Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the Ubisoft title stemming from James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, is set to receive its first story DLC. The Sky Breaker, the upcoming story expansion, is go??ing to be released on ?July 16.

Ubisoft released the trailer for The Sky Breaker, which showed the Na'vi celebrating their victory after the events of the base game. The celebrations are cut short when a ship crashes down at the festival, carry?ing the notion that the fight for survival and their home planet is not over yet.

The DLC will introduce The Heart of the Plains??, a new location, and players will also get to take on a new enemy type known as the AMP Defender. This mech-suit carries a riot shield, as if it was not already hard enough to defeat the mechs with bow?s and arrows.

The celebration shown during the start of the trailer is known as The Great Games, and there will be several challenges themed around it for players to complete. Character progression will also be extended through this DLC with 25 more ranks to gain and spend skill points. Players can now reach master crafter status, and there will be a new Legendary rarit??y category for items.

There is a Season Pass available which grants you access to both of the planned story DLCs, The Skybreaker and Secrets of the Spires. The second DLC i?s planned for autumn 2024. The Season Pass costs $39.99 on the Ubisof??t Store, and requires the base game.

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Do you remember Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora? The open-world ARPG by Ubisoft saw its last update in early December. Now, after more than?? two months of radio silence, Avatar's got a new update that includes some surprising improvements. Some aren't anything to write home about, but other bits from the latest patch notes are worth your attention.

Title Update 3 goes live with bug fixes galore

The new Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Title Update 3 patch notes highlight many quest-related bugs, from minor annoyances to soft locks, have been addressed. Teleporting away after a death in certain situations no longer prevents you from completing a quest, and NPCs no longer stand on furniture at certain points during the story. Various graphical issues have been fixed or improve??d, too.

Patch 3 adds Avatar QoL and major achievement fix

Perhaps most notably, The Ubisoft Challenge requiring you to cook all specialty dishes has been fixed. This achievement is now obtainable and, for the first time, it’s possible to complete all Challenges for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Inventory space has been expanded, and crafting now?? extends to stashes and pouches. Na’vi Senses have been improved to make it easier to spot quest objectives and investigation items, hopefully improving some more annoying quests. Additionally, while mounted, you can grab sticks and Dapophet Pods, while aiming and swapping were also improved.

Graphical options, like fog and motion blur, have adjustment sliders now. Combat difficulty overall has been reduced, especially in early gam??e. It's easier to stealth, while enemies have worse aim, and weak point hitbox size has increased.

Dir?ehorse speed has been increased, but the buff comes with penalties and speed boosts depending on terrain type. There was little reason to go Direhorse riding post-Ikran unlock before, but the changes could spice things? up.

Na’vi names for certain plants and animals have been added, too. Th??is may be a minor addition, but I think it's important to acknowledge names in their native language when we can. Even if the native language comes from a race of fictional blue cat-people.

While this update fixes many of the issues in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, it doesn’t address all of them. My Ikran and weapon cosmetics still?? don’t save when I quit the game, and the core issues with its cookie-cutter open-world gameplay remain.

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When Ubisoft revealed the first-look video for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora a couple of years ago, I thought, “Oh cool, an Avatar-themed Far Cry game!�I generally have a good time with Far Cry, but have been a bit burnt out on the gameplay loop recently. Turns out I was? wrong.&nb??sp;

While Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does indeed have some overlapping elements with the Far Cry series, it’s very much its own game. If anything, it takes those elements and pushes them further, while molding them to fit within the world of James Cameron’s Avatar.

For fans of Avatar in general, Frontiers of Pandora is just what you’re looking for. Even if you’re not, the beautiful world that Massive Entertainment has created mixed with its tight combat system pushes the staple open-world fun of Ubisoft to the next level. Sure, it’s got some of the same stuff we’ve done before: clearing out enemy bases, hunting animals for materials, and more sidequests and collectibles than you can imagine. But even still, it does so with its own unique additions that make Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora its own.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PC [reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: December 7, 2023
MSRP: $69.99

Yo, listen up here's a story

The story starts with you creating your own young Na’vi, who is essentially part of what the RDA (humans) call The Ambassador Program. It’s marketed as a program to help bridge the game between Na’vi and Human relations, but of course that’s not the case. Turns out, your tribe, the Sarentu, mysteriously disappeared and you are the last remaining member. The Sarent??u were a very respected and prestigious tribe on Pandora, so their disappearance is obviously worrisome to the Na’vi.

