Immortals Fenyx Rising lets his bad dad off the hook too easily

Video games have a father problem. My colleagues covered the subject a few months ago on an episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, where they of the worst dad in video game history. (What’s up, Kratos and Joel?) Now I want to appoint another member to the glorious Hall of Bad Fathers: Zeus, of Immortals Fenyx rises.

Ubisoft’s ridiculously named open world action game, released last month for consoles, computers and the switch (technical), is apparently about the titular character, a Greek shield bearer named Fenyx. After beating the match, I’m less convinced it’s the case. Yes, you spend your time with Immortals in the bronze sandals of Fenyx, a front seat for yet another tale of yet another unexpected rise to greatness. But consider Immortals on the whole, it’s actually about Zeus, the Olympic gods, and the vital nature of fatherhood – how any behavior, however rotten, can apparently be written off and forgiven at the last minute.

Pampering follows for Immortals Fenyx rises.

Immortals Fenyx rises contains a split narrative based on the Greek myth. At first Typhon (basically the Balrog of ancient Greece) escapes from his underground prison, robs most of the Olympians of their powers and declares war on the pantheon. Zeus turns his tail and beats Prometheus for help. Prometheus shoots back with a bet: If a mortal can take down Typhon, Prometheus may not let an eagle swallow his liver every day. If the mortal fails, well, dan he will help. Zeus agrees.

Prometheus begins to tell the story of Fenyx. After a shipwreck, she wakes up on a beach and soon learns that every human being has been mysteriously turned to stone. (You can play Fenyx as husband or wife. I chose the latter.) She works with Hermes, the legendary messenger god, to put things right.

Along the way, Fenyx helps Aphrodite, the goddess of love; Athena, the goddess of wisdom; Ares, the god of war; and Hephaestus, the god of forging. In each search time she learns the terrible, unforgivable ways in which Zeus treated his descendants. He marries Aphrodite to Hephaestus and treats her no more than with a chess piece. He repeatedly did not trust Athena’s unparalleled insight and suffered serious deep uncertainty. He undercut and criticized Ares around every turn and literally threw Hephaestus off a freakin mountain. Short version: Zeus is a shit dad!

You learn all this through Fenyx’s eyes, yes, but it’s also told by Prometheus and Zeus, while Prometheus tells the plot and provides context, while Zeus jokes and generally refuses to take anything seriously. The vocal cast for these two roles is phenomenal: Elias Toufexis, who you may recognize as Adam Jensen from the recent Deus Ex games, play Prometheus, and Daniel Matmor (Socrates in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey) is Zeus.

The excellent vocal performance of Matmor is meant to make us believe that the main Olympian has found salvation, and it almost works. In a late-game mission, Zeus reflects on his own father (the titan Kronos) and says, “He was also a terrible father – almost as bad as I was.” Matmor gives so much gloomy reflection in this line that you want to believe Zeus really believes it. Much of the rest of the mission is filled with lines of dialogue where Zeus acknowledges his mistakes. During the preceding 39 hours, all of Matmor’s conversations are light and jovial. These heavier lines indicate that an arc is coming in full circle, or at least starting.

And then the turn hits.

Prometheus therefore acted all the time. Before the events of the game, Prometheus apparently embarked on his brother Atlas to free Typhon and the shipwreck Fenyx’s army. And then Zeus realizes that – plot twist! —Fenyx is his daughter. Oh, yes, and Zeus is the one who turned all the mortals into stone. (I remain in the dark about how exactly Zeus forgot that point.)

At this point, both plot threads – the one you play and the one you listen to – come together. Fenyx picks up the mountain of Prometheus on the right, while Zeus audibly concedes to the turn-all-to-stone thing, citing the inherent imperfection of mortal beings as his reason. Fenyx is endowed with a divine poison that she reached after defeating Typhon a few moments before. Prometheus, we are supposed to accept, hopes she will use it on Zeus. She refuses. “I know you’re not perfect. But you are my father and that is what matters, ”she says. ‘You thought you came out of this so easily? To say that you have made a mistake is the first step. ‘Classic.

Immortals then throw it in a flurry of endgame beats. Typhon reappears (who could see it coming?) And kidnaps Zeus. Fenyx pursues them, frees Zeus and fights Typhon again. All the gods team up and push the shit out of Typhon in a boss fight that admittedly has exciting moments.

I was with Immortals to the end. After Typhon’s good and death, Zeus and his children just reconcile … Within seconds they fight like in an episode of Arrested development. Everything is peaches and gravy. I’m no psychologist, but it’s hard to imagine that a literal eternity of neglect and poor treatment can wash away in one moment. I’m not buying it. There is just no way fatherhood is that easy.

Immortals largely takes a bold approach with his storytelling. Zeus and Prometheus fighting is really funny, and I can not remember a game with such a persistent narrative that remains compelling throughout. I’m not saying I think Fenyx should have killed Zeus because it does not align with her character, and also the death penalty is an insignificant sentence that should be abolished yesterday. But I think I expected the finale of the game to be just as novel as the rest of the story. How much more surprising would that be Immortalsthe end was, for example, Aphrodite tells Zeus to fuck? Or if Ares said, ‘You know what? Going with Hades, Dad, you’re a total jerk. ‘Yes, Zeus helped save the day, but he was still terrible – unforgivable – to all his children. One just action does not rewrite a history of injustice.

I never wanted to be a dad. The only moment in my life where I questioned it remotely was for just a fraction of a second – and that’s an embarrassment to admit – to The last of us, when Joel sets aside the fate of mankind for his substitute daughter. Moral consequences aside, this is a powerful moment. The way Immortalsa story was going on, I expected it to elicit a similar response, to make me wonder if fatherhood is actually on the map. But when the credits rolled, like a child of Zeus, I was let down.

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