Immortals Fenyx Rising owes perhaps everything to Breath of the Wild. From its open-ended exploration to its stamina meter and climbing mechanics, Immortals Fenyx Rising comes very close to being a knockoff reskinned as a Greek epic. But the game does have some unique elements that make it stand apart from Breath of the Wild, like its heavier focus on combat and some charming narration from Prometheus and Zeus.
In fact, there’s one thing that Immortals Fenyx Rising actually does even better that we hope The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 adopts.
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Breath of the Wild’s combat, while varied and dynamic, could feel lackluster at times. While there was a lot of variety in terms of how you might approach any given situation, the nitty-gritty of combat boiled down to dodging and button-mashing at the right times. So the Breath of the Wild 2 developers could learn something from Immortals Fenyx Rising. The game feels the most different from Breath of the Wild whenever you confront some enemies and begin swinging your sword or greataxe around.
While the “Godly Powers” in Immortals Fenyx Rising initially seem like they’re similar to the Sheikah Slate and Runes from Breath of the Wild, they actually feel much more organic and useful in combat. That’s something the upcoming Zelda sequel can stand to emphasize more.
Based on the free Stadia demo at least, the Godly Powers system stands out as one of the biggest differentiators between the two games. While there were ways to use the power of the Rune in combat in Breath of the Wild, many of the Godly Powers in Immortals Fenyx Rising are primarily made for combat.
For example, Hephaistos’ Hammer summons a giant hammer to deal massive damage, while Ares’ Wrath uses spears to thrust enemies into the air. These skills can be upgraded over time. In Breath of the Wild 2, the Sheikah Slate’s Rune powers could be enhanced by incorporating more combat abilities directly into them.
Yes, you could use Cryonis to summon an ice block to climb in Breath of the Wild, but what if it could accentuate whatever weapon that Link was using? Maybe it could be used to enhance a weapon or to create more traditional offensive magic, like freezing enemies in place. While such a change wouldn’t be an exact copy of the Godly Powers, Breath of the Wild 2 could take the right cues from it to make combat much more engaging
Furthermore, they could have some variation with these powers from weapon to weapon, so using Cryonis with a spear doesn’t feel the same as using it with a sword. Adding more depth to combat would only further enhance the emphasis of play choice that Nintendo clearly cares about in the Breath of the Wild games. It would encourage people to test out the powers of all of the different runes with all of the different weapons.
A feature like this would also make Breath of the Wild‘s weapon degradation less of an issue if Nintendo is deciding to keep that feature around for the sequel. While Immortals Fenyx Rising is pretty shamelessly a Breath of the Wild clone, it’s still an enjoyable romp and one that Nintendo could pull from for Breath of the Wild 2.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is in development for Nintendo Switch.