By the end of the brief introduction sequence, you are older and much wiser about the real motives of The Ambassador Program, which certainly aren’t favorable to the Na’vi. A resistance group of humans and Na’vi breaks you out shortly after Jake Sully rallies the tribes against the RDA in the movie, which is where Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora really begins. Even though Jake Sully and his actions are referenced, from here on out Frontiers of Pandora is its own story set on the Western Frontier c??ontinent of Pandora.

At its core, the overarching narrative is mostly what you’d expect; the RDA is bad and up to no good, and the resistance is trying to put a stop to it. They’re up to some more nefarious things on Pandora than we’ve seen in the movies, too. But the story also delves into the Sarentu as you learn more about their heritage and what happened to them. As you progress, you will rally other?? tribes to join the resistance in fighting back against the RDA, with each one sharing more information with you about the Sarentu and their importance to the world. The story is solid, but made even better by the incredibly detailed and living world of Pandora all around you.

About a little guy that lives in a blue world

Massive Entertainment really put a lot o??f detail into creating its version of Pandora. The Western Frontier the player can explore is split into three regi??ons: The Kinglor Forest, The Upper Plains, and The Clouded Forest. At the start, only the Kinglor Forest is available to you, and you unlock the other two areas by progressing through the main story. 

The Kinglor Forest is a lush and sprawling rainforest resting under a floating mountain formation, one of the iconic biomes from Avatar. To say the world is beautiful would be an understatement. If you remember the surreal feeling of the forest lightning up at night when seeing Avatar for the first time, be prepared to relive it.

The world is also massive, both in scale and literal size. Colossal trees tower above as you run swiftly through the forest. Some of the most memorable moments I have with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora are just running through the rainforest while scaling monumental tree roots and mushrooms, all while the chirps and calls of creatures echo around me. It feels like an actual living world, which is a big part of what makes Avatar and more specifically Pandora so special.

Also, everything opens up very early, allowing you to explore the world with freedom. You can tackle a plethora of sidequests as well as hunt down a ton of collectibles. There’s a 3D world map that marks the location of a collectible, quest hub, or impo??rtant location. Once you’ve acquired the collectible or visited the location, it changes to a green blip indicating you have obtained what was there. I’m usually not a fan of collectibles, but I had a lot of fun seeking them out. Bellsprigs and Tarsyu Saplings, the two primary collectibles, also give you rewards for finding them. Each Bellsprig you touch grants you a permanent max health boost, while each Tarsyu Sapling gives you a skill point. It’s nice to have collectibles that are not only fun to explore and hunt down, but also worthwhile in terms of rewards for doing so.

Very early on, the Aranahe tribe in Kinglor Forest tasks you with bonding with and acquiring your own Ikran. For those unfamiliar, these are the flying creatures that Na’vi can bond with to mount and take to the skies. To do so, you must ascend to the top of an Ikran Rookery and tame one of the creatures. The journey to the top is a very aesthetically pleasing experience, with a bit of adventure, puzzle-solving, and platforming all thrown together. The outstanding music—which, by the way, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s entire soundtrack is incredible—only enhance??s the journey even more. It’s a very cool experience and ends with you being able to fly across the Western Frontier of Pandora.

And all day and all night and everything he sees is just blue

For how authentic the world of Pandora feels, the sam?e can be said about playing as a Na’vi. For starters, you are taller than a human. It may not seem like much, but with the first-person camera towering over humans, it’s a noticeable difference right away. You can also hold down the jump button to extend how high and far you can jump. Once again, this may seem like a small thing, but it really makes you f??eel like a Na’vi as you’re jumping across fallen trees and scaling cliff sides. 

