A triumph of open world design, exploration, and writing. And one of the most endearing characters you'll meet in a videogame.

Immortals: Fenyx Rising is an excellent new adventure title for Ubisoft, full to bursting with genuine comedy, excellent gameplay, and devious puzzles. While there are a few technical hiccups, underutilized DualSense, and sub-30 fps Switch ports, the game is fantastic on all platforms. Come for the bizarre Greek mythology, stay for the stellar gameplay -- Immortals: Fenyx Rising is a fantastic holiday treat.

As a newly unique offering from Ubisoft, Immortals Fenyx Rising is something to savour. Yeah, it’s the publisher's third massive open-world release in the space of three months but what you get here is charming and refreshing to a fault. A wonderfully realised journey into myth and legend where everything fits as neatly as a chest-plate forged in the fires of Hephaistos’s Great Forge. The story, the combat, the puzzles, the exploration, the challenge, the Creed, the Zelda. The Fenyx.

Ubisoft Quebec aims for a grand epic tale and while the game doesn't quite hit those heights, the developer does put together a pretty good summer blockbuster.

Quotation forthcoming.

From stoner oracles to gods who have been turned into trees, to the sheer batshittiness of its entire cast of gods and monsters, Immortals Fenyx Rising is a genuine joy to play, and a real treat for Greek mythology lovers. It’s got personality to burn, and both puzzle and combat design capable of mechanically backing it up. It’s a shame that the platforming can be so unforgiving, and that crashes happen far more than you’d like them to, but these are both problems that can be rectified in future updates. Once that happens, Immortals could easily - and surprisingly - go down as one of the best games of the year.

Immortals Fenyx Rising has a strong argument for being the nadir of open world action-adventure games.