Immortals Fenyx Rising: Myths of the Eastern Realm

Upon completing Immortals Fenyx Rising: Myths of the Eastern Realm, I wondered if the series would become Ubisoft’s new flagship for taking players across the tomes of history.

For so long, Assassin’s Creed has been a grand vessel for taking players on voyages to the past. We’ve seen the Crusades, Ancient Rome, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and even Atlantis. Who knows where the games will go next?

Immortals Fenyx Rising acted as an evolution of Ubisoft Quebec’s work on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and its dabbling in the Greek Pantheon of gods. And yes, it was also an answer to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But human history is riddled with mythology. Stories about how our species came to be change from culture to culture yet always contain familiar threads.

In that aspect, Immortals Fenyx Rising‘s new DLC, Myths of the Eastern Realms, is a variation on a familiar theme. Players won’t find any unprecedented surprises here. Myths seems to be an effort to not necessarily recycle old content with a new coat of paint. Instead, players will find that developer Ubisoft Chengdu has taken an existing template and layered it with Chinese mythology. There are new spins on old challenges, a new map, a few new powers, and a new cast of characters. But ultimately, Myths is comfortable in its own skin without taking too many risks.

Players are swiftly introduced to Ku, a young man that acts as the protagonist of the DLC rather than giving the option to customize a character. Ku awakes in the Mortal Lands, where everyone around him has been turned to stone and the balance between Heaven and Earth has been disrupted. An evil force known as the Scar has burst forth from the Bu Zhou mountain and Ku must figure out what has happened.

Myths‘ cast of characters is relatively small, meaning the story is much more contained than the base game. Ku meets Nuwa, the goddess responsible for creating humans, who aids him on his journey. Gone is the narration between Zeus and Prometheus. Nuwa acts as a motherly figure, afraid for Ku who tries to keep him out of danger despite wanting the chaos removed from the Mortal Lands. Ku, for his part, is brimming with bravery and determination, his youthful attitude and optimism never straying too far.

Not only does the voice acting feel authentic for the new characters, it never becomes a parody. Ubisoft Chengdu has a loving approach for this world and the writing. Those who lamented the humor in Immortals Fenyx Rising will be met with significantly less jokes in Myths. But that doesn’t mean the game lacks any humor or warmth. I chuckled frequently between chunks of dialog and actually wished to see Ku’s journey to the end out of curiosity and concern.

One thing to keep in mind about Myths is that it is short. On lower difficulties the story can be powered through in about five hours, with mopping up collectibles adding another five to seven hours. Because everything is contained as a smaller DLC, the story can feel a bit rushed for those hoping for a longer journey. There were times the story tripped me up because I felt like I was moving from beat to beat at a rapid pace and being given new plot and drive before I could digest what had just happened or had been said.

That being said, Myths‘ shorter run time also means that progression through the world feels more fluid and contained. The map is perhaps about a third of the base game’s but still impresses in how chunks of land are packed with mini challenges.

Myths wants to soak the world with Chinese mythology and often does. However, it’s hard to ignore that a lot of the DLC is a palette swap. Bears and boars are virtually identical to the ones encountered by Fenyx. Gorgons’ snake features are replaced by a furry beast while the cyclops is replaced by a towering yokai straight out of Nioh.

Much of the core loops and concepts from Immortals Fenyx Rising remain here. If you want a truly deep dive, you can read my review of Immortals.

Key items like ambrosia to increase health and Zeus’ lightning bolts to raise stamina have been replaced by Xi Rang and Sky Agate. Players will still collects crystallized currency to upgrade equipment effectiveness and all the skills given to Fenyx are handed off to Ku, just with different names. But I did appreciate that the combo meter has a visual flair to it that also increases the damage and effectiveness of the Blades of Huang Di and other skills.

While I’m not necessarily disappointed in these palette swaps, I do wish that the enemies could have seen more variety. Immortals Fenyx Rising had a healthy bestiary for the most part but it would have been great for Ubisoft Chengdu to invent some new baddies outside of a handful of new boss fights.

Visually, the game still looks impressive. The bold colors of the Immortals world serves Myths and Chinese lore well. Everything is still doused in greens, blues, and pinks but the one-off challenge Gateways actually take after the A New God DLC released recently.

Puzzles, one of the best part of Immortals, isn’t slept on here. Ubisoft Chengdu obviously took inspiration from Ubisoft Quebec and made sure the player wasn’t far from any potential challenge. Some new elements make old challenges feel fresh. Players will manipulate small wind turbines to let a stream of air trigger a chest. Ku can use the grapple to cover distances and traps by grabbing onto rings. There’s even blocks that change size when hit, making pressure plates and navigation have a bit more depth.

There aren’t as many challenges but there’s enough to constantly satisfy that craving. And frankly, Immortals‘ sum of parts made for an incredible package.

With combat, progression, and feel not getting any major overhaul, Myths has the tendency to come across as filler content. Yes, the world is different but you are tackling everything in a similar way. Even the story has familiar beats. Yet I think the breezy pace of the DLC does work in its favor. Players will have a good amount of health, stamina, and unlocks for Ku, meaning they can dive right into the content without skipping a beat.

Though not revolutionary, Immortals Fenyx Rising: Myths of the Eastern Realm shows that Ubisoft has a formula here that allows for a great deal of experimentation. The DLC won’t shock fans of the base game with new surprises but it should delight them with an charming story and another opportunity to explore the world with these enjoyable mechanics. Delving into Chinese mythology was a smart step but I would like to see Ubisoft Chengdu have a shot at a fuller vision, one that allows for Asian-based mythology and lore to get the massive spotlight it deserves. If Assassin’s Creed can be given the opportunity to flex its muscles and change setting year after year, what’s to say the same can’t be done for Immortals?