Then, there’s the combat. It’s a very tight and realistic feeling. Your primary weapon of choice is going to be the bow, which works just how you imagine it woul??d. Hold down the fire button to pull the arrow back, causing it to go further. It’s always fun when you perfectly line up a shot—because of course, there is bullet, err, ?arrow drop—and hit your enemy. You’ll also have access to a couple more Na’vi weapons like the Hunting Bow, which is essentially a longer-range bow, and the Staff Sling, which allows you to hurl explosives at great distance.

There are also a couple of RDA weapons. Each weapon seems to have its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, the bow is a one-shot kill on your basic human enemy. However, when going up against an RDA AMP mech suit, you’re going to use their own weapons against them: the Assault Rifle or Shotgun. While it may seem like? the Na’vi weapons are weaker, they typically are not. You can also cr??aft additional ammo for them on the fly, whereas ammo for the RDA weapons has to be looted, from containers or dead RDA enemies. 

A major part of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is the crafting. You’ll collect materials throughout all of Pandora, be it mushrooms growing on the forest floor, honey from beehives hanging from the trees, or even hides and teeth from animals you will hunt. You can use these ma?terials to craft various recipes and designs you’ll unlock by progressing through the story, increasing your favor with the various clans, and completing specific side quests. Some of the recipes are for better types of food which, when consumed, give you buffs. Primarily though, you will be c??rafting armor and weapon upgrades and mods.

You also have the ability to use your Na’vi Senses. This puts a focused central point of your vision that highlights pretty much anything of note: collectibles, gatherable materials, animals, and even enemies. It’s essentially Eagle Vision from Assassin’s Creed. I?? like the system, but also wish it was a bit more expanded to maybe grant you the increased senses for your whole vision, not just the focused center point. Then again, maybe that would make it too strong.

Like him inside and outside

As I said, there are some definite similarities to Far Cry here. You’ll raid RDA outposts and bases, as well as shut down their mining and drilling operations. One of the cooler aspects is doing so eradicates the pollution in that area. A large portion of the map in the Western Frontier start?s off orangeish-brown with pollution from nearby RDA installations. But each one you take out allows life to flourish in the area. This isn’t just for looks, though. You’ll also gain access to new ?sidequests, fast travel points, collectibles, and loot by doing so. 

I’ve grown tired of the whole “liberate enemy outpostsâ€?system, but can say I genuinely sought them out and enjoyed doing so in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. As I said, they took some of the core systems and added enough nuance from the Avatar IP to make it different and fun. 

There’s also a skill system, with five different paths you can invest your skill points into. Skill points are obtained by hunting down Tarsyu Saplings and completing the main story and side quests. ?There’s quite a bit of diversity in the skills, which is nice. Focusing on the Survivor Skill Tree will give you more health and increase resistance against certain types of damage. The Maker Skill Tree, however, increases the quality of materials you obtain, and improves the quality of equipment you craft.

Each skill also has its own Apex Skill that you unlock by completing a specific challenge and unlocking every other skill in that tree. All of the five Apex Skills are pretty big, s??o they are definitely worth going for. I personally found some skills more worthwhile than others, but with all of the Apex Skills being so useful, I found myself wanting to progress through each tree eventually. For example, the Apex Skill for the Maker Skill Tree makes all of your crafted gear and weapons more powerful. I beelined this Apex Skill and am glad I did so, because the now-increased damage my weapons deal is a real game-changer.

I'm blue

Unfortunately, I ??did encounter a few issues that at least affected my playthrough somewhat along the way. I had a pretty well-optimized adventure while playing through the Kinglor Forest area. However, once I reached the second and third areas, I saw some noticeable FPS drops. The dense forest didn’t have many ??issues, but for some reason, the open plains were a bit more trouble.

I’m also not a fan of the Combat Strength system in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. I like that t??here’s no actual experience grinding to level up. Your Combat Strength is calculated based on the gear you have equipped, including armor and weapons and their attachme??nts. You can also increase your Combat Strength by selecting certain skills on the skill tree that boost damage or health.

