Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From The Ashes is like looking into a universe where the Avatar franchise was a venerable 80s/90s action staple.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From The Ashes
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Price: $24.99
Platform: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), PC, Xbox Series X|S
MonsterVine was supplied with a PlayStation 5 code for review
Sure, the eco-forward save the rainforest messaging is still there, but it asks what if the franchise had a tough-as-nails, Rambo-like protagonist, who engages in ecoterrorism, brief moments of intense personal violence, and revenge. It RULES.
Building off of an okay base game, From the Ashes is everything you want out of an expansion. It elevates the gameplay in fun and exciting ways, and tones down some of the more maddening decisions. There’s less of the immersive sim elements; you’re no longer spending 20 seconds picking fruit or fighting against a confusing eagle vision knock-off. Instead, you’re focusing on minute-to-minute action and taking down bases. Functioning like the high-concept sci-fi Far Cry you’ve always wanted.
From The Ashes Goes Full Sci-Fi Far Cry
It feels like they’ve touched on every aspect of the main game, sped it up, and made it feel a little more visceral and satisfying. There are additions like slowing down time when aiming with the bow, and stealth finishers, which were curiously absent from the main game. For some reason, the Sarentu would only use a knife to skin animals, but So’lek’s knife is rated E for everyone.
The map is massive. Even though it’s just one chunk of the main game’s map, it feels as large as any other AAA game. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and there’s a shocking amount of variety, lush rainforests, swampy coastlands, and the iconic floating mountain ranges the franchise is known for. The variety of biomes makes the forest feel alive and interconnected, not just a place where someone used rainforest brush. Though it is a reused map, they do a good job changing it up; large portions of the forest are on fire, being burnt down as spiteful play by the RDA, leading to some striking fights as you square off in ashy landscapes with towering flames behind you.
For all the beauty, it’s a shame that there isn’t much reason to explore. You spend most of your time moving from place to place by flying on your personal fish dragon, called a Banshee, if you’re unfamiliar, and not much on the ground. The game puts a lot of effort into free-running and climbing; jumping from tree to tree is a blast, and they really capture the feeling of the movies, but it’s rarely used here. There are seldom any hidden secrets, and almost no reason to explore off the beaten path. You’ll occasionally find mystic flowers that increase your health, which usually come with a fun dungeon, but they’re heavily marked and pretty few and far between.
When you are exploring, it’s mainly to find materials for the crafting system. It’s a bit more simplified from the main game; there’s way less gear, so you need fewer materials overall. But it’s still pretty clunky, having to go through multiple menus to tag what you’re looking for, then get a vague location of where to find them, and aimlessly wander around the jungle with your navi vision on until you find something. It’s not exactly fun.
The game is also riddled with weird bugs. Objects don’t have collision sometimes, so you’ll fall through the map. Enemies will sometimes just magically turn around right before you stealth kill them. The game will crash occasionally for no discernible reason. Sometimes these can be funny, but other times they’re maddening. The game is built on stealthily taking out bases, and when a bug ruins that, it’s incredibly frustrating.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From The Ashes is a massive expansion, about as long as a traditional AAA game. It seems small compared to the behemoths Ubisoft usually puts out, but that is honestly why it works so well. It’s leaner, meaner, and quicker to the point. You still have moments of spectacle you expect out of the franchise, as well as a refined and more satisfying combat system compared to what came before. The story is also a blast, with the hard personal stakes, and the rougher protagonist feels refreshing for the Avatar franchise. While it won’t be winning any best narrative awards, it is better than Avatar: Fire and Ash. Going forward, I hope this franchise maintains this energy. I’m over the Sully family and the Quadritches; give me more So’lek blowing up RDA bases.
The Final Word
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora: From the Ashes feels like an AA game masquerading as an expansion. Standalone, rich in content, beautiful, and fun. Some technical issues aside, if you’re looking to scratch that Far Cry itch, look no further.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
