Ubisoft has let the cat out of the bag by announcing the upcoming expansion for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Players seem to be really excited and almost like they are going crazy already though. ‘From the Ashes’ is the name of the DLC, which will be available on December 19th, and it would give you the opportunity to ‘master the skills of a Na’vi warrior’ with a ‘battle-hardened soul’ The trailer shows a story of revenge and survival, and all this is happening while ‘wreathed in fire,’ which is quite impressive and catchy in the game. You can make a pre-order right now, so if you can’t wait, just get one.
What is it that this expansion is all about? It seems like we are getting a new—quite literally—a new perspective. The trailer suggests some radical changes in gameplay. One of the most remarkable things that the players observed was the addition of a third-person mode. Indeed, you got it. The initial game was all about the first-person perspective, which was a… choice. Not the least, that was a controversial one. User CavemanGamer let loose his thoughts and opinion, stating, ‘Whomever decided to make this first person in the first place should be fired. This should have always been third person.’ Ouch. On the other hand, it seems though that Ubisoft Massive is taking the feedback very seriously as the new DLC will include the third-person view and the players are more than happy. User DarthRelic bluntly asked, ‘Base game getting third person too right?’ and another user responded with a definitive ‘YES ✅’, so this appears to be the case. Can’t help but to think that this is a major victory for the gaming community.
Not only that but also with the new character, So’lek the player can choose to be. Player Anas22 couldn’t contain his excitement and said, ‘getting to be So’lek! Just on the day when the new movie Avatar: Fire and Ash comes out, it’s going to be fantastic.’ Wow! What a coincidence, the new movie release and the game expansion are coming together perfectly. It’s like a huge Avatar universe event. User EstebanMeson sent a warm thank you to the developers saying that they ‘made the James Cameron’s Avatar videogame I always wanted to play as a fan’ and that this DLC is making ‘my wildest fan dreams a reality.’ Such kind of zeal is what you love to see.
However, obviously, along with the new stuff comes the everlasting question of how much. The price issue kept the discussion going in the comments section. User noname1012750 was not pleased at all with the pricing and he exclaimed, ‘Noooo another 25 dollars,’ and paired it with a crying emoji. Another user, Painthisice, supported the claim and stated that the price is indeed $24.99. So this is not a tiny add-on; this is a full-fledged premium expansion that is complete and proper. For the players who have already devoted hundreds of hours of gameplay like ArtNash3 who has played ’98 hours and done everything including the two DLC’s,’ the additional $25 for a major story expansion could be counted as a no-brainer. They even talked about maybe doing a second playthrough in the new third-person mode, referring to the game as ‘Fantastic’ and looking ‘absolutely Fing wild on PC maxed out.’ That is really high praise.
What the trailer is showing is literally action, demonstrating the new combat takedowns introduced, the skill of hissing like your Na’vi (of which user tasky claims to be a master and desperately wants this skill for his character), and the appearance of some gigantic and terrifying creatures. By the way, did you notice that monster at the end of the trailer? User Carl just commented ‘WHAT THE …. IS THAT CREATURE AT THE END’ along with a shocked Pikachu picture. Quite a reasonable question. It does look very large and fierce. CorbinSchenk speculated, saying ‘I think big creature at end of trailer is a hybrid of something big and a thanator.’ A hybrid thanator? Sounds like a nightmare to fight but also kind of cool.
Responses from the community are a mixture of total hype and minor concerns. User BPRGamingYT just wrote, ‘God dayum this looks good!’ whereas The Other screamed, ‘>:O IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN I IMAGINED!!!’ The happiness is very much conveyed. Still, the matter of game perspective may not be entirely settled yet. First-person view was a strong point of the primary design, meant to be immersive, but a huge part of the player community not only wanted to see their Na’vi characters but also what they were doing. Including third-person, especially for DLC and seemingly for the base game as well, is a big win for PlayStation and Xbox players.
