Highlights
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora immerses players in the lush and visually stunning world of Pandora, known for its unique bioluminescent visuals and diverse wildlife.
- The game begins with a captivating stepping-out moment, similar to those seen in Bethesda RPGs like Fallout 3 and Skyrim, where players experience the emotional and awe-inspiring first glimpse of the open-world environment.
- As players escape the underground RDA facility and step into the surface of Pandora, they are met with breathtaking flora and fauna, realistic lighting, and detailed environmental design, creating a sense of freedom and wonder.
One of the most integral aspects of James Cameron’s Avatar universe is the setting of Pandora itself. An overarching story all about the importance of nature and conserving it, Avatar‘s world of Pandora is central to not only the movies’ underlying themes and narrative but also the series’ unique visual aesthetic. The first Avatar movie broke new ground with its visuals, with revolutionary motion capture tech bringing the Na’vi to life, and some cutting-edge CG creating a gorgeous world filled with lush foliage, quirky wildlife, and incredibly unique bioluminescent visuals. Naturally, this is all a major part of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
In Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, players take control of a young Na’vi who’s never seen the outside world of Pandora. Kidnaped as an infant, the player-character eventually manages to escape the RDA facility they’ve been trapped in their whole life and begins their journey to reconnect with the planet they call home. But, before they begin that heartfelt journey, they must first experience a stepping-out moment that easily rivals some of Bethesda’s best.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora – 7 Mistakes To Avoid As A Beginner
While there’s technically no wrong way to play Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, there are a few mistakes that beginners should avoid making.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Has a Stepping-Out Moment As Good As a Bethesda RPG
Bethesda Has a Long History of Stepping-Out Moments
Traditionally, “stepping-out” moments are defined as the ones where players are given their first true glimpse of the game’s open world and are finally given free rein over it. Though it may not have been the first to pioneer it, Bethesda has become the developer most often associated with the stepping-out moment, and it’s been in almost all the developer’s RPGs of the last few decades or so.
Fallout 3 features one of the most iconic stepping-out moments in all of gaming. After spending an hour or two in the underground Vault 101, players finally make their way up to the surface. Upon opening up the Vault door, players are greeted with a blindingly bright light and are then given their first look at the decimated wasteland that awaits them.
Skyrim features a similar stepping-out moment, albeit a less significant one. After finishing the Helgen tutorial, players exit a cave and are given their first look at the sprawling wintry world of Skyrim, and it’s on them to choose a destination from there. These stepping-out moments are designed to fuel the player’s sense of wonder and make them feel as though they have an entire world in front of them just waiting to be explored.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Features a Perfect Stepping-Out Moment
Following in Fallout 3‘s footsteps, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora begins with players in an underground facility. Taken by the RDA from a young age, Avatar‘s player-character has never seen the outside world of Pandora, and the game’s opening sequence highlights that emotional moment very well with a stepping-out sequence. While escaping the RDA facility, players are subjected to the same sights over and over again, those being drab, gray walls, and rooms full of consoles.
But as players get closer to the surface, little hints of Pandora’s fantastical world start to break through the drabness. First, it’s a single plant on a railing, then it is grass on a metal walkway, and finally, just before players reach the surface, they encounter a mass of vines slowly reaching into the facility through a broken hole in the ceiling.
As players exit the facility, they’re greeted with a bright light, and then they’re immediately bombarded with some truly breathtaking flora and fauna. In this moment, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s visuals really shine, with the game’s realistic lighting, varied wildlife, and extremely detailed environmental design all working together to connect the player and their character, both sharing the same feeling of freedom and wonder.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora
Developed by Massive Entertainment and set to be published by Ubisoft, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world game set within James Cameron’s popular Avatar universe. The title will highlight a new region of Pandora called the Western Frontier.
- Released
- December 7, 2023
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
