Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2020
Released: 2020
Sadly, my experience with BOTW was a one that didn’t capture me the way it did with fans, I’ve tried for multiple hours, but had to give up in the end. Assassin’s Creed on the other hand, I’m very familiar with and I have truly loved the gameplay from the recent entries: Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. Regardless of the BOTW similarities, Immortals truly pulled me in!
Aiming at a more comic, colourful and comic approach to open world exploring, puzzles and simple combat, Immortals stands out as a fairly fresh idea. It lends a large number of ideas from BOTW, but why not when that game is so popular?
Aiming at a more comic, colourful and comic approach to open world exploring, puzzles and simple combat, Immortals stands out as a fairly fresh idea. It lends a large number of ideas from BOTW, but why not when that game is so popular?
The visual style, for instance, while it’s clearly an Assassin’s Creed engine running it, looks like a more detailed and higher resolution version of BOTWs world. Even slightly more cartoonish in its vibrant colour scheme and fantasy locations.
The dungeons scattered about the landscape can be directly compared to BOTWs equivalent, containing small levels within, which play around similar physics based puzzles. The energy meter is also borrowed, making climbing and gliding tricky at the beginning of your adventure, as you run out of stamina.
However, once the obvious similarities are out of the way, the gameplay differences between Immortals versus BOTW, start showing. Upgrading your character is a nice welcome and is easy to level up quickly. Soon, your stamina meter reaches further and become less of a nuisance and more a goal to master.
However, once the obvious similarities are out of the way, the gameplay differences between Immortals versus BOTW, start showing. Upgrading your character is a nice welcome and is easy to level up quickly. Soon, your stamina meter reaches further and become less of a nuisance and more a goal to master.
The combat is vastly better than BOTW, lending itself straight from the AC series. Cumbersome button placement and layout of BOTW, which probably made sense for fans of the series, is replaced with the precise and entertaining combat seen in recent AC games. Gaining new fighting moves, combos and attacks, as well as new armour and weapons, further engages you into the awesome battles against the many beasts.
I really enjoyed the combat and it flowed so nicely for an AC veteran like myself. I’m guessing this where it divides the BOTW and Immortals fans; what you're used to in combat counts a lot how quickly you get into it.
I really enjoyed the combat and it flowed so nicely for an AC veteran like myself. I’m guessing this where it divides the BOTW and Immortals fans; what you're used to in combat counts a lot how quickly you get into it.
Leaving the Zelda comparisons aside, let's talk about what's unique about Immortals. The story is entertainingly presented, with it's roots clearly in Greek mythology but played out in a comical fashion. There's a lot of jokes and funny comments from the two ancient Greek Gods, Zeus and Prometheus, who work as narrators for your journey.
Your main goal being to free all the other Gods and finally defeat the main villain, Typhon, in a Volcano centred in the map, another BOTW similarity I realise, sorry.
Immortals cleverly fills it’s world with a lot of varied tasks to do. Unlike BOTW, puzzles are not only exclusive to the dungeons, but scattered numerously about the surface world too. Anything from moving boxes, puzzling together pieces of a painting, to using a bow and arrow and guiding the arrow through hoops or running challenges getting from A to B the fastest, to outright battles against mini bosses.
The physics based puzzles are never overwhelmingly, open ended, to solve either. But they do increase in their difficulty, consistently challenging you further. I love finding ways to roll boulders, put weights on switches to make doors open or smash hidden walls to discover new paths. The world has a lot of puzzles and mini fights to discover!
Visually, Immortals is very attractive on my Xbox Series X. Similar to AC Valhalla, it runs at 60fps, making it a big step up from open worlds last gen. Cleverly, it divides the world into distinct visual environments. Ranging from open grass fields with flowers and flowing rivers, desert like canyons with giant statues and ruins of battle, all the way to a snow filled, freezing mountain covered in a blizzard.
It’s a visual treat to look at, with a vibrant and dreamy, fantasy style. A very appealing game to look at. It does lack small variation detail, like the rain and lightning storms, of BOTW but has a lovely day and night cycle.
I appreciated the playthrough length of Immortals, while overwhelmingly large at first, each area goes quickly to complete and gaining enough upgrades to continue the story isn’t hard on normal settings. You can, however, tailor what difficulty to play by altering combat and puzzle difficulties individually. Typically, open world games are hitting the 100+ play hours these day, this hits a nice spot of 40+ hours.
I’d really recommend looking into this title, be it fans of BOTW or Assassins Creed, or just a general interest in light combat, puzzles and platforming. It’s a cartoonish and comical approach to both visuals and historic story, making it a nice game to play for the whole family.
I appreciated the playthrough length of Immortals, while overwhelmingly large at first, each area goes quickly to complete and gaining enough upgrades to continue the story isn’t hard on normal settings. You can, however, tailor what difficulty to play by altering combat and puzzle difficulties individually. Typically, open world games are hitting the 100+ play hours these day, this hits a nice spot of 40+ hours.
I’d really recommend looking into this title, be it fans of BOTW or Assassins Creed, or just a general interest in light combat, puzzles and platforming. It’s a cartoonish and comical approach to both visuals and historic story, making it a nice game to play for the whole family.
With addictive, smooth gameplay and lots of stuff to explore and upgrade, it keeps things fresh and interesting throughout it's completion time. It’s a perfect example of blending ideas from other famous title, while at the same time making something unique and entertaining on its own premises.
