What parents need to know
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora will be the fourth video game in the Avatar franchise, and it is coming out on December 7, 2023. The PC version of this game will be exclusive to the Ubisoft Store.
This is an open-world, first-person action-adventure game. The main character is a Na’vi who has been abducted and trained by the human corporation RDA to serve their cause, and wakes up in a ship on Pandora following a betrayal by RDA, regaining their freedom. The game encourages players to rediscover Pandora as the main character reconnects with their lost heritage and joins forces with other Na’vi to protect their home planet. Chronologically, the events of the game take place between the first and second films in the series.
In Avatar – Frontiers of Pandora, you can customize the main character’s appearance, gender and voice, craft pieces of equipment and upgrade skills and weapons. Several fighting styles are available, and the main character can move on foot or ride creatures including Equidius and Banshees.
Suitable for a teenage and adult audience (12+ years old), the game offers complementary content to the films, including a unique story, new characters and new factions that allow fans to explore Pandora from a different angle and learn more about the planet’s lore.
At the start of the game, the protagonist perceives the climate of oppression between humans and Na’vi as they are taken in by the RDA and trained as a soldier alongside other Na’vi orphans. The young Na’vi are assimilated, encouraged to abandon their customs, traditional dress and language, forced to join the RDA and fight on the side of the humans as their planet is assaulted. The player-character’s younger sister is killed in an attempted rebellion, ensuring the submission of the other orphans for years to come. Years later, however, the RDA finds itself trapped by a Na’vi assault and decides to eliminate all young Na’vi under its tutelage to avoid any risk of betrayal. The player-character manages to escape and spends sixteen years in a cryogenic capsule, in a deep sleep. On awakening, the protagonist escapes from the ship and discovers Pandora, meeting other Na’vi who will help them rediscover their lost heritage as the last representative of the Sarentu clan and defend themselves against RDA soldiers.
The main character is agile and a skilled fighter who is expected to use a variety of weapons, including Na’vi bows and human firearms. The player is required to use the special Na’vi skill to explore the environment, discover plants and resources, and craft equipment. To progress in the game, it is necessary to complete quests, including exploring the surrounding area and freeing RDA checkpoints.
Details
Level of experience required
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There are battles in which gunfire is exchanged and explosive weapons are used. Enemies can be creatures, human soldiers, drones, and mechs. The visual signature is similar to the Avatar movies, so the combat effects are quite realistic, but in a fantasy sci-fi setting.
There is no explicit content.
True to the spirit of the franchise, the story of this game invites the main character and their allies to unite to protect Pandora against a military corporation that wishes to exploit the planet’s resources. The messages of ecology, of collaboration, and of a strong Indigenous identity in the face of colonizers are therefore very present.
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora can be purchased in three packages: the base game, the Gold Edition, and the Ultimate Edition. Only the Gold and Ultimate editions include access to two upcoming DLCs, an additional quest, and a season pass. People who bought the base game will visibly have to pay for the DLCs when they are released and to buy their season pass if they want to benefit from the extra content.
Local game modes
The default mode of this game is single-player.
Online Game Modes
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora can be played in co-op with another player online.
Expansions/Add-ons (DLC)
Two extensions (DLCs) have been announced: The Sky Breaker in summer 2024, and Secrets of the Spires, due for release in fall 2024. Their content and precise release dates have not yet been revealed.
Our opinion
The game offers a new angle to the universe of the Avatar films and games series, bringing interesting and intriguing elements. The details are magnificent and the game levels are richly designed, encouraging us to linger and admire the different scenes. The sound immersion is very distinctive and deserves to be experienced with a good sound system or proper headphones, as it adds enormously to the gaming experience, which is quite astonishing for a game of this type. Combat is exciting and satisfying from an engine point of view, as you can feel the power of the weapons and the tension in the characters’ dialogues. Gameplay is dynamic and the environment responds very well to the player’s actions.
Customization of the main character provides enough options to create a unique character without leading to lengthy and complex character creation. There are also options for creating a character with a rather neutral gender and voice, which is a nice touch in terms of immersion. The story is well-constructed, and cinematic twists and turns make for exciting gameplay. The game also offers a number of interesting parameters, particularly in terms of accessibility, with three difficulty levels for combat and two options for support and tutorials. Sound and visual parameters also allow a great deal of control to offer a customizable gaming experience, regardless of hardware, console or individual needs, although the game remains a little heavy and requires a particularly high-performance gaming system for PC gamers who would prefer not to sacrifice visual quality.
The game is well-executed and the gameplay is impressive. All in all, this is an excellent opus in the series and an interesting addition to the Avatar universe. The game is somewhat reminiscent of the mechanics of Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West, both in terms of gameplay and protagonist skills, as well as the similar themes of technology and the stakes of cultural assimilation. If you’re a fan of open-world adventure games that strike a pleasing balance between combat, exploration and storytelling, you’ll enjoy Avatar – Frontiers of Pandora. We do, however, recommend that you listen to the films before playing, to really appreciate the richness of the story and to fully understand the political issues at stake in the game, as few explanations are provided in this respect.
To play on PC, the game is available via the Ubisoft Connect platform. For this review, the game has been tested on PC.
This game has been provided to us free of charge for review purposes, but this does not impact our opinion.
