Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is not a perfect game, but the way it has meticulously recreated the world of James Cameron’s films is nothing short of incredible. Exploring the Kinglor Forest through the first act of the game feels like stepping directly into the jungle where the Omaticaya make their home in 2009’s Avatar, and as a fan of the movie t෴he attention to detail is remarkable. Massive took every possible opportunity to incorporate the iconography of Avatar into the game, from the sounds to the colors to the specific flora and fauna of Pandora - everything is perfect.
But what impressed me even more, perhaps because of how surprising it was, i💯s the new regions Massive created just for the game, that aren’t based on the movies at all. The Upper Plains in particular are an incredible fit for Pandora that maintain all of the qualities you expect from Avatar’s world building while expanding the lore in interesting new ways. With the Upper Plains, 🌌Massive has set a new high bar for both environmental storytelling and living, breathing virtual worlds.
The journey to the Upper Plains kicks off the second act of Frontiers of Pandora, and the beginning of your journey to unite the clans of the Western Frontier against the RDA. Arriving in the region through a cave, not unlike the game’s intro, is a memorable experience because it’s so different from what you’ve seen before. The rolling, multicolored h🍌ills and valleys of the Upper Plains have a completely different geography and atmosphere than the Kinglor Forest﷽ below, and therefore life for the people and animals of this region is much different than it is in the jungle.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Review - I Did Na'vi This Coming
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pando🌱ra brings the world of Avatar to life with incredible accuracy and attention to detail.
You get a sense of these di🦩fferences right away when you meet the Zeswa Clan that inhabits this area. Rather than above the trꦜeeline on the back of Ikran, the Zeswa people ride across the plains on the back of direhorses. They do not have a Home Tree like the Omaticaya or the Aranahe Clan of the forest. Instead, they’re a nomadic tribe that roam the vast plainlands, making their home wherever they find themselves.
Because of its elevation and flat landscape, the Upper Plains have constant, high powered winds that have shaped the terrain. Trees that grow sideways and large, thistly bushes with deep roots are the only large plant life that can sustain the winds, and unlike the quick, nimble carnivores that dominate the jungle, all of the wildlife in the plains are large grazing herbivores ﷽that can withstand the strong winds.
The way the people live is also defined by the winds. Instead of makeshift hunting camps, they take refuge in the❀ center of the giant bushes that dot the countryside. They have a symbiotic relationship with massive, elephant-sized creatures called the Zakru, which they travel with and build their base camps🌊 next to, as their large bodies are good for blocking the winds. When the Zakru migrate - a phenomenon that only happens once a generation - the Zeswa migrate with them. The clan sustains itself on Zakru milk, and centers their culture around protecting these creatures.
Massive’s holistic approach to creating the ecosystem in the Upper Plains is what makes it a cohesive and believable world. Every aspect of the region has evolved from a strong ecological foundation - this is how the plants, animals, and people would have evolved and behaved in a world that operates this way. There's countless details throughout the region, small examples that demonstrate how much careful consideration the developers put into creating a place that feels real.
The way the plants have evolved to launch their sores high into the sky li꧟ke missiles so they can be carried off by the wind, the way the Zeswa people use kites as landmarks and wind flutes to create music that can be heard all across the region, the way the winds build in the canyons to create impenetrable barriers for♌ flying predators, and the way life in those canyons has evolved differently because of that - it works together to create a fully-realize place that’s unlike any virtual world we’ve ever seen.
Each of Frontiers’ three regions has a strong identity - the Clouded Forest is particularly inviting as someone that’s spent a lot of time in th☂e Pacific Northwest - but the Upper Plains stands on its own as one of the most impressive open-world places I’ve ever experienced. Massive has done a lot of great work over the years, but this should be the studio&ꦇrsquo;s calling card when it comes to world building and iterating on an already-established universe. It’s not often that movie tie-ins contribute meaningfully to the world they’re adapting, but Frontiers of Pandora is a big exception.
