Buy Immortals Fenyx Rising

Myths of the Eastern Realm is the second DLC for Immortals Fenyx Rising. Unlike the first expansion, this adventure isn't a continuation of the main storyline. Instead, it's a stand-alone romp through a small portion of Chinese mythology.

You start the DLC as Ku, a human male who wakes in a cave to find all of his fellow humans turned to stone. Venturing out, there are demons wandering around and two gods that need your help: Nuwa and Gong Gong. It seems that an evil force has torn a scar in the universe and upset the balance of the world. It's up to you to help the gods and save the heavens and the earth.

If the plot sounds familiar, it's because it's roughly the same general outline as the base game. The main difference is that the DLC is based on Chinese mythology rather than Greek mythology, and your power level ramps up more quickly due to the smaller size of the DLC. Depending on your play style, it's likely that you'll complete the story in five to eight hours.

While I won't claim to be an expert on Chinese mythology (so I may have missed some of the finer humor), plenty still came through. The biggest misses with the DLC are the absence of secondary quest lines, and the limited chatter between the gods and Ku. Because both gods only have a single quest line to complete, the DLC doesn't really encourage you to explore. Aside from collecting health before the final battle, the need simply wasn't there. This is a shame because it likely means missed opportunities to learn more about the myths and culture driving the game.

For example, at one point, I came across a large stone turtle, and Nuwa has a throwaway line about why it's missing legs. There is a myth that tells the story, but the game doesn't delve into it. The same is true of the chatter between the gods or with the pair of dragons that you befriend. It's a complete missed opportunity to mine the myths, the way the base game did with Zeus and Prometheus.

Having a new map to explore was fun, and I'll likely return to take in the sights, but don't expect anything too large. What's here feels similar in size to one of the regions in the main game, even if it is split into two distinct halves. Side note: If you zoom out on the map, the two halves of the map look like the yin and yang symbol.

Along with the new map, there are new puzzle types to test your mental agility. Some are easier than others, but either way, it was nice to see some variety and not a repetition of what came before. There are still some precision mobility puzzles that are bound to cause a little frustration, given the game's lack of precise movement in tight spaces. If I could fix anything about Immortals Fenyx Rising, it would be this. Anyone who has tried to navigate a ball down a narrow ledge or stack crates knows exactly what I'm talking about here. On the upside, the frustrating puzzles are all optional.

Navigation in general does feel improved in Myths of the Eastern Realm, in part because of the accelerated power curve. Unlike the base game, I never found myself struggling to climb a mountain or make a dash due to a lack of stamina. Yes, stamina is still there to act as a limiter, but it feels more like a soft limit than a hard one because you have so much more of it.

Finally, there are the boss fights. Because of the limited quest lines, it's easy to encounter a boss before you're fully powered up. In general, this isn't a bad thing, but it means the boss fights will take longer. Unfortunately, the boss fights aren't as creative as you're used to. They ramp up the difficulty (perhaps in an attempt to extend gameplay by encouraging you to level up Ku) instead of acting as their own puzzles to solve.

The first boss I encountered was Sheng Sheng, a large demonic monkey. Beating him was a matter of avoiding a punishing series of area effect ground assaults and then chipping away at his health. The pattern was simple, and it didn't really change, which left the boss fight feeling unsatisfying. This played out across all the bosses, whereas fighting groups of regular monsters felt like you had to be on your toes. I was hoping to see more boss creativity, such as the fight against Medusa in the base game, where reflecting her attacks was key to a quick win.

Once you've beaten the DLC, you unlock the ability to use any item you earned as Ku as a cosmetic in the base game. No, it's not going to change the experience, but it's still a fun little tweak for those who like to get the perfect look for Fenyx.

In the end, Myths of the Eastern Realm feels like an abbreviated version of the core Immortals Fenyx Rising experience. The main character and the gods have been swapped out, but little has changed in the overall feel. It's not a bad expansion by any means, and if you enjoyed the original, this is a good excuse to fire up the game again to explore a new region. The superficial treatment of the underlying content feels like a real missed opportunity. Given the care that Ubisoft typically puts into research for its games, Myths of the Eastern Realm comes across as more akin to Cliffs Notes than a novel.

Score: 7.0/10