Highlights
- Massive video game releases have dominated 2023, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is one of the biggest games set to launch before the end of the year.
- The game offers an extensive open world set in the canon Avatar universe, with a focus on exploration, hunting, and crafting gear upgrades.
- Gameplay is influenced by the Far Cry franchise, featuring combat, side activities for different Na’vi factions, and the ability to wield both human and Na’vi weapons. Traversal includes parkour-like movement and riding popular Avatar creatures.
2023 has been an absolutely non-stop year for huge video game releases. Kicking off properly in February, 2023’s video game release momentum hasn’t really let up since, with October 2023 being one of the busiest months in gaming history. But things finally seem like they’re starting to die down, though that doesn’t mean that some big games aren’t still set to launch before the end of the year, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is one of the biggest still yet to come out.
Announced officially back in 2021, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has actually been in development a lot longer than that, with some reports even suggesting that Massive has been working on the game since 2017. But after all these years, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is finally almost in players’ hands, and by all accounts, it sounds like it’s shaping up to be a pretty solid game, albeit one that probably won’t break any new ground for the action-adventure genre. But that definitely doesn’t mean that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora won’t have any unique features of its own.
Every Major Feature Currently Confirmed for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- An original story set in the canon Avatar universe
- A deep look at three new Na’vi clans
- The ability to fly a Banshee/Ikran
- The ability to ride a Direhorse/Pa’li
- A big focus on hunting
- An extensive gear crafting and upgrade system
- An emphasis on exploration and the scenic open-world of Pandora
- Fast, parkour-like movement
- The ability to wield both human and Na’vi weapons
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Combat and Traversal
Based on what fans have been able to gather from the gameplay trailers released so far and the recent press previews, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is going to follow a gameplay formula fairly similar to the one used by the Far Cry franchise. This means that Frontiers of Pandora‘s general gameplay loop will see players taking down RDA base camps, completing various side activities for the game’s several different Na’vi factions, and gathering resources that allow players to upgrade their weapons, tools, and armor.
According to the recent Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora previews, the game actually puts quite a big emphasis on that last part, really encouraging the player to go out and explore the world of Pandora, take in the atmosphere of their surroundings, hunt some wildlife, and bring it back to base to craft a number of upgrades and new resources that then affect gameplay. Combat in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will look very familiar to anyone who’s ever played a Far Cry before, with players taking a first-person perspective during on-ground sequences and being given both human weapons like assault rifles and shotguns, as well as Na’vi weapons like a bow.
One of the biggest selling points of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is its array of different traversal mechanics. On the ground, players will reportedly move in a way that isn’t too dissimilar from Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, albeit in first-person. Players will be able to move their Na’vi character through the jungles of Pandora with ease, parkouring off branches, bouncing flowers, and cliff faces. Players will also be able to ride at least two popular Avatar creatures, including the Direhorse and the Banshee, with the latter being used to access Pandora’s iconic floating mountains.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Setting
The general story of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora sees players take control of a Na’vi who has been orphaned and raised in an RDA science facility, before being put into suspended animation and woken up just over a decade later. Players will presumably then spend most of the game reconnecting with the world of Pandora through both its environment and its people, much like Jake Sully did in the first Avatar movie. The entirety of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s story has been confirmed to be canon, as well as the game’s three main Na’vi clans, the Aranahe, Zeswa, and Kame’Tire.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora
Developed by Massive Entertainment and set to be published by Ubisoft, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world game set within James Cameron’s popular Avatar universe. The title will highlight a new region of Pandora called the Western Frontier.
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Released
- December 7, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Massive Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
