Image source: Ubisoft
It’s always sad hearing of canceled video game projects that will never see the light of day, especially when they sound so damn cool. Ubisoft’s 2020 RPG Immortal’s Fenyx Rising may have kicked off the franchise in a steady if not spectacular fashion, but it turns out the developer had ambitious plans moving forward. Sadly, we’ll never know, as the Immortals sequel was recently canned. Thanks to a recent leak, we now know it was planned as a Polynesian action-adventure mashup, mixing the mystery vibes of Elden Ring and the sea-loving goodness of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Ubisoft Canceled Immortals Sequel & It’s a Crying Shame
Sources speaking with Axios have explained that Ubisoft decided to pull the plug on the project to focus on Assassin’s Creed instead. Something new and different for Ubisoft…
We’re kidding, of course. Ubisoft doesn’t do new and different, even when it sounds totally unique and interesting, apparently.
As previously mentioned, the sequel was apparently set in a made-up version of the Polynesian islands, with Ubisoft Quebec at the helm, working alongside Polynesian experts. It was a huge project, taking longer than usual to develop. Partly because it was using some Assassin’s Creed tech and also because the studio was pouring resources into Assassin’s Creed Red.
By the spring of this year, there was actually a playable demo, and Ubisoft had to decide whether to go all in or call it quits. Some leaked artwork gave us a sneak peek of the main character, but the plan was to let players customize their character’s looks, gender, etc.
In the game, you’d schmooze with Polynesian gods, get elemental powers, and even change your appearance with tattoos based on your choices in the story. You’d hop from one fictional island to another, each one inspired by places like New Zealand, Tahiti, Easter Island, and Hawai’i. Plus, they were big on this idea of “mana,” where your in-game actions could affect the environment.
The game was meant to be a break from the usual Ubisoft formula. Most of their open-world games are full of quest markers and hand-holding, but Oxygen wanted to flip the script. They wanted players to work for their info, tracking animals, following the wind, or even using the stars in the virtual sky to navigate. They took some serious inspiration from Elden Ring, where you’re thrown into this wild, mysterious world with minimal guidance.
This Immortals 2 game would’ve been pretty different from its predecessor. They ditched the first game’s narrator, dropped the focus on puzzles, and dialed up the importance of player choices. Oh, and the graphics? They were going for a more realistic vibe.
There was even talk of rebranding it as a totally new game instead of a sequel. But, you know how it goes – ambitious projects can rack up some hefty bills. And it seems concerns over cost, whether it was a sequel or not, were a big part of why Immortals 2/Oxygen got the axe, according to those Axios sources.
Come July, when the cancellation news dropped, Ubisoft said they were shuffling their Quebec studio’s resources to other secret projects, using the stuff they’d learned from Oxygen.
The folks working on the game were apparently blindsided by the cancellation. Oh, what could have been!
