Can you imagine a game that combines elements from Elden Ring and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker? Well, Ubisoft tried to incorporate elements from the aforementioned games when it worked on the sequel to Immortals Fenyx Rising – before it cancelled it, of course.
Ubisoft announced last month that it was canceling Immortals 2, codenamed Oxygen. According to the developer, it plans to redirect resources to its most popular IPs including Assassin’s Creed in the wake of several years of financial hardship.
New details have emerged about Ubisoft’s plans for the ill-fated project prior to its cancelation. According to a new report by Axios, two sources familiar with the development of Immortals 2 revealed that the sequel was inspired by Hawaiian Polynesian culture.
Immortals 2 reportedly aimed to shake up Ubisoft’s open-world formula by removing quest markers and allowing players to figure out how to move forward with the story. The gameplay mechanics takes inspiration from Elden Ring, the blockbuster RPG developed by FromSoftware.
Gamers reportedly had to track animals, navigate via the stars, or follow the wind as they explored fictional islands inspired by New Zealand, Tahiti, Easter Island, and Hawaii, expanding the game world beyond the realm of ancient Greek mythos.
Sources revealed that the Immortals sequel featured more realistic graphics and removed the narrator from the first game. The project also had less emphasis on puzzle solving and featured a more malleable story that leaned heavily on player choice.
According to the report, Immortals 2 featured a heavily customizable protagonist including a choice of gender. The main character would need to impress Polynesian gods in order to attain elemental and shape-shifting powers. Players gained new tattoos based on their choices as the story progressed.
Sources shared that the developers were considering rebranding Immortals 2 as an original game before it was canceled. It would have made sense as the canceled project featured a lot of gameplay elements that were a huge departure from the original.
Early in July, there were rumblings that Ubisoft pulled the plug on Immortals 2. The French video game publisher confirmed to VGC that it was reallocating creative teams and resources to other projects soon after.
As part of our global strategy, we are redirecting and reallocating some creative teams and resources within the Quebec studio to other unannounced projects,” Ubisoft said. “The expertise and technologies these teams developed will serve as an accelerator for the development of these key projects focused on our biggest brands. We have nothing further to share at this time.”
Ubisoft revealed during its Q1 earnings call that it is planning to release ten games before the end of the fiscal year including one “large game”. The list of upcoming games includes Assassin’s Creed Mirage, XDefiant, Skull and Bones, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Industry experts assume that Star Wars: Outlaw is the mystery “large game” that the publisher mentioned in its plans.
