into four zones representing each god. It’s a condensed hub that does make me long for a more open area but in this DLC, it makes sense. Players can run around the hub searching for secrets but only a few corners hide anything of interest. It mainly acts as solid ground to enter into challenges. Surprisingly, not every challenge is available at the start, players must complete the first three for each god before opening up new ones. To access a few of these challenges, players may need to do mild puzzle solving to open a gate or use a newly unlocked power that is rewarded deeper into the DLC.
Though I understand the rationale behind not making this hub too congested with things to do, its large playable space does beg the question as to why it was so big in the first place. Plates that launch Fenyx far distances and lengthy spiral staircases make it seem as if there is more under the surface but there really isn’t. Instead, it’s just an impressive space that feels opulent just for the sake of it. Maybe there are plans to do more with it in the future?
A New God acts as a separate piece of content from the base game. To access, players will need to select it from the main menu. Strangely, nothing carries over between the two outside of cosmetics but considering the complexity of the challenges, it makes sense. A New God will grant Fenyx nearly max stats, meaning that regardless of how much players discovered throughout the Golden Isle, they will be strong enough to tackle what’s to come.
Having maximum health and stamina is a necessity because players won’t be allowed to use potions to heal and recover stamina midway through challenges. Thankfully, players have all the boons and abilities an endgame Fenyx would have. Most challenges that aren’t flat out puzzles are difficult and extensive enough that they will sap most stamina or leave players with just enough excess to perform a godly power if they messed up its execution the first time.
Players need to become familiar with Athena’s Dash and Ares’ Wrath. The Dash allows players to shoot horizontally through lasers without taking damage while Ares’ Wrath acts as an additional jump. There are gauntlet-like endurance trials where players will need to mix multiple Godly Powers in succession and with good timing to push through. Some of my favorites were boosting along with the wings, dashing through a laser field, pulling out the bow and slowing down time to hit a target to trigger air vents, then gliding into them for the next section. A New God tests players similarly to the hardest challenges in Immortals and it may take some time before you remember to initiate a glide after using a power to avoid resetting at a check point.
New kinks in puzzles are introduced to make sure everything isn’t too familiar. Magnetic platforms that draw in or push out objects are used to create moving platforms or kinetic sections that require fast reactions and foresight. Stamina orbs that give Fenyx back a few crucial blue chunks of stamina are helpfully placed around Olympos and in challenges where players aren’t likely to touch down on the ground anytime soon.
Physics puzzles that require players to mash objects across distances with Hephaestus’ Hammer or yank and throw them with Herakles’ Strength can have mixed results as things don’t always land or roll where you want them too. A few times I found myself frustrated with the checkpoint system pushing me back too far and once I had to completely reset a puzzle involving moving two balls around a series of obstacles because one ball traveled far past its trigger to activate air vents for another ball to cross a gap. Though I was never entirely lost for what to do, there were enough “a ha” moments that I felt accomplished after executed a perfect combinations of smarts and dexterous button presses.
Regardless, A New God is not a lengthy DLC by any means. Its few dozen puzzles offer varying lengths of difficulty and any combat challenges encountered are usually easy enough to brute force your way through. Did you enjoy puzzle solving in Immortals Fenyx Rising? If not, then you won’t find much solace here. And once every challenge is completed there is little reason to go back. Hermes will inform players at the beginning of the DLC there are artifacts to collect that tie into various myths and gods in the Greek pantheon. Players will find them in optional chests in each challenge. Some require a lot of effort where others just make you think a tiny bit harder and ask you to apply what was learned in the challenge. I usually sought these chests out the first time through a challenge because I didn’t know if I would return again to some of the longer ones simply to open an optional chest.
Immortals Fenyx Rising: A New God stands on the strength of the base game’s many captivating puzzles and challenges. In the dense Greek world there were so many Vaults and side activities to uncover that it was an embarrassment of riches. Those who didn’t want to wait for more should embrace A New God for the handful of new mechanics it introduces–including a coveted triple jump–and be satisfied with another reason to dive back into the game so soon after launch. Players expecting more combat and more story are likely going to be disappointed but the next two episodes of DLC tease content that may drastically mix up the formula. Fenyx’s journey is not over yet and for that I’m thrilled.
