Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From the Ashes is a surprisingly nice providing of DLC.
It’s a standalone story that takes place after the occasions of the principle marketing campaign, following the Canine Tag Warrior, So’Lek (a former facet character), as he faces off towards the villainous Ash Clan.
The Kinglor Forest from the bottom recreation is now in break, because the Ash (or Mangkwan raiders) scorch away all the color of the as soon as bountiful locale. It is efficient as a story device, though we did miss its vibrancy and wonder throughout our time with the brand new smoky forest.
The premise lends itself to a a lot darker narrative, the place So’Lek should ask how far he’s keen to stray from the best way of the Na’Vi to save lots of his new dwelling, whereas additionally encountering the primary evil Na’Vi within the collection.
We truly assume the story in From the Ashes is best than that of the bottom marketing campaign. It’s shorter, clocking in at round 15-20 hours all in, establishing some attention-grabbing villains, an attractive dynamic between the lately paired RDA and Mangkwan Na’Vi, and focuses on a way more compelling protagonist in So’Lek.
Its narrative is stuffed stuffed with attention-grabbing moments which can be steeped within the lore of the world — each in its essential story missions and facet content material.
And that’s a part of the appeal of this DLC. From the Ashes feels very synergetic with the broader IP, particularly the most recent movie, Avatar: Fireplace and Ash. We wouldn’t precisely name it a film tie-in, however it enhances James Cameron’s newest sci-fi epic.
Mentions of key characters, the presence of the Wind Merchants, and, after all, the Ash folks, all make the leap from the large display screen, making for a way more cohesive and thought-out world. We beloved selecting out all of the tiny little references and particulars.
However how does From the Ashes function a brand new piece of content material for many who have visited the Frontiers earlier than?
From the Ashes is definitely a way more streamlined expertise, which we predict is for the higher on this case. There’s not as a lot of an emphasis on looking, gear rating is changed with a fundamental XP talent level system, and there are solely a handful of armour and weapons to unlock by way of the marketing campaign.
It does take away quite a lot of the RPG elements of the open world that we beloved within the base recreation. Nonetheless, From the Ashes is extra like a slice of Pandora slightly than the entire pie, so you possibly can simply sit again, loosen up, and benefit from the spectacle of all of it.
And it does nonetheless provide a brand new space known as The Ravines. This rocky terrain does not permit for the usage of the Ikran, forcing gamers to discover on foot — however this space’s extra targeted, tunnelled design strategy makes it a little bit of a chore to navigate, and pales compared to the extra open Kinglor Forest.
Fortunately, it is a delight to soak up the sights regardless, due to the brand new third-person mode, which is accessible throughout the DLC and the bottom recreation. For us, it’s a way more immersive expertise, permitting you to soak up the true scale of its setting.
There are some teething points, like slicing to first-person when underwater or soothing an animal, so you possibly can inform this was a first-person challenge at its core. We predict Huge Leisure has finished a ok job, although, so it doesn’t really feel like a tack-on, particularly while you convey the brand new third-person cinematics into play.
For the first-person purists on the market, you possibly can play the entire thing in first-person if you want — you possibly can change backwards and forwards at any time. Nonetheless, you’d then be lacking out on the far improved fight. Fight is first rate within the base recreation, however it feels a lot snappier in third-person.
There is a new Warrior mode, too, which helps you to blast by means of enemy well being bars as soon as a gauge has stuffed, and new finisher animations are a pleasant contact, even when they get a bit repetitive.
Our largest disappointment is one we addressed in our preview. The brand new Na’Vi enemies, the Ash, had nice potential to actually combine up fight encounters, as we hoped they’d be put into the common roster of enemies. As a substitute, they’re reserved primarily for large bullet-sponge bosses.
A number of the larger scripted boss fights are improbable enjoyable, like an air-bound assault in your Ikran, however a lot of the common Ash bosses are simply inexplicably robust, aimlessly working round as you unload clip after clip into their cranium earlier than you possibly can take them out.
Fortunately, the RDA mechs stay as enjoyable as ever to battle, alongside the brand new mech-dog enemies. And are available the tail finish of the DLC, you’re so overpowered that it’s a delight to only plough by means of tiny people.
From a PS5 perspective, that is nonetheless such a visible showcase, with some actually attractive vistas. And throughout its varied graphical modes, on each PS5 and PS5 Professional, you have got a set of choices, whether or not you need smoother efficiency or larger constancy. There was the odd minor visible glitch, however we had no issues outdoors of that.
And carrying over from the principle recreation, the haptics on the DualSense controller are simply improbable, and virtually really feel first-party degree at occasions.
