Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – The Sky Breaker Review – Skyfall

When you first accept that invitation to the Heart of the Plains in The Sky Breaker, the first paid DLC for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, it’s like a scene out of a classic animated Disney film. Riding a Direhorse through the plains, following the march of the elephantine Zakru, chatting with passersby, the buzz surrounding the return of the Great Games – it’s an infectious atmosphere, and the gorgeous visuals help sell it. There’s almost this magic and anticipation in the air.

Upon arriving at the camp and convening with old friends, from Nesim and Nefika to Teylan and So’lek, one of the high points of the base game swims over you. The immersion into the culture, listening to random conversations and enthusiasm over the games, and interacting with the Zakru (even if a sequence involves moving one for the sake of recovering…cheese). It’s all as endearing as ever and makes you appreciate the sheer dedication to capturing the culture. Sure, Mokasa the traitor is back because of loneliness or something, but then you get to the Great Games.

"I’m torn on the overall direction of the plot because this effectively takes place after the base game’s events. Yet it feels like the writing is reusing plot points, like violence against the Zakru and general distrust among the humans."

Or rather, game. After that, it’s off to investigate an abandoned facility to learn that the RDA is keeping tabs on you potentially planning something against them. It immediately leads to an attack on the campsite, resulting in tragedy and an obnoxious title drop to remind you that you’re playing The Sky Breaker. After a few days, the protagonist awakens and is on the move, again in the familiar cycle of battling RDA mechs, clearing out their camps, and discovering the occasional skill point and wind flute to tune. That initial opening almost feels like a distant memory; the Great Games a meaningless distraction.

I’m torn on the overall direction of the plot because this effectively takes place after the base game’s events. Yet it feels like the writing is reusing plot points, like violence against the Zakru and general distrust among the humans. And while the whole “Somehow the RDA returned” is from the movies, it feels even more underwhelming here.

How convenient that immediately after learning that the RDA are up to no good, they should immediately launch an attack as soon as you return. Even more convenient is that it knocks you out of commission for a few days, providing ample opportunities to set up new camps to clear out. There’s a fine line between coincidence and contrived, and The Sky Breaker dances back and forth on it.

While the base game leaned on several well-worn open-world tropes, its narrative at least offered some genuinely interesting moral conflicts. The kidnapping of the Sarentu and their sudden release into the wilderness of Pandora, doing their best to make sense of everything. Their reconnection with the culture of their clan and many others.

"I couldn’t tell you anything interesting about the “new” RDA lieutenants, aside from having more health. Sadly, Massive couldn’t even deliver a unique final boss to cap the story."

Those are all pretty much absent here, and the protagonist is little more than John (or Jane) – exploring the world and laying waste to the RDA, whose resistance ranges from laughable to unbalanced, depending on how much healing you have available. Even Mokasa’s eventual redemption feels under-cooked. The funniest part of all this is that after dealing so much damage to the RDA in the base game, you’re not even one of their prime targets here.

I did appreciate not having to liberate some enemy camps before assailing a core base, and the latter offered more of a stealth experience, which was also fine. Unfortunately, the average camp liberation experience remains relatively unchanged from the base game, save for perhaps more mechs.

It wouldn’t be that dull if they at least added some more interesting new enemies. There’s a newish mech with a shield and a gatling gun, the latter providing a sizable weak spot to shoot. I couldn’t tell you anything interesting about the “new” RDA lieutenants, aside from having more health. Sadly, Massive couldn’t even deliver a unique final boss to cap the story.

While the gunplay remains responsive, especially as you run around deleting human enemies, it’s often better to run to a guarded location and pelt the mechs with Heavy Bow shots until they keel over. It’s especially preferable against certain types you’re meant to flank and target weak points on their back.

"Outside the relatively short main quest, there are optional side quests and challenges to complete, the latter consisting of things like hunting wildlife with a shotgun or depositing Fine quality materials into the clan basket."

Enemy AI is also just as iffy as the base game at launch. You could blow up helicopters and human enemies continue patrolling, making the average grunts in Metal Gear Solid look intimidating in the process. One mech opted to jump down and try to flank, giving me a high-ground advantage on a silver platter as opposed to, I don’t know, shooting me. Another one, mid-fight, seemingly goes back to search mode before they’re untimely death.

There are occasions where the RDA can be threats, especially when you’re under fire from two flamethrower mechs while other units pelt you from afar and there’s no cover. It sometimes felt like a Power difference, though, especially with how effectively they shredded my health compared to other places.

The hacking does feel like it has more opportunity to shine when puzzle-solving, and things are slightly mixed up when it’s unavailable (key emphasis on “slightly”). The RDA Balloons are also a little different, now requiring you to remain close and fight off airborne foes rather than landing and hacking them. Silver linings and all that.

Outside the relatively short main quest, there are optional side quests and challenges to complete, the latter consisting of things like hunting wildlife with a shotgun or depositing Fine quality materials into the clan basket. The former is also fairly straightforward as you paint roaming Zakru, bring back some distraught ones and clear out other RDA camps.

"The soundtrack is also pretty good, and the voice actors are all on point, delivering strong performances. It’s just that you can only care about the presentation so much when everything else feels underwhelming or lacking."

You can also craft new armor and weapons, but for a DLC that touts the Great Games, I wanted fresher activities (riding around on Direhorse-back and shooting targets is still a nice distraction, though). It would have been nice to have some new abilities – if you’ve maxed out everything, then Skill Points only increment your health, damage and energy. I’m not expecting a Paragon Board that can flip around in multiple ways, but this is simply unexciting.

As down as I am on much of the story direction and content of The Sky Breaker, the presentation is still excellent. The texture work and foliage, the clouds and skyboxes, the lighting and shadows – even the draw distance and animation work are simply gorgeous. The weather effects are also noteworthy, and even if they don’t shake up the gameplay, at least they affect visibility to a degree. The soundtrack is also pretty good, and the voice actors are all on point, delivering strong performances. It’s just that you can only care about the presentation so much when everything else feels underwhelming or lacking.

However, don’t get me wrong – if you enjoyed Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and wanted more content, this may satisfy you. Maybe you like watching that Power level go up while earning slightly better loot, whose uninteresting stats still annoy me. It could just be the comfy filler you need until, well, the next paid DLC.

Considering this is the follow-up to the main game in terms of story, I expected more from The Sky Breaker. Almost everything about the content screams “acceptable but uninspired” – a serviceable but ultimately bland experience. This doesn’t make it outright terrible or mediocre, but it’s not worth going out of your way to experience.

This game was reviewed on PC.