It's now been more than half a year since Avatar: The Way of Water made a splash in theatres worldwide. With the recent release on digital platforms, physical formats, and streaming of the sequel, fans are now starting to look forward to Ubisoft Massive's open-world, action-adventure game based on the sci-fi IP that could dethrone Star Wars in the long run. Here's everything we know about Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Sadly, we're now even further away from watching the Avatar saga in its entirety, as a new wave of delays from Disney has pushed Avatar 3 to December 19, 2025, an entire year after its previous December, 2024 release date. Moreover, the Avatar sequels will now be separated by larger gaps in order to better accommodate the new batch of Star Wars movies and other behemoths in Disney's ridiculous theatrical schedule for the next eight years. Avatar 4 has shifted to December 21, 2029, and Avatar 5 – the planned final movie – won't wrap up the massive story arc until December 19, 2031.
Need a refresher? Then our How to watch Avatar 2 guide will be useful. If you're after some more sci-fi video games to play, then we recommend you take a look at some of the best space exploration, space colonization, and space horror titles available right now.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora release date
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is currently set to launch on December 7. While it was originally announced as a 2022 release, Ubisoft never committed to a specific date, so the game hasn't faced many delays.
Of course, Ubisoft Massive isn't out of the woods yet, but we're guessing everyone's trying as hard as possible to have this huge release based on a renowned IP ready for a strong launch ahead of Christmas 2023.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora platforms
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a full-blown current-gen release, meaning it's leaving PS4 and Xbox One behind in order to take full advantage of the beefier hardware that current consoles and high-end PCs are built on.
The game will release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC (Windows), and Amazon Luna (streaming).
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora trailers
We've received three extensive looks at Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora so far, starting with a stunning "first look" trailer which debuted on June 12, 2021. You can watch it here:
After being absent for two years, Frontiers of Pandora returned to the public eye with a big trailer that showcased both its story and gameplay before confirming a definitive release date. Check it out below:
Alongside that meaty trailer, Ubisoft unleashed a six-minute "game overview" trailer that gave potential players a deeper look into the world, story, characters, and gameplay systems that make up Frontiers of Pandora. Watch it in full below:
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora plot & setting
Ubisoft hasn't shared many plot specifics, but Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora takes place during The Way of Water's time skip, which happens early in the movie after the Resources Development Administration (RDA) returns to Pandora with the mission of fully colonizing the fifth moon of Polyphemus, located in the Alpha Centauri star system.
Players will take control of a Na'vi orphan raised and trained by the RDA corporation before their major defeat at the end of the first Avatar movie. The main character, along with other Na'vi orphans, is put into suspended animation and wakes up 15 years later, when the humans have already returned to Pandora.
The game's journey takes players across the Western Frontier, a never-before-seen region of Pandora inhabited by Na'vi tribes we haven't met in the movies. While the story is partially tied to the movies, it's a standalone tale designed to expand the world of Pandora and explore new corners of the Na'vi culture and the natural environments that surround these groups.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora genre & gameplay
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person action-adventure game that happens in a massive open world similar to those found in the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry game series from Ubisoft. In fact, Frontiers of Pandora appears to be borrowing a handful of systems and gameplay elements from those games in order to remain familiar. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the entire game can be played with another player thanks to an optional online co-op mode.
There's a big focus on liberating and taming the local wildlife in order to harness the full might of Eywa in the fight against the RDA invaders. Moreover, Na'vi are bigger, faster, and more resilient than humans, which means traversing and using the natural environments will feel slightly different from a more traditional experience like those found in the Far Cry titles. Still, we've already spotted a number of strong similarities even if Ubisoft Massive never worked on those games.
As a child of two worlds, the Na'vi protagonist is also able to use the humans' weapons against them, something that will prove extremely useful to take down the RDA's heavy vehicles and mechs. We don't have the full picture of all the progression available yet, but we're expecting a certain level of choice between improving abilities learned from the humans and those inherited from the Na'vi.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora collector's edition
On top of the Standard, Gold, and Ultimate editions (learn about contents of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora editions), Ubisoft is allowing the biggest Avatar fans to preorder an enticing Collector's Edition that would make Eywa proud. Here are the full details of everything it contains on top of the game:
Physical items:
- Na'vi figurine (35 cm)
- Artbook (128 pages)
- Resistance field notebook
- AMP suit blueprint (A2 format)
- Premium steelbook
- Set of three lithographs
- Certificate of authenticity
- Collector's packaging
Digital items:
- Season pass (two upcoming story packs plus an extra quest available at launch)
- Ultimate pack (Sarentu heritage cosmetic pack)
- Digital artbook
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's Collector's Edition is exclusive to a handful of retailers, so make sure to check the regional availability. We must also underline that the PC version of the game isn't getting this edition.
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