But the main issue here is that the number acts as sort of a hard wall when fighting enemies. For example, if your Combat Strength is 7, almost 8, and you are fighting an enemy that has a strength of 8, you’re not going to have a good ??time. The enemy takes reduced damage while also dealing a lot more damage to you. However, equipping a very minor upgrade that will push your score up to 8 suddenly makes the enemy much easier. In a way, it can feel as though it trivializes the stats on equipment because, at the end of ??the day, you just want to strive for a higher Combat Strength than your opponent. 

Finally, as much as I like the 3D world m?ap, in some cas?es, it’s not very practical from a gameplay perspective. I’d often be at the spot on my map indicating there was a Bellsprig or Tarsyu Sapling—both collectibles—which was literally visible on the map. However, the actual location of the collectible was in a nearby cave.

Da be dee da ba di

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does Avatar justice. Massive Entertainment has created a truly immersive and polished Pandora, that quite frankly far exceeded my expectations. Massive managed to create the same feeling of awe that I experienced when the Avatar movie was released almost 14 years ago. Running through the lush forests of Pandora with its incredibly grandiose overgrown flora while the sounds of c??reatures simply living all around me creates such an authentic rendition of life on Pandora. 

If you walked away from Avatar wishing a world like Pandora actually existed out there, here you go. This is that world. Seeing Pandora is one thing, but being able to scale its massive treetops, soar high above its floating mountains on an Ikran, and traverse its wide open plains on the back of a Direhorse is really something special. This is the best version of Avatar yet. 

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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The December 2023 games lineup involves us turning?? into blue aliens and harnes??sing the powers of a flour golem. We'll also be helping our favorite Disney characters with farming and other tasks.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, Amazon Luna

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Price: $69.99
Release Date: December 7
Trailer

The Division developer Massive Entertainment is behind the open world of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. You'll be exploring the beautiful Western Frontier, a new area inspired by James Cameron's box office breaking movie series. Available on December 7, this FPS has us playing as a Na'vi raised to be a warrior? for the RDA but freed after 15 years. We'll be fighting back as we "reconnect wi?th [our] lost heritage," according to the game's official website.

"It’s clear this is an open-world Ubisoft game, but there’s enough different there to make it feel like a fresh experience as well," writes our own Steven Mills in a preview of the new Ubisoft title.

This game seems similar to the Far Cry series as you c??ra??ft your own gear, gain access to a variety of weapons like shotguns and assault rifles, and take over outposts. Hopefully the game will be more interesting than the first movie's Unobtanium storyline.

Born of Bread - PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Switch, PC

Publisher: Dear Villagers
Developer: WildArts Studio Inc.
Price: $24.99
Release Date: December 5
Trailer

Getting anxious for the Paper Mario: The Thousand Door remake? You'll want to check out Born of Bread while you wait. It has a vibrant art style, a similar turn-based combat system, and a story that seems just as silly. "Born of Bread puts a twist on turn-based combat tropes with a fun interaction system that will test your reflexes," says the game's Steam page. "This interactive system also features a weakn?esss and resistance system that makes battles more st??rategic."

The RPG seems memorable, as evidenced by our preview from PAX East earlier this year.

The combat system reacts to the timing of your button presses like the Paper Mario games that many enjoy. You'll also be solving puzzles with each character's abilities as you explore this world. It releases on December 5.

Disney Dreamlight Valley (1.0 release) - PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Switch, PC

Publisher: Gameloft
Developer: Gameloft
Price: $39.99 and higher
Release Date: December 5
Trailer

The 1.0 release of Disney Dreamlight Valley and the expansion A Rift In Time is finally arriving on December 5. This game is similar to Animal Crossing, in which you're befriending Disney characters, harvesting crops, and finishing side quests along the way like making dishes for Ratatouille's Re??my. You're also upgrading shops?? and other resources available to you. Somehow, there's an intriguing storyline that meshes all of these Disney icons together and have it make sense.

