Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From the Ashes Review

Avatar: Pandora's Frontier – Review from the Ashes

2023s Avatar: Pandora's Frontiers was a pretty good game. In a time when games are either world-changing blockbusters or massive flops, a good game almost guarantees that you'll get lost in the shuffle. That's pretty much what happened. While it was an incredibly faithful adaptation of the film's world and fiction, Pandora's Frontier had some problems. From the ashes It's no coincidence that releasing on the same day as the new movie solves a lot of the base game's problems. The best part is that many of these fixes carry over to the original.

From the Ashes isn't so much DLC as it is a slightly shorter parallel game to Frontiers of Pandora. You don't have to play the original, but you do need to own it. The series of tutorial missions is relatively compact, and the pace picks up right from the start. For example, you don't have to spend hours earning and taming your Ikran. In a few minutes you will be floating above the forests of Pandora.

Capricious factions

There is no character selection in From the Ashes. You play as So'lek, a capable and mature Na'vi warrior. Vast areas of Sarentu have been set on fire, and your task is to find the source of the destruction. It won't take long. After ten years of relative peace, the human paramilitary force RDA has returned. This time they brought in the Na'vi Ash clan.

In addition to the complex dynamics of the two warring Na'vi factions, the story premise has implications for gameplay. You fight not only humans and their machines, but also the Na'vi. They have the same skill set as you, both in the air and on the ground. This gives From the Ashes the opportunity for more variety in combat and enemy types.

Bows, guns and sneak around

Whether you buy the DLC or not, its release makes huge changes to the base game. From the Ashes was designed to be played in third-person mode, which is now available to everyone in the original game. By and large, it works great. Almost every aspect of the game feels better in third-person mode, especially combat and brutal takedowns. I suspect that if Frontiers of Pandora had included this in the release, the game would have been better received. While we're talking about improvements, the leveling system has also been optimized and simplified.

Once the tutorial is complete, From the Ashes opens up its world for freer exploration. In So'tek's overall revenge arc, he liberates the RDA bases, searches for Sarentha's hostages, solves a series of environmental mysteries, and follows the path of destruction for Clan Ashe. At a relatively lean 20 hours, From the Ashes never feels boring, and Ubisoft's typical open world is manageable.

The combat is definitely a highlight. I played it on PS5, where clever use of DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers really improved the gunplay in particular. Stealth is sometimes less useful, as enemies are not always aware of So'tek's presence. Sometimes the overwhelming numbers of enemy forces needed to be balanced with So'tek's solo abilities.

What a world

From the very beginning, James Cameron's vision of Pandora was seen as a crazy blanket of indigenous cultures mixed with a heavy dose of eco-terrorism and colonialism. Fair. But it is also a fully realized world and a thoroughly researched fiction. It's also incredibly beautiful and the game is just perfect. Like the base game, From the Ashes looks amazing. Sharing resources with movies definitely helps. Pandora is one of those video game worlds where just aimless exploration is fun.

The music, sound design, and production values ​​were excellent in the base game and continue to be so in From the Ashes. This time the drama is a little darker. So'tek's vengeful rage simmers in the background. He's definitely not the innocent character the player created in the base game, which brings an effective energy to the DLC.

There were no major technical glitches on my standard PS5, but that doesn't mean performance was flawless. There were no glitches, however, and aside from some stuttering in some of the more tedious combat and exploration sections, the game is in pretty good shape. The $40 bundle of the base game, free previously added content, and From the Ashes is a good value for anyone who missed it. The DLC alone costs $25 or is free with a Ubisoft+ subscription.

Return to paradise

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora From the Ashes is a great return to the world of Pandora that addresses many of the original game's minor flaws. The new third-person mode makes the game completely new. Better pacing, more streamlined progression, and a darker narrative are combined with effective combat and exploration. Players who enjoyed the original will want to purchase this DLC, and even if they don't, the third-person mode will carry over into the base game. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora From the Ashes gave me the pleasure of returning to Pandora.

***PS5 code provided by publisher for review***