Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - From the Ashes - Review
Two years later, the Frontiers of Pandora beckon us back once more to take on the mantle of So’lek, the Dog Tag Warrior, to protect Pandora from the RDA once more. This time however, there is a new enemy in the form of the Mangkwan, a deadly and aggressive fallen group of Na’vi who want nothing more than to see Pandora go up in Fire and Ash.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora released back in 2023. I went hands on with it back then, and while I saw some problems I had a generally decent time overall with the game. The strengths of the game remain here. A gorgeous sprawling world to explore and a generally solid overall story. It is probably important to note here before we get into the meat and bones of what is brought to the table with the From the Ashes expansion, that I am not someone with a deep knowledge of the Avatar movies. In fact, admittedly, I have never actually seen any of the films. I am and have approached the game and its expansion as someone adjacent to it, who is wanting to experience this style of open world game.
With that being said, From the Ashes added the one thing I think everyone was begging for from the release of the base game. That being, a third person mode, allowing you the choice to play the game in either first or third person. Something as simple as this completely changes the way they game feels and how to approach it. While it is clear that there was never an intention to make the game third person, with the animations of the character looking like an ice-skater at the best of times. Despite this, the game plays immeasurably better in third person than it does first person for a few key reasons.
Climbing and running around the world is a core part of Avatar. In First Person, this means you spend 70% of your time staring at foliage covered walls, trying to make your way up into areas you’re probably not meant to be in, and breaking the linear path of these climbing sections. The third person mode gives you the ability to actually see all the area around you and enjoy the beautiful visuals of the world while you do these sections. In From the Ashes this is incredibly special with how far the draw distance of the overworld carries and the things you can see.
While climbing in a beautiful and colorful area of the world still untouched by the RDA or the Ash Clan, looking into the distance you can see whole sections of the forests of Pandora on fire, grey and black spots in the distance with just the faintest outlines of ash covered trees and failing plant life. From the Ashes is a much darker and much more brutal game, and in turn the world reflects that. You can feel the pain and suffering of the planet, while able to actually see it at the same time as doing other things. This just isn’t quite possible without the Third Person addition that came alongside the expansion.
So’lek as a main protagonist is infinitely more interesting than the Sarentu was in the base game too. The Sarentu make a return here, acting as the focus of your journey while playing side fiddle to a character that feels like it has much more depth and lore behind him. His interactions with other Na’vi and Resistance members feels far more natural than the Sarentu, and for lore reasons this makes perfect sense. So’lek is a warrior, almost an antithesis to what the Na’vi really are. Much closer to the Ash Clan in the way he behaves, there is a fine line that So’lek must walk to stay in the good graces of the planet and guided to a better tomorrow.
By extension, So’lek’s story and journey is far more entertaining and interesting to follow as a narrative. The base game had a strong and enjoyable story, but From the Ashes, while a little quick and difficult to navigate at times, is a far stronger one and in turn, I found much more enjoyable. The side content is the usual Ubisoft gimmick, go to Point A, kill X, do action Y, rinse repeat. It is safe, it is fine, it doesn’t really distract you from the overall pacing of the game. It gives you something to do as a break when passing time or wanting to explore the world a little more as well, which is nice. More could have been done here that felt more specific or relevant, but at the same time, it somewhat plays into So’lek’s warrior personality.
The combat feels far more approachable in From the Ashes than it did in the base game. Perhaps tuned a little better under the expectation that you won’t be pushing for health upgrades and exploring as much as in the base game. For whatever reason, combat feels much better and you are punished far less for playing it as an action shooter more so than a stealth game. You can still stealth and bow your way through encounters, but it is just as viable (and more fun) to go in with an assault rifle and fight your way out in a hail of bullets.
This next section comes with a major early story spoiler, but it leans into how powerful and emotive the voice acting is in From the Ashes. Early on you’ll be tasked with going to the Ikran home area once more and fight your way to try and find a member of the Sarentu, as well as try and save the Ikran from the Ash Clan. At the very end, you are forced to watch as one of the Ash Clan members tortures Etuwa’s Ikran, ultimately leading to her killing it right in front of her. The following cutscene after So’lek manages to get her out of danger and back to safety, Etuwa’s voice actor conveys absolute agony in possibly one of the best pieces of VA work I’ve experienced. So emotive that it actually almost made me cry with the sheer pain and desperation in her voice screaming for her Ikran’s lose, denying it even though she knows that it is gone and dead.
Alongside this is just some tremendous overall VA work across the cast, that really puts itself hugely over the base game in this way. From the Ashes really focuses on the emotive storytelling and puts a big emphasis on the agony and pain that comes with grief and desperation in having everything taken away from you. The characters are all doing what they can, trying to remain true to themselves whilst resisting an enemy that would see everything about them be torn down and taken away. Perhaps the biggest disappointment here is that From the Ashes at the high end is only about 20-25 hours’ worth of content, meaning that you are almost left wanting more of this quality of game. Hopefully something that we will see should we ever get a sequel.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was a solid game. From the Ashes, as a standalone expansion that you can immediately jump straight into is even better. With an addition of a third person mode, a more impactful and immersive story and many other improvements. It is truly amazing that it comes as essentially marketing for the newest movie, and not something that was originally planned in the original roadmap. It may be a little rough jumping straight into it, from a gameplay perspective, an assumption of understanding of the base mechanics and story. From the Ashes shows how an expansion style addition to a game really should be done and truly got me interested in wanting to know more about the Avatar universe.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by Ubisoft
The Pros
Third Person is how it always should have been
Combat feels smoother and more approachable
Unbelievably good VA work
The Cons
Relatively short overall
Side content is repetitive and bland
Ikran flying is still awkward and clunky