It's a relaxing adventure, especially for those who love almost every Disney movie like me. You may want to get the Gold Edition, which comes with the DLC A Rift In Time and 5,000 Moonstones, one of the game's currencies. And yes, it won't be free-to-play, u??nfortunately. I ?guess it's something else Eeyore can complain about.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince - Switch

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Price: $59.99
Release Date: December 1
Trailer

Heading to the Switch exclusively is Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, the next entry in the long-running JRPG series. Similar to the Pokemon series, you'll be collecting monsters and training them. As the story proceeds, the game's environments w?ill change from Spring to Summer ??and so on.

Synthesizing two monsters to make more powerful allies returns, too. "Players can experiment and eventually unlock over 500 monsters, including franchise favourites, dark lords, and completely new creatures," says Square Enix in a press release. The game's also online, so you can compete against your friends and foes throughout the world. I'm excited, but man, I'll skip over the Overture theme if it plays after it playing in so many trailers. Nevertheless Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince releases on December 1.

Sonic Dream Team - iOS, Mac, Apple Arcade

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega Hardlight
Price: Free with Apple Arcade subscription
Release Date: December 5
Trailer

Last up is the Blue Blur himself, Sonic the Hedgehog in Sonic Dream Team. This ti??me, you can play as six different characters, including Sonic, Amy, Tails, Cheese, Knuckles, and Rouge. In this 3D platformer, you're trying to jump and spindash your way through Eggman's nightmare dreamscapes.

From the trailers and screenshots, it looks like a solid 3D entry, despite being exclusive to Apple Arcade. It's far more interesting than Sonic Superstars, that's for sure. It will be available on the subscription service on December 5. Hopefull??y this gam?e heads to consoles soon after.

Honorable mentions

This month isn't just some RPG goodness and the lightning quick speed of Sonic and his friends. There's far more than that. Who knows? There might be some shadowdrop surprises at The Game Awards. The honorable mention??s include:

• Batman: Arkham Trilogy (Switch) - December 1
• SteamWorld Build (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, Switch)- December 1
• A Highland Song (Switch, PC) - December 5
• Enclave HD (PS5) - December 5
• Arizona Sunshine II (PC, PSVR2) - December 7
• House Flipper 2 (PC) - December 13
• Bulletstorm VR (PC, PSVR2) - December 14
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (PS4, PS5, PC) - December 14
• Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (Switch) - December 14
• Raccoo Venture (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Switch, PC) - December 14
• Paranoid (PC) - December 14
• Trinity Fusion (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC) - December 15
• Resident Evil 4 (iOS) - December 20

The post Most anticipated games – December 2023 appeared first on Destructoid.

Ubisoft dropped a new Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora traile?r today to showcase what the publisher has planned for the game post-launch. It showcases a pair of story packs and exclusive content at launch for players who purchase the title's Season Pass.

While the game is unabashedly a Ubisoft-styled open-world game, our preview confirmed that "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora [fee??ls] like an accur?ate representation of playing as Na’vi in the world of Pandora." So fans of the franchise should have reason to be excited. Now, they know the experi??ence isn't over once the ini??tial credits roll.

The Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Season Pass consists of three main parts: the Familiar Echoes bonus quest, The Sky Breaker story pack 1, and Secrets of the Spires story pack 2. Familiar Echoes will be availab??le for download at launch while t??he pair of story packs will roll out in the summer and fall of 2024 respectively.

Details are still scarce, but the Familiar Echoes DLC is a mission in which you "Infiltrate a highly secured RDA military base and hack their classified data to sabotage them from the inside." There's only a brief clip of footage?? in the new trailer and a solitary screenshot (below), but it looks as though it may be a stealth mission of sorts where you'll be asked to quietly hack systems via a minig??ame while also taking down soldiers and mechs of the RDA.

Post-launch comes the pair?? of story DLC targeting the second half of 2024. In the summer comes The Sky Breaker. Ubisoft teases that you'll experience "epic aerial battles" as a "mysterious shadow looms in the sky, threatening the N??a’vi clans below who are celebrating at their great festival of games."

Following s??tory pack one is the Secrets of the Spires DLC in the fall. This too is aerial-focused, but the Season Pass content is ?set in a new canyon region of Pandora.

The Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Season Pass comes included with the Gold and Ultimate Editions of the upcoming PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S game. The Gold Edition is currently $109.99 and the Ultimate Edition is listed at $129.??99.

