Avatar Game: First Impressions of 'Frontiers of Pandora' (Preview)

The Direct got a chance to play two hours of Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world Avatar game.

Here is what we thought!

After years of iconic open-world titles likeFar CryandAssassin’s Creed,Ubisoftis set to take onJames Cameron’sAvatarfranchise.

Frontiers of Pandora World

Officially unveiled at E3 2021,Frontiers of Pandoraputs gamers into the shoes of an Avatar (a.k.a.

After just our time with the title, it does not entirely shake that.

It does, however, do enough to differentiate itself from some of its Ubisoft-developed peers.

The game it seems to share the most DNA with isFar Cry.

One story mission in particular felt like it was pulled straight out of Ubi’s other survival-based action series.

The sequence had players taking down a refinery operated by the villainous human-led RDA.

What makesFrontiersdifferent is that the main character is a Na’vi and not the typical human Ubisoft protagonist.

This makes one feel like they are on a covert mission, and are truly outgunned in every way.

Another highlight of our time withFrontiers of Pandoracomes in the world itself.

Instead of watching the characters of theAvatarfilms interact with this ecosystem, the gamer gets to do it themselves.

This added agency makes even the most mundane of Pandoran experiences sing.

And most of this fun is outside of any story content.

There is a reason Pandora is in the name of this game.

This living, breathing open world is the beating heart at the center of this whole experience.

The pinnacle of this in the preview demo came in the ascension of the Ikran Rookery.

Traversing the floating Hallelujah Mountains was chill-inducing.

Over every crest came a stunning vista that made this grueling platforming journey feel worth it.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorareleases onPlayStation 5,Xbox Series X/S, and PC on December 7.