Summary

  • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora offers a visually stunning and immersive gameplay experience, showcasing the lush detail and beauty of the world of Pandora.
  • The game emphasizes player involvement and initiative, allowing for exploration and navigation without on-screen markers, creating a more rewarding and immersive experience.
  • Combat in Frontiers of Pandora offers a variety of options, including both standard gunplay and alternative weapons like Na'vi bows and explosive-throwing staves, providing players with the choice between a stealthy or aggressive approach.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora represents a major attempt to bring the world of Pandora to life in a video game, a task made difficult by the high bar that James Cameron's films have set in rendering a planet full of life and detail. Developed by Massive Entertainment, Frontiers of Pandora is publisher Ubisoft's second foray into the Avatar franchise, following up on 2009's Avatar: The Game. Screen Rant participated in a hands-on preview that showcased several key aspects of gameplay and exploration from across multiple story missions in the new title.

The preview eased into things with the low-stakes task of gathering resources to bring back to the clan, which contextualized some basic mechanics while holding off on high-intensity action. In tune with the films' focus on flora and fauna, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora makes gathering a slightly more involved process than in most open-world games. Picking out the right plants or resources requires traveling to an appropriate biome and scanning the environment for the target, while harvesting a plant uses a haptic system on controllers to indicate the proper angle for a yank.

Two Na'vi from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The one on the left is looking directly at the camera, illuminated by firelight in the night. The one of the right is drawing a bow, squinting while she aims.
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Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora - Story, Gameplay & Release Date

Here's everything we know so far about the release date, price, story, and gameplay for Ubisoft's open-world game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

A lush environment with floating islands visible in the background in Avatar Frontiers of Pandora.

This push for player involvement and initiative blossoms into life with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's approach to navigation, which eschews markers on-screen in favor of a focus on actually finding the way to a destination. Quest prompts might offer a biome and a landmark to look for rather than a GPS coordinate — in the example of one preview quest, a rock pillar covered in willow trees served as the destination to keep in sight. More traditional settings for gathering and navigation are also available, as the advanced methods can take a bit of adjustment, but it's ultimately a much more rewarding and immersive approach.

Any Avatar game would be remiss not to include the chance to fly on the back of an Ikran (or banshee, as the RDA calls them), and Frontiers of Pandora builds a significant segment around scaling the floating mountains to bond with one of the creatures before taking to the sky. A floaty double jump gives the Na'vi protagonist a bit of platforming power, and making death-defying leaps mid-ascent generates a certain thrill. Although the flight itself may not benefit from the cinematic power of Cameron's camera, swooping into a low dive and weaving between foliage is appropriately gratifying.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora protagonist flying above the treetops on the back of an Ikran

Combat can be handled through standard assault rifle gunplay, but some heavier Na'vi bows and a staff that hurls explosives make for powerful alternatives. It's possible to pick between going in guns blazing and a stealthier approach, at least when it comes to sabotaging the RDA plant accessible in the preview. The basics of infiltration aren't radically different from Ubisoft titles like The Division and Far Cry, although the ability to hop on an Ikran for both dogfights with RDA helicopters and quick access to rooftops offers a fast-paced approach to aerial access.

The preview of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora didn't offer a clear look at its overarching narrative, and whether that fleshes out something meaningful around its gameplay remains to be seen. Avatar is arguably a sensorial franchise first and foremost, but there's certainly plenty to reach for in of visual storytelling alone. The snippets available in the preview do tie in appropriately to the core concepts and themes of the films, laying a basic foundation that could build to big moments if correctly employed.

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora combat with an RDA mech.

What ultimately stands out the most from the Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora preview is what rightfully should — Pandora itself. Massive Entertainment isn't wasting the fourteen years of graphical advancements that have ed since Ubisoft's first tie-in game, and the density of detail in the game's environments is truly impressive. Whether taking in sprawling vistas from above as the sun peaks over the horizon or appreciating the nuances of bioluminescent undergrowth on foot in the depths of night, there's always plenty to marvel at in Frontiers of Pandora.

With this gorgeous world and the basic fun of flight and parkour alike, the pleasure of self-guided sightseeing tours might be more inherently set for success than anything else. Littering Pandora with meaningful activities is what could take this experience to the next level, and although several side quests were available in the preview, our time was spent focusing on the main missions and exploring some key environments. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is shaping up to be a technical feat with a smart approach to immersion, so the game could be something special if the story and quests stick the landing.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releases on December 7, 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Amazon Luna. Screen Rant attended a special hands-on event for the purpose of this preview.