Immortals: Fenyx Rising is a brand new open-world epic from the developers of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. It’s set in a Greek Mythological world and borrows many elements that fans have become accustomed to with the usual Ubisoft formula but along with some heavy influences from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in terms of the gameplay mechanics and the similar (but not identical) art design.
It’s also a far more humorous adventure than the Assassin’s Creed series and makes light of the dark legends, stories, and tragedies that are usually found in Greek mythology. Immortals have done a great job of creating its own intriguing and setting itself up as one of the best games of 2020. Of course, with a game that wears its humor on its sleeve like this one, there are always going to be some Easter eggs and pop culture references for fans to find.
10 The Theme From The Shining
Stanley Kubrick’s horror film based on the Stephen King novel The Shining is one of the most influential horror films of all time. The film’s fanbase obviously extends to the development team behind Immortals: Fenyx Rising too as there’s a nice little reference to the film’s iconic soundtrack.
In the Valley of Eternal Spring, there are Lyres that players need to fire arrows at in the order of the notes to gain Charon Coins. The melody of 3,2,3,1,4 plays the creepy but unmistakable theme from The Shining movie.
9 The Invisible Bridge
If the developers are happy enough to reference The Shining in the game then it’s not beyond the imagination that they would reference one of the greatest action-adventure series of all time too with Indiana Jones.
In the film of that series Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy has to pass several tests at the Temple of Sun and one of these tests is taking a leap of faith on an invisible bridge. In Immortals, players have to do a similar thing in order to cross from the War’s Den area to an Amazonian island.
8 Join The Creed
Even though Immortals: Fenyx Rising unashamedly borrows a lot from Nintendo’s epic The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it still borrows heavily from Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed series too. Coming from the same team that created Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Immortals feels and plays like a lighthearted take on the Creed series.
Of course, there’s a huge element of self-awareness throughout the game’s story with its humor and that is never more obvious than when players are awarded an Achievement/Trophy named “Join the Creed”. This is awarded when players successfully land 10 stealth attacks in the game.
7 God Of War – Do Not Be Sorry
With God of War on the PlayStation 4 being one of the best games in a generation it’s not a stretch to see why the developers at Ubisoft are fans. Of course with the elements of gods and mythology being the main theme of both games there are, of course, going to be parallels between the two.
In one of the more humorous moments in the game, players will get to see Immortals’ own God of War Ares in the form of a chicken is playing a board game with a bear. During this game, he will utter the phrase “do not be sorry, be better”. This is of course a line from a scene in 2018's God of War when Kratos is scolding Atreus.
6 Kratos’ War Paint
The references to God of War don’t just stop at the use of famous lines and quotes from that game in Immortals: Fenyx Rising. In the Hall of Gods, players are able to completely change and customize the look of their own Fenyx.
The developers at Ubisoft have made it very easy to create their own version of Kratos complete with the iconic beard and the distinctive warpaint. Of course, Fenyx’s voice and build don’t come close to the muscular proportions of Kratos or Christopher Judge’s booming voice work but it’s a nice touch either way.
5 Bob Ross
The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross was a popular TV show that ran from 1983 to 1994 for 31 seasons. It was a popular show that has found something of a second wind thanks to his shows being uploaded on YouTube and reruns.
One of the more memorable lines from Ross was “happy little tree friends” which is used by a large robot-like creature in one of the game’s quests. The machine is a former artist who has lost his hands, and of course, it’s Fenyx’s job to retrieve them.
4 Knights Of The Zodiac
The Knights of the Zodiac/Saint Seya series is a popular manga and anime series based around Greek mythology. It has been adapted into videogames, novels, and there several different versions of the anime with the most recent being a Netflix exclusive.
It’s obvious that the developers at Ubisoft are also fans of the long-running series as they have hidden a sneaky little allusion to it in the game. During the “Bolt in Blue” quest where Phosphor is located there is a golden box complete with straps that look like the Pandora Box from the Saint Seya series.
3 Kassandra And Alexios
As mentioned above, Immortals: Fenyx Rising has many features and mechanics that make it comparable to Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed series. The game even goes as far as rewarding its players with a trophy that directly references it.
However, in a much less subtle nod to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey players can purchase – using Club Points – the very same outfits that the protagonists Alexios and Kassandra of Odyssey wore.
2 Does Your Weapon Keep Breaking?
Immortals: Fenyx Rising isn’t at all subtle when it comes to borrowing elements from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In fairness to Ubisoft, Immortals certainly isn’t the first game to do this and it won’t be the last but this particular reference is more like a cheeky dig at one of the more annoying elements of Nintendo’s epic adventure game.
At a certain point in the game, Fenyx will be helped by some demi-god soldiers who will eventually ask “does your weapon keep breaking? I think I’m doing something wrong”.
1 Logs And Monsters
When Immortals: Fenyx Rising was first announced it was originally called Gods and Monsters. It can certainly be argued that the original working title was far superior and straight to the point than what was released, the game’s content was far more important.
The game makes a funny little reference to this name of old with one of the Trophies/Achievements in being called “Logs and Monsters”.