Immortals Fenyx Rising dev comments on Breath of the Wild comparisons

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Immortals' game director talks inspirations for the game formerly known as Gods and Monsters

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Immortals Fenyx Rising, the game formerly known as Gods and Monsters, was officially re-revealed at last night's Ubisoft Forward. Arriving with a new name, gameplay tweaks, and a revamped art style, viewers were quick to draw Zelda: Breath of the Wild comparisons. 

There are plenty of similarities between the two games from the art style to the focus on stamina, as well as the overall world, and the fact that hero Fenyx can use her wings to glide across the map. In fact, some have gone as far as to draw direct comparisons between the trailers for the two titles:

We spoke to game director, Scott Phillips about the comparisons, who said that it's "cool" people making such claims. 

"For us, it’s cool to be compared to Breath of the Wild. It’s obviously considered a masterpiece. It’s a fantastic game," explains Phillips, before adding, "I think any time you make a game, you’re going to be compared to something else, because all game creation, all art creation, all everything is… you know, you build from what you know, and you create something new."

"Our inspirations range from Ratchet and Clank to Super Mario Odyssey to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, obviously. We have a pedigree from spending three years on that, on Ancient Greek history," adds Phillips. "So I think, you know, what we’ve created is really unique. And once you get your hands on it and start progressing through the entire experience, you’ll feel that we brought something very special to this game."

Interestingly enough, when it comes to the art style, Phillips says that the art director on the game gained most inspiration from the Studio Ghibli movies. 

"Early on, our art director felt that Studio Ghibli was the biggest inspiration for him: the sort of painterly style – realistic but with stylised proportions and visuals – to really convey the epic-ness of focusing on Greek mythology."

"Because, you know, with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which is where we had come from, we had spent a lot of time learning about Greek mythology and Greek history, but it was much more heavily on the history and recreating exactly what was there, versus with Immortals Fenyx Rising – we wanted to tell a grander, over-the-top, much more mythologically focused story that was brought into the 21st century for a whole new audience."

Immortals Fenyx Rising is launching December 3 on Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Google Stadia. 

Read our preview of the game, where we said that Immortals Fenyx Rising is family-friendly fantasy with just a whiff of loneliness.

Sam Loveridge
Sam Loveridge
Brand Director, GamesRadar+

Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.