The adventures of Fenyx take a backseat in Immortals Fenyx Rising‘s second DLC adventure, Myths of the Eastern Realm. The reigns are handed over to young Ku, who finds himself in a situation suspiciously similar to Fenyx at the start of the base game. The gods are missing and everyone in the area has been turned to stone for reasons unknown. The story does start to diverge in narrative tone after you meet the only surviving god, Nuwa, but the first few missions will definitely trigger some deja vu for players. Fortunately, the DLC gets going quickly with Ku gaining all of his skills rapidly, and, blessedly, at full power.
The story is hardly the only thing that will feel familiar to gamers, as the entire DLC is just a giant skin over the base game. The names of items and skills have changed, but they’re otherwise precisely the same as those in the base game. It would have been nice to get some new enemies, but outside of a few bosses, you’ll be fighting the same minions you killed a thousand times already. Thankfully, although the core is unchanged the new skin the game wears is beautiful.
This new land to explore looks even more bright and colorful than the base game, and there’s plenty to find. Unfortunately, one area the DLC is lacking is in the narration. Whether you loved or hated Zeus and Prometheus they did add a lot of flavor to the campaign and fleshed out the stories of the gods and monsters you encountered. While you will have banter with Goddess Nuwa from time to time the exploration of the mythology backing the DLC is largely left to text-only scrolls you’ll find scattered around the island. I am far less familiar with Eastern mythology than I am with the Greek gods, and I feel like this DLC missed out on the opportunity to really introduce us to the Eastern gods in a meaningful way.
Overall Immortals Fenyx Rising Myths of the Eastern Realm DLC ends up being a mixed bag. Its shorter playtime and smaller map meant the DLC didn’t overstay its welcome, but it also means the story is much shallower. Most of the gameplay elements continue to shine through, but there are some odd choices made here. The vaults — now branded as gates — in particular are frustrating due to an emphasis on gameplay styles that don’t fit with the controls available. But, taken altogether, the good does outweigh the bad. If you enjoyed Immortals Fenyx Rising and are ready for some new adventures then Myths of the Eastern Realm will scratch the itch for you. I don’t know if we’ll see Ku again in the final DLC adventure due later this year since we’re returning to Greece for that one, but it would be nice to see him again. There’s a lot of Eastern mythology left to explore, and I hope this is just the beginning.
Related:
Immortals Fenyx Rising A New God DLC Review
https://coin-op.tv/immortals-fenyx-rising-a-new-god-dlc-review/