Summary
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a long-awaited game set in James Cameron's Avatar universe, offering a gorgeously realized open-world and great combat mechanics.
- Players can expect a main storyline that takes about 20-25 hours to complete, but with the option to explore side content and immerse themselves in the game's rich universe.
- The game follows the journey of a Na'vi warrior who escapes capture by the RDA and recruits three local Na'vi tribes to fight against the RDA's destructive plans, leading to an epic final battle and a hopeful future for the characters.
2023 has been an absolutely monumental year for video games, and long ones at that. As if 20-hour games like Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space weren't long enough, 2023 has also brought with it a slew of RPGs, many of which clock in at the 60-hour+ mark, such as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur's Gate 3 - and that's not even mentioning their side content. But despite only having two more weeks to go, games have not finished releasing in 2023 just yet, with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora being the latest title to join the inevitable backlog.
With a gorgeously realized open-world and some great combat, traversal, and flight mechanics, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has gone down pretty well, especially among fans of James Cameron's Avatar universe. Being a big open-world action/adventure RPG, there's a ton of stuff for players to do in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, though for those just wanting to mainline the story, it should take a pretty reasonable 20-25 hours. But after a year like this one, that might even be too long, and sometimes it's okay to just want to know how a game ends.
The Ending of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Explained
The Na'vi Take the Fight to the RDA
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora puts players in the long blue feet of a Na'vi warrior who was captured by the RDA at birth, and indoctrinated into becoming one of their ambassadors. The Na'vi player-character manages to escape the RDA facility and its leader, a man named Mercer, along with the rest of his childhood Na'vi friends. Stepping foot onto Pandora's surface for the first time, the Na'vi learn that they are part of a long-lost Sarentu clan, and the player-character is tasked with finding three local Na'vi tribes and recruiting them to help win the war against the RDA in the Western Frontier.
After recruiting all three Na'vi clans, the Aranahe, the Zeswa, and the Kame'tire, the player takes the fight to Mercer, seeking him out at a gigantic RDA drilling facility. While the three Na'vi clans fight the RDA alongside one another, the player makes their way into the underground drilling base where they discover that Mercer is trying to excavate oil, a process that will destroy much of Pandora's ecosystem.
After destroying the main drill, Mercer reveals that he can still detonate a series of explosives in the base and sends a personal AMP guard to try and take the player down. Upon defeating the guard, the player runs to stop Mercer but is caught in a trap and pinned to the ground. Mercer orders Teylan, one of the player's childhood Na'vi friends, to reactivate the charges, but upon hearing the player-character sing an ancient Sarentu clan song, he turns on Mercer and pins him to the ground instead.
The player raises the underground drilling facility to the surface and escapes to the roof where his Na'vi friends are waiting in an RDA gunship. The player doesn't quite make it onto the gunship on time, but their trusty Ikran is there to whisk them away at the last minute. They join their Na'vi friends on a nearby clifftop and they watch as the RDA facility explodes, presumably taking Mercer and most of the Western Frontier's RDA threat along with it.
The Sarentu Make Their Leave
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's final moments see the player-character and their Na'vi friends Teylan and Ri'nela discuss their future. With the RDA now defeated in the Western Frontier, the three tell their human ally and former RDA teacher Alma that they must find their own path now, and learn how to become the Sarentu once more, with Ri'nela poetically telling her that "The scars of the past will not shape our future."
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 72 /100 Critics Rec: 52%
- Released
- December 7, 2023
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Language, Mild Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Massive Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- Snowdrop
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Avatar
WHERE TO PLAY
Protect Pandora. Become Na'Vi. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora™ is a first-person, action-adventure game set in the open world of the never-before-seen Western Frontier of Pandora. Abducted by the human militaristic corporation known as the RDA, you, a Na’vi, were trained and molded to serve their purpose. Fifteen years later, you are free, but find yourself a stranger in your birthplace. Reconnect with your lost heritage, discover what it truly means to be Na'vi, and join other clans to protect Pandora from the RDA.
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- How Long To Beat
- 20 Hours
