Re-revealed last night during UbiForward after previously being leaked (as is the way for Ubisoft), Immortals Fenyx Rising is Gods & Monsters reborn with lots of things to like from what we’ve seen so far. The Breath of the Wild inspirations are obvious, though Immortals seems to have enough about it to help it stand on its own.
I cannot say the same for the new name.
Immortals Fenyx Rising reads like a name chosen by a marketing committee who’ve just jammed in some “epic” words to make it appeal to a sixth-generation console demographic. As well as reminding me a little of a Simpsons parody in the vein of Bonestorm, it just refuses to stay in my brain.
Ever since I heard about the name change, I have been rolling all three words around in my head in various orders. Maybe this is just me being dense (likely, to be honest), but I keep thinking of Immortals Rising and Fenyx Immortals and many other variations whenever the game comes to mind. I’ve even had to do double takes while writing this — Immortals Fenyx Rising simply does not stick in the mind.
I think it might be something to do with the use of “rise”, which has been way, way overdone over the last few years in pop culture. The Rise Of Skywalker, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, 300: Rise of an Empire, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rising Phoenix, Trials Rising, Narcos: Rise of the Cartels — where are we rising to? Are we flour?
Gods & Monsters had the opposite effect for me. I instantly knew what I was getting: a game featuring both of those things. Yes, it may share the same name as a Lana del Rey song and also a largely forgotten Tony Robinson show, but it’s still a name to rival other famous duets, such as Mel & Sue, Daphne & Celeste and Kane & Lynch. Argue amongst yourselves which of those has had the biggest impact, if you like.
While it’s definitely way too late in the cycle to change the name again, I’m going to be stubborn and keep calling Immortals Fenyx Rising Gods & Monsters in my brain every time it pops up. I don’t think I’m alone in that either.
A lot of people are hating on Immortals: Fenyx Rising. I think it looks great. The name change is dumb, though.
— Joey Ferris (@FerrisWheelPro) September 10, 2020
It's amusing to me how Immortals Fenyx Rising doesn't have a colon even though you practically hear the colon when people pronounce the name of the game. There's always a pause between Immortals and Fenyx.
— Chris Davis (@cdavis_games) September 10, 2020
imagine changing the name of your game from GODS & MONSTERS to IMMORTALS FENYX RISING wtf
— sloth emoji (@_pryors) September 10, 2020
I guess we’ll just have to see how Immortals Fenyx Rising’s name goes down when it launches on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, Stadia and PC on December 3rd.
READ NEXT: Ubisoft Confirms Far Cry 6 Will Offer 4K On PS4 & PS5 After All
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
