Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora s Magnus Jansen Interview

Besides the beauty of many of the locations being similar to the already revealed teaser trailer of Avatar Frontiers Of Pandora DLC as well as the screenshots given, players can expect to explore a beautiful planet that rivals the realms of God of W

The first thing I noticed when jumping into the game was how much of its control scheme and gameplay mechanics feel transplanted from Ubisoft’s long-running open-world series. I can pull back a bow similarly, or sprint forward to clamber up platforms in ways that feel almost identical. You can’t shake the similarities, so much so that it wouldn’t be a stretch to label Frontiers of Pandora as a licensed side project, one that takes an existing universe and applies the Far Cry model to it.

I recently popped down to Ubisoft’s offices just outside of London and was thrown into the multicoloured forests and floating cliffs of Pandora to do whatever I liked. There were some missions to follow as part of the preview build, but otherwise I spent two hours killing fascist military dudes, saving local inhabitants, and flying my Ikran - who I called Floof - high into the sky in search of new discoveries. There is a sense of wonder not dissimilar to the films, like you are discovering the world for the first time as a fledgling Na’vi who must also earn stripes within a tribe that has every reason not to trust them. On the surface this setting is ideal for an open-world game offering untold freedom and experimentation, but Frontiers of Pandora relies too much on past victories to ever escape their uninspiring shadow.

There's these sublime differences but also subtle differences, and you just dive into their world, especially in the side quest and the side dialogue. I am super impressed with what the writing team and all of the art team and everyone that crafted that. It feels like when you go on a trip yourself to a different country and you just get a little glimpse of the culture, and it's very relatable because we're human when you take a trip. But it's also so interestingly different and I think that comes across between the clans. I think the team did a fantastic job th

Gear is sorted by rarity, and the majority of things can be crafted at tables or your inventory. Bases are scattered around the open world as sources of quests and bastions of safety. My heart was hoping for an exciting new standout feature that would spring forth and impress me, or showcase what Avatar aims to do differently aside from throwing us onto an alien planet with a flying alien horse and loads of sick bows and arrows instead of Montana or Yara. There’s a chance it could, and there’s more than enough verticality in its environments to craft distinct combat encounters and quests, but will it do that? Or will it stick to the safer confines of almost every other open-world game?


Admittedly, a lot of the Ikran's anatomy is pretty confusing even to the greatest biologists. Suffice it to say that they are large flying creatures that look vaguely like pterodactyls with a few strange traits- the most obvious probably being the ridge protruding from the lower jaw. The full body is almost snake-like, with four limbs that function as both legs and wings. A person could easily be forgiven for assuming Ikran to be reptilian, as they certainly appear that way on the outside. In actuality, it is capable of regulating its own body temperature and shares a lot of traits closer to birds. Other notable traits include four eyes- two pairs that serve differering functions- and an organic air intake sys


Although it is a central part of their culture, successfully bonding with an Ikran is quite dangerous. Just reaching them is difficult enough. It requires traversal of the Hallelujah Mountains , a range of floating peaks where any misstep could send an unfortunate individual falling to their death. Upon finally reaching the biggest mountain, Mons Veritatis , actual interaction with the Ikran can begin. The caveat is the "correct" Ikran is identifiable because it will immediately try to kill its future rider, requiring them to wrestle with it until they can get their braid properly connected. The final step involves riding the Ikran off a cliff. As Neytiri puts it, "the first flight seals the bond." However, this process takes a few minutes, during which the rider will have to continue wrestling with the Ikran which will alternately be plummeting, flying erratically, and/or resisting the rider's influe


According to Ubisoft, a major part of the game will involve the player bonding with an Ikran of their own. This presumably means the game will portray the bonding ritual, though whether it will be playable, shown through cutscenes, or some combination thereof remains to be seen. What matters is the player will get one as a companion and riding it is a big part of gameplay. The official gameplay overview shows Ikran gameplay to include lots of cool stunt work that would definitely make some epic virtual photography, as well as opportunities to use the Ikran to gain an advantage against the R