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I have to admit, when I first saw Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, I thought it was just a reskinned Far Cry. If anything, it reminded me of Far Cry: Primal. But I recently had the opportunity to jump into a two-hour hands-on experience of an earlier section of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, where I realized it is not just Far Cry: Blue Edition. Sure, there are similarities to the open-world formula that Ubisoft has mastered over the years. But Frontiers of Pandora also builds upon the for??mula, while also melding it to fit the world of Pa??ndora.

In the two hours I got to play, I only got to explore a small portion of the world and experience and even smaller part of the story. However, in the two hours I also got a good feel for what developer Massive Entertainment was going for. In Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, you actually feel like a Na'vi exploring the vast and beautiful world of Pandora full of incredible flora and fa??una.

Eywa has heard you

??My gameplay demo dropped me in the middle of a massive forest in Pandora, with no instruction on what to do next. Keep in mind this isn't the beginning of the game, but rather an early segment that Massive and Ubisoft specifically picked. My only hint was an apparent quest tracker in the top left of the screen that informed me I was supposed to be gathering some Mangrove Hive Nectar for a ritual.

I looked around and saw an intricately lush amalgamation of plants and trees, just like we've seen from the Avatar movie. High in the sky were floating islands with waterfalls flowing off of them, and all around me were the many sounds of Pandora. Insects chirped and buzzed, animals called out to each other, and sticks crunched under my feet as I ran across the? forest. As day turned to night, the forest lit up with vibrant hues of blue and purple while plants began to light up and glow in every direction. This is certainly Pandora.

But not only was this indeed Pandora—I was indeed a Na'vi. Sprinting felt like second nature, as I zipped across the forest floor. You can hold the jump button, and the longer you h?old it, the further and higher you will jump. You'll sprint top massive treetops as you jump?? from branch to branch, parkouring across the world.

I just wanted to point out that Massive clearly put in the effort to make Frontiers of Pandora feel like Avatar in the important ways. The wor??ld of Pandora is so detailed that it may be th?e most beautiful rendition we've seen of it yet. And from a gameplay perspective, you really feel like you are playing as a Na'vi.

I see you

Not long into the gameplay, I found myself climbing atop an Ikran Rooker?y to forge my own bond with an Ikran. The rookery itself required superb parkour that only a Na'vi could successfully pull off, as I climbed to the top. From here, players get access to their own Ikran. You can call the Ikran at any time, including when you're freefalling from the highest points of Pandora. Your Ikran will swoop under you allowing to mount it from the skies as you soar through the skies. It's a great feeling, and once again creates the real feeling of being a Na'vi in Pandora.

It also provi?des an insanely fast m?ethod of travel, allowing you to fly to each location including quest objectives. It's the sort of feature that always felt missing from the massively open-world environments Ubisoft is known for.

All energy is only borrowed

After forging the bond with an Ikran, I encountered the RDA for the first time. I was impressed to learn that I'm able to engage in combat from atop the Ikran, firing a flurry of arrows at RDA ships as they tried to take me down. You can also jump off your Ikran at any time, which is a cool added gameplay element. Not only can you land on the ground an?d dismount, but you can also jump off from midair. Of course, there is fall damage, so you don't want to jump off from too high.

The gunplay itself felt very concise and tight. For my hands-on, I got to cycle between a standard bow, a sniper bow that had longer range, dealt more damage, but took longer to re-nock, and an RDA assault rifle. I typically used the standard bow against standard human enemies, switching to the sniper bow when things were exceptionally far away. The assault rifle seemed very strong, especially at shredding the armor of the RDA's mech suits. I typically prefer to play first-person-shooter games with keyboard and mouse. However, for this hands-on experience, we were recommended to use a controller. I used a DualSense (PS5) controller and it felt great. In fact, I may even choose to play with a controller when Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releases.

Eventually I made my way to an RDA mining outpost where I had the option of stealthing my way in and sabotaging and disabling the outpost quietly, or going in guns blazing. I attempted stealth but was spotted by someone about halfway through, which quickly turned into a firefight. It was an intense battle as more and more enemies swarmed t??he outpost. But as a Na'vi, the ability to quickly scale up structures and out maneuver my enemies made it so the combat never felt unfair by any means.

