Honestly, I don’t know how Massive Entertainment manages. Somehow, this talented team is not only launching a new Star Wars game next year, but also the long-awaited and long-awaited Avatar video game this December. Yes, that’s right, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is coming to PC, PS5, and the Xbox family of consoles on December 7, 2023, and is scheduled for release this winter as part of their “not E3” this year, Ubisoft and Massive showed off Lots of upcoming projects.
As part of a hands-free gaming walkthrough led by creative director Magnus Jansen (you’ll see our full interview soon!), Massive revealed a ton of other info about the project. Set in a new land on the western frontier of Pandora (not yet) influenced by James Cameron’s film series, Frontiers of Pandora will be set in the timeline alongside the films. Your story begins as a young Na’vi who is kidnapped by the RDA with the intention of being trained by humans and then against your Na’vi. However, after the Battle of the Halleluiah Mountains at the end of Avatar, the RDA leaves Pandora, and you are placed in cryogenics and left for 15 years until the RDA returns, as we saw in Way of Water. From here , you manage to escape into the wilderness and begin to see the impact of this megacorporation on the environment and wildlife, thus starting an effort to fight back and reclaim your home planet from human invaders.
Some of you might think that sounds a lot like the concept behind Far Cry, one of Ubisoft’s other major franchises, and for what it’s worth, the gameplay seems to reflect that. You must destroy human locations and outposts, purge their presence from Pandora so the Earth can heal, and you can approach the world in a way that suits you (stealth or frontal), while wielding a range of different types of weapons, due to Gameplay is first-person, and it’s all about feeling immersive. Ubisoft didn’t allow me to actually play the game during this preview, so it’s hard to say how the open world works and whether it’s actually a Far Cry game set in Pandora, but the premise seems to tick a lot of the familiar box.
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But where Frontiers of Pandora hopes to set itself apart from Far Cry is in the campaign and world design itself. As Na’Vi, agility and strength are key, so you can climb, slide, and jump around the world in a way that reminds me at times of the parkour system used in the Mirror’s Edge games. This is all necessary because Pandora is not a flat landscape tattooed with asphalt and dirt tracks, no, it is a world full of life and color, and truly breathtaking scenes and vistas.
The world is divided into three main biomes; there’s a forest that borders some of the floating mountains seen in the movie, there’s the more mysterious and misty Clouded Forest, and then there’s the Upper Plains, which is a grassland-like area. Each biome is inhabited by its own Na’Vi clan, a group that will help you reconnect with your cultural roots and teach you the skills you need to survive on Pandora. Beyond that, the biomes will be littered with familiar and new flora and fauna, many of which can be interacted with to gather the materials needed for crafting.
Since the Na’Vi aren’t a ravenous species, the resource gathering system is less about picking up everything that isn’t identified, and more about finding the exact item or resource you’re trying to create. Once you remove RDA’s presence from the local area, it can be done in a more meaningful way, since then Pandora will heal and provide resources, food, and other higher quality items. Yes, for those wondering about the mention of food, there will be a cooking kit in Frontiers of Pandora, and these kits will give players a way to temporarily grant stat bonuses and temporary effects.
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Players will have access to Na’Vi and human weapons when fighting and challenging the world of Pandora. The player character is a child of two worlds, somewhat similar to Jack Sully, if you will, and you can use a bow and staff for stealth and powerful close-range action like a Na’Vi warrior, or Pull out assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and more to fight human technology. Weapons are accessible through the weapon wheel, which means you have a lot of different tools at your disposal when exploring the open world.
As for enemies, aside from the dangerous animals that call Pandora home, the RDA threat will be the main one you’ll have to overcome. Human soldiers, armored mech suits, helicopters, if you’ve seen it in the movie, it’s probably in Frontiers of Pandora somewhere too. Thankfully, you won’t be expected to deal with all of these threats alone, as you can bond with Direhorse, travel the world at speed, and even form a lifelong bond with your own personal Ikran. Ikrans, because they’re special to you, will also be open to customization, allowing you to equip them with cosmetics like saddles. It’s also worth noting that while Frontiers of Pandora is played in first-person, the animal rides will take place in third-person, giving you a wider view of the amazing world. Oh, and did I mention there will even be rogue co-op in the game, which means you can take a friend on a trip with you.
While there is a core storyline at the heart of Frontiers of Pandora, it will be played out in your own way. At the beginning of the game, you can create your own Na’Vi, and you can experience the entire game, which means that unlike Far Cry and its explicit protagonist character, Frontiers of Pandora is an adventure driven by your personal character.
Without being able to actually play Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, I can’t yet tell you specifically what it’s like to play, or how strongly it ties into the Far Cry gameplay, but what I can say is that, from what I’ve seen, The game still seems to be capturing the wonder and themes of Avatar discovery. Can the gameplay be integrated with the concept to create a complete and thrilling experience? We just have to find out when Frontiers of Pandora arrives in December.