As far back as 2017, Ubisoft first confirmed that it has nabbed the rights to the Avatar IP, with The Division developer Massive Entertainment confirmed to be working on an open world game based on the sci-fi series all the way back. Since then, progress has seemed slow, with multiple delays and very little actual information on the game itself being released. Recently at the Ubisoft Forward showcase, however, we got our first real look at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, with the publisher offering new details on its world, its story, its gameplay, and more. Here, we’re going to go over some of those key details.
SETTING
The setting of Pandora is probably one of the biggest strengths of the Avatar franchise, and the prospect of being able to immerse ourselves in it in a well realized open world game is one that’s intrigued all of us for some time. But exactly what part of Pandora will we be exploring in Massive Entertainment’s upcoming game? Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is set on the Western Frontier continent, a part of the planet that we haven’t seen yet in the two movies. How large this world will be remains to be seen, but Massive Entertainment has been working with Avatar mastermind James Cameron himself and his creative team, so we’re curios to see how the game brings this new part of the planet to life.
STORY
We’ve known for a while that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will tell an original, new story that will co-exist with the movies, and on top of that being reiterated by the aforementioned James Cameron, Ubisoft has also provided more details on what that story will be. The conflict between humans and the Na’vi will, of course, be at the heart of the story, with the Resources Development Administration, or the RDA, expanding its destructive operations to the Western Frontier.
Players will play as a Na’vi, who is in a group of several young Na’vi children who get abducted by the RDA and one of its leaders, John Mercer. These Na’vi children are put through training, to be turned into soldiers that will fight against their own people- though things go wrong when, during a battle between the RDA and the Na’vi, the protagonist is put into emergency cryosleep. She wakes up fifteen years later, a stranger in her own homeworld, and determined to stop the RDA and its operations, sets out to take them down. From fighting against the RDA to getting back in touch with the Na’vi people and their culture, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s story looks like it’s going to be one of great scale.
WORLD
Frontiers of Pandora is, of course, going to be an open world game, but what exactly can we expect from its setting of the Western Frontier? According to Massive Entertainment, players will explore a variety of diverse biomes full of unique settlements and clans, gorgeous vistas, and alien flora and fauna, plenty of which was shown off in the game’s recent gameplay demonstration. There’s Kinglor, a lush, dense rainforest in the shade of stunning floating mountains, where players will meet the Aranahe, a clan of peaceful weavers who’ll teach you how to hunt and bond with one of the game’s many mounts (more on this in a bit). In the north, players will find the Upper Plains, which are, wide, open, expansive grasslands that are home to the nomadic Zeswa clan, who live in symbiosis with giant, peaceful beasts known as Zakru. Meanwhile, in the west, in the misty and mysterious Clouded Forest, players will meet the Kame’tire clan, who are healers with “dark” reasons that compel them to stay hidden from the rest of the world.
COMBAT
Naturally, combat is going to be a core component of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and this is an area where the game will function primarily as a first person shooter. The protagonist, of course, is a Na’vi who was also trained extensively by humans, which means players will be able to combine and master both sides of that coin during firefights. As a Na’vi, you’ll be able to use your instincts to survey battlefields, mark enemies, and spot weaknesses that you can exploit during firefights, on top of being able to use weapons that offer precision and versatility, including longbows, spear throwers, staff slings, and more. Meanwhile, you’ll also be able to tap into your human training to make use of much more devastating firepower, with access to weapons like assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and the like.
Combat will also see you taking on different enemy types, like AMP units (which are basically piloted mechs, for those not familiar with Avatar), while the game will also feature mounted combat and even aerial combat.
MOUNTS
It goes without saying that being able to bond with and ride magnificent, alien creatures is going to be a core part of the experience in any Avatar game, and that will indeed be the case in Frontiers of Pandora as well. As we mentioned earlier, upon befriending the Aranahe tribe, you’ll be able to bond a Banshee, which you’ll not only be able to use to soar through the skies and explore Pandora while flying (not to mention for aerial combat), but will also be able to feed, name, and customize. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a land-based mount, the Zeswa clan will help you bond with a direhorse. Whether or not we can look forward to more mounts beyond these three remains to be seen.
OUTPOSTS
Pandora is unlike any other setting we’ve previously seen in an open world game by Ubisoft, but this is still an open world game by Ubisoft, so you can expect to see a little bit of Far Cry in here. That’ll come in the form of RDA outposts scattered throughout the Western Frontier, which are being used not only to poach, hunt, and capture the native wildlife, but also to pollute and destroy the environment. How many of these outposts the open world will feature is unknown as of yet, but it looks like finding them, clearing them up, and liberating the Western Frontier will be a core pillar of the game’s structure.
HEALING PANDORA
Clearing outposts will do more than just checking items off your list of quests. As you destroy RDA outposts, you’ll see tangible effects in the world itself, with Pandora healing itself in the absence of the humans’ polluting. Greenery will take over the structures, wildlife will move back into the area, and players will be able to harvest and gather the best quality resources, with which you can craft new and improved weapons and gear. You’ll also be able to find ingredients that you can then use to cook dishes to give yourself various buffs.
PROGRESSION
Getting back in touch with your Na’vi heritage is a central theme in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and that will tie into the gameplay as well, thanks to the game’s progression system. Players will connect to Ewya through the Tarsyu plant, where you’ll tap into the memories of your ancestors to become more powerful- in other words, you’ll unlock new skills and abilities. These will entail plenty of aspects of the gameplay, including how agile you are and how well you can move through the world when on foot, how effective you are at stealth, how proficient you are with your weapons, how well you are able to use your mounts, and more.
CO-OP
Massive Entertainment is, of course, known first and foremost for its multiplayer offerings, thanks to the two Division games, and while Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is diverging from that as a single player open world action-adventure game, it’s not exclusively single player. If you wish to play through the campaign with a friend, you can do so in 2-player online co-op.
LAUNCH
The wait for this game has been a long one, not only because Ubisoft took so long to officially announce it in 2021, but also because it has been delayed more than a few times since then. Finally, however, it seems to have nailed down a specific release date. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is set to launch on December 7 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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