5 Reasons Why You Should Be Hyped for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Unlike the movie sensation, James Cameron's Avatar: The Game wasn't exactly showered with praise. But time has since segued into a new generation, and for the sake of protecting the film's legacy, Ubisoft has once again returned to the helm, ready to shuffle the deck and breathe life into a whole new open world experience. And with that, we're pretty content with watching the threads unravel before sampling the latest waters.

At the time of writing, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora hasn't been given a definite launch date within its 2022 window. But with a stream of footage, a whole treasure trove of details, and plenty of promises from Ubisoft, we do have enough content to scrape together a general idea of the upcoming action-adventure game. And from what we've seen so far, confidence is definitely flying high for the Na'vi sequel. But let's take a look back at the key features that have piqued our interest over the last twelve months.

5. The Power of Ubisoft

When all's said and done, I think we can all bathe in the fact that Ubisoft, along with its many, many subsidiary studios, does have the power to pull off a great game. Having already made its mark with Far Cry, Watch Dogs, and of course, Assassin's Creed, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora should be a clean walk in the park for the highly-skilled workforce.

Massive Entertainment, also known as Ubisoft Massive, is heading Frontiers of Pandora, along with a team that helped bring the likes of Far Cry 3 to life. Despite the change in management shortly after announcing the game back in 2017, Ubisoft did make it clear that a replacement had already been arranged, and that the project was in full swing. Therefore, we can rest assured that the game is receiving Ubisoft's full attention, and the tools that are being used to tweak it aren't your usual hand-me-downs, either.

4. It's First-Person Shooter

Unlike James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, which took a third-person approach to the narrative, Frontiers of Pandora will, to our surprise, opt for the first-person experience. And while that may rustle a few feathers for a certain pool of gamers, the vast majority can agree that Ubisoft is the best division to thread such a thing together.

Take Far Cry 6, for example. Yara, in all fairness, isn't that much different to Pandora. Both are shrouded in tropical foliage and mesmerising panoramic views of distant terrain, each as well-crafted as the next. And let's face it—assuming control of a Na'vi in such a world can only be as visually stunning as one might predict from the Ubisoft team.

3. It's Open World

Frontiers of Pandora will, of course, be an open world game. Again, echoing the fact that Ubisoft knows how to construct such a thing does ease the doubts that loom in our head by a significant amount. And to be fair, Pandora is a modern jewel that we'd give a left leg just to rummage through for a few hours—so we're over the moon about it being far more than a tasteless and uninspired series of compact levels.

As for the regions of Pandora—now that's another story. Ubisoft has yet to shed light on that much of the explorable world. But with that said, knowing the movie and how beautifully it paints such a wild and vibrant planet, we're definitely expecting big things from Frontiers of Pandora. So long as Ubisoft work closely with its designers, then the game should be what Hogwarts Legacy is to die-hard Harry Potter fans. Here's hoping, anyway.

2. It's a Sequel

Avatar 2, after multiple delays, courtesy of the pandemic, will release in December of this year. But Frontiers of Pandora, to our knowledge, will take place before the movie, or at least play a role alongside it. This basically means the game will serve as a bridge between both movies. As a result, Frontiers of Pandora sets itself up as a crucial crossroads that asks that you refrain from avoiding it.

It's a smart marketing strategy, for sure. But we're not about to complain about it. It works well, and anyone who enjoyed the first movie will want to visualize the full picture before stepping into the next chapter. With that, Frontiers of Pandora will do the honours of setting the stage and embellishing it with the right amount of context. From there, it's really anybody's guess.

1. “The Other Side of the Moon”

Being based entirely in and around Pandora, it's likely that you'll be spending a great deal of time up in the skies. As a Na'vi, you will have access to far more than a bog-standard villager, meaning you won't need to travel far to utilize the assets. Of course, this means you'll be able to take to the clouds and soar between ravenous coves and sky-high vistas.

Ubisoft has, in fact, confirmed that Frontiers of Pandora will take place on “the other side of the Moon.” What this basically means is that, in spite of what you think you already know about the Na'vi homeland, turns out, there will be far more left for you to unearth. So, forget what you saw in the last movie, because Ubisoft is going all out to shake Pandora by the core. With a whole new side of the world to uncover—Frontiers of Pandora will most definitely have the element of surprise in its arsenal.

You can follow Frontiers of Pandora over on the official social handle here.

So, what's your take? Will you be picking up Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora this year? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.

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