The bad movie tie-in era is behind us. Now, we live in a time where games based on licensed IPs are top-notch. Titles like the Batman Arkham franchise, The Witcher games, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man series are all critically acclaimed best-sellers. Hoping to join their ranks is Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Ubisoft faced a unique challenge with Frontiers of Pandora: it’s not just a licensed game, it’s canon to the Avatar universe. That means everything in it is an official part of the Avatar story, approved by the original studio. Achieving this required extensive research and constant communication with James Cameron’s team, the creator and director of Avatar.
Massive Entertainment, one of Ubisoft’s European development studios, has been hard at work since 2017 creating an open-world adventure where you play as a Na’vi – a native of the Na’vi homeworld, Pandora. The story follows your character, who was held captive by the invading humans for most of their life, as they reconnect with their culture and people.
As a native Na’vi who was raised by the RDA, you are a ‘child of two worlds’. In gameplay terms, it means you can use both Na’vi and human weapons. IGN’s Twenty Questions – Guess the game!
The game’s events take place alongside Avatar: The Way of Water but in a new continent called the Western Frontier. Created in collaboration with Lightstorm Entertainment, the new region is not just the stage for a new story, but also the home of new Na’vi clans, creatures, and plants.
“We really thought a lot about the Western Frontier, what does that provide?” says Drew Rechner, Frontiers of Pandora’s associate game director. “We just wanted to ensure that our stories and our themes, while they felt familiar, were different [to those in the films]. Because we just didn’t want to feel like we were retelling a story that most of the world has seen.”
The Western Frontier had to adhere perfectly to Avatar’s lore. It’s all canon, officially recognized as an important part of the universe, leaving no room for error. This was a colossal undertaking, but the results look promising.