Ubisoft releases a lot of open-world, action-adventure games. With Immortals Fenyx Rising and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releasing within a month of one another, though, they’re competing with themselves directly. Since the holiday season is coming up and many won’t be able to afford or have time for both, I figured I’d break down the differences and similarities between the two games. That way, prospective players will have a better idea as to which they’ll enjoy over the other. This may also be useful for AC fans who are trying to decide if they want to purchase Immortals. I’m going to mostly be focusing on Immortals here, as there’s already plenty of info on the other game.
To begin with, both Immortals and AC Valhalla have a lot in common. Despite not being an Assassin’s Creed game, Immortals still clearly has the series in its DNA. Fenyx can climb anything and everything just like an AC protagonist, although the way it feels is different. They have to use up stamina to climb and aren’t as nimble as their AC cousins. Fenyx doesn’t cover as much ground, but also doesn’t have that “grab onto everything and parkour” focus that the AC movement does. What’s more, Fenyx can jump and glide, making the mobility in Immortals a very different beast than what you may be used to.
As for combat, there are also very noticeable similarities. To be honest, Immortals takes more cues from Odyssey than Valhalla, which makes sense due to them sharing a developer. The combat is broader and more cartoony in Immortals, though. Unlike Valhalla, Fenyx only gets three weapons: a sword, ax, and bow. This means that there’s far less to experiment with, and your attacks don’t change up. The focus is more on adding new skills to enhance the repertoire. Fenyx also only has six skills versus the larger pool of assignable ones in AC. The trade-off is that you use them much more often since they tap into stamina instead of entire adrenaline bars. Parrying in Immortals works like it does in Odyssey, with two buttons being pressed versus the single press of Valhalla.
Worlds apart
The largest difference is the way the games handle their worlds. AC Valhalla has a realistic, lush art style while Immortals is cartoony and brightly colored. One of them is very clearly a fantasy game, creating a stark contrast. Valhalla‘s world definitely feels more intimate and lived-in. It also has way less stuff crammed into its space, which makes sense considering the larger map. The way the two games handle side content has some overlap, but the philosophies are quite different too. Immortals is very inspired by Breath of the Wild, but you still scout from a vantage point to expose a section of map. While Valhalla still has this fill in all the activities, all of the ones in Immortals require you to search in a first-person view and discover each individually.
Both games have a lot of chests to find, and while Valhalla often has you figuring out how to get into a house or location to gain access to chests, Immortals often blocks them off with puzzles. The biggest difference, though, is how the two games handle those side activities. All the humans in Immortals have been turned to stone, so there are very few character-centric sidequests. Meanwhile, Valhalla is swarming with NPCs with unique stories to tell. As far as story campaigns go, Immortals focuses mainly on completing the quest lines for four disabled gods — these function similarly to the arcs in Valhalla.
There are a lot of similarities between the games but they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. Immortals is a good deal shorter than Valhalla, but it’s also sillier and has broader movement and combat. Slow-paced, narrative-driven conquest, or a snappier, colorful fantasy romp. Which one you’ll prefer is going to come down to what you’re in the mood for, along with personal taste.
