Immortals Fenyx Rising A New God DLC - Review

When it comes to DLC, there are generally three kinds, the first are cosmetic, making no real impact to the game itself, apart from letting you dress like a unicorn or such. The second are what you would call extras, again they don’t really impact the world, but give you a reason to venture back in and finally, the last, the story expansion, which is basically a new mini game in and of itself and the first DLC for Immortals Fenyx Rising lands in between the second two.

I say that it lands within the second two because there is no real story to enjoy, but there is a narrative thread to be found, regarding Fenyx being granted a seat at the big gods table. But that thread is really only there, to give you a reason to push forward, it is cheap and lazy, but it works, so I give them credit for that. Basically, in order to be granted a seat amongst the other gods, you have to prove you belong there and how do you do this, not by defeating Typhon, saving Zeus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite and Hephaistos, no you have to solve an inconceivable amount of puzzles. Like I said, thin, but it does give the gods more of a chance to provide their own unique wisdoms and observations and while some are fun, some seem to be slightly different takes on what they thought was wrong from the main storyline. Look, for A New God, you are not going to be seeing it on any most original story awards, but you will get some fun out of it, just don’t expect anything major from the story.

The star of the DLC is that of the gameplay and by gameplay I mean puzzles and there are a lot of them, in fact almost everything you do in this DLC is tied to a puzzle, even the combat. Puzzles are nothing new for the series, the main game is loaded with them, but there was more of an even consistency between those and other tasks, whereas here the balance is way in favour of them, so if you didn’t like them there, you won’t like them here. That is not to say they are bad puzzles, except the final trial from Hephaistos, that wind related nightmare can go jump, the quality of them isn’t the issue it is just the quantity, some other things to do would have helped. There are a few times when you have to fight some enemies, but they too are more puzzle than combat, for example, there was one where I had to push five enemies down a hole, something I hadn’t consciously done before.

It is not to say that the puzzles you are going to get here are just larger or harder versions of what you saw in the main game, while some might look like that, the game is including some new elements to help change things up. Magnets, portals and more are new and can take what looks like a straightforward puzzle and require some critical thinking, which is a nice change. Some trials are a mix of the combat and puzzles, but most are just puzzles and as the difficulty ramps up, the challenge goes along with it. One of the trials I enjoyed the most was from Ares, because it not only required some light puzzle solving, but then required me to fly around and combine some moves from the various gods, in order to make it to the end. Once I completed that trial, I felt refreshed, because up until that point, it was always press down this switch, roll this ball or other combinations of the same basic tasks and this was nothing like that.

Located in the trials are some extra upgrades to your health and stamina, but the big addition are the new weapons and gear, that you can upgrade even more with some new gems, located across the realm. The cost of upgrading the weapons is pretty steep, but the benefits to doing so are great, but there is a problem with that, you can’t take them back to the main game, so the lack of fights becomes even more apparent. It isn’t just that you can’t take them back, you can’t take anything into the game from your main save, even though it asks if you want to use that save when you start it. The lack of significance to the import and export, make it feel like a stand alone experience, but as the story continues on from the main game, is still connected, leaving it feeling weird.

When it comes to design, the visual aesthetic from the main game has carried across, but now that we can see Olympos in full, we get a chance to see the realm of the gods like never before. Well, when I say realm of the gods, it really is just the four main gods that we saw earlier and the central region, where Zeus hangs out. The throw away line that the other gods, like Demeter, Poseidon and so on, are busy feels cheap, even if we didn’t interact with them, it would have been fun to see the Immortals take on them. A lot of the trials all sport identical looks and you can really only tell them apart, when it comes to the massive statue of the god of the hour placed throughout them, but mostly they are just the same.

If you enjoyed the Tartarus pits from the main game, then you should enjoy A New God, it doesn’t offer a lot of new experiences, but the additions to the puzzles help take things further. The only real issue is the overall lack of other things to do, at least compared to the main game and while you can hunt around for a bunch of collectables, there is no reason to do so. While some might been annoyed at the lack of things to do, new gods and even that dance scene, A New God manages to add more enjoyment to a game that was already packed to the gills with content, I just wish I could do something more now that I am done.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Ubisoft

The Pros

+Getting a chance to hear from the gods is fun

+More puzzles, with new elements to keep things interesting

The Cons

-Almost nothing but puzzles all the time

-Can’t take the new gear with you, back to your main game save