Overall, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora felt like an accurate representation of playing as Na'vi in the world of Pandora. It's clear this is an open-world Ubisoft game, but there's enough different there to make it feel like a fres??h experience as well. It's simply fun to explore Pandora as a Na'vi, and Massive has made it feel natural.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releases on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on?? Dece?mber 7.

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Ubisoft has revealed its various recommendations when it comes to PC hardware needed to run Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. They’re not especially surprising.

You’ll need a reasonably recent setup to actually get Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The minimum GPU is AMD RX 5700 or Nvidia Geforce 1070. The minimum required VRAM is 8GB. You’ll also need 90GB of free space? on your hard drive and at least 18GB of RAM.

However, if you want to run everything at max and in 4K, you’ll need the latest generation of cards. This?? means at least an AMD RX 7900 XTX 24GB or an Nvidia RTX 4080 16GB. Even with that hardware, you’re still going to need to use AMD FSR2 at balanced settings to make up the extra frames. I?t also supports FSR3 and DLSS.

The beefy Ultra specs are likely due to the game’s usage of “Raytraced global illumination, reflections & shadows.�It’s funny how the appreciable growth in graphical fidelity has decelerated significantly in the past couple of decades. If I were cynical, I’d think that a computational-heavy technique such as raytracing is so heavily pushed by tech companies as a way of ensuring that hardware still becomes obsolete at a consistent pace. I am cynical, so I do think that. But that's not Ubisoft's problem. They just want the bullet point. Ubisoft has other problems.

However, if you are down for playing Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, your computer ca?n have a bit of dust on it if you are okay with the lower settings. However, if you want to enjoy all the splendor that Ubisoft can bring to Pandora, you’ll need something with a little more beef.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will b?e released on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 on December 7, 20?23.

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Sequel? Online Shooter? Probably one or both

Ubisoft has released a new trailer teasing its upcoming summer presentation, ??Ubisoft Forward �The live stream event, which will take place on June 12, will feature updates on an array of the publisher's titles, as? well as the reveal of an all-new mystery game.

The trailer, which you can check out below, features clips from some of the studio's incoming wares, including Assassin's Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and The Crew: Motorfest. A group of models, impossibly too trendy to be watching a publisher live stream then enquire as to a mystery image, delivering a delightfully wooden "Wait. What's that Game?" I dunno, probably ?another crossover shooter for mobile platforms. Why not? Also, it helps ??if your TV is actually turned on.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAsWtB4f5Ls&t

If you want to check out the action for yourself, then Ubisoft Forward kicks off June 12 at 10:00 PT / 13:00 ET / 18:00 BST and can be watched live on Ubisoft's YouTube, Twitch, and social media channels. Of course, Team Destructoid will be sat around for the affair, likely in an apartment far less perfect than the one featured in this v??ideo), and will bring you all of the headlines as they occur.

Assassin's Creed Mirage launches on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox October 12. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora launches later this year on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X. Finally, The Crew: Motorfest also launches later ??this year on PlayStation, PC, and ??Xbox platforms.

The post Ubisoft Forward June live stream will reveal a brand?? new game appeared first on Destructoid.

Pandora will have to wait

Ubisoft is pushing one of its games out of this year. The publisher confirms today that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is moving to fiscal year 2023-2024.

Previously set to launch in 2022, this delay pushes Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora out of the year and up to at least April 2023. The news arrived via Ubisoft's financial earnings today, and no more specifics were given on a date.

It shouldn't be a huge surprise though, as we've yet to see much of this new Avatar game. While a June 2021 trailer gave us a cinematic look a??t what's in store, we haven't seen much else in the time since.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axmg1E4HrVE

It does seem to be more of the Navi and space corporation fighting each other, much like in the original Avatar film. The Frontiers of Pandora game is also set for PlayStation 5 and Xb??ox Series X, but not previo??us-generation consoles.

In its financial statement, Ubisoft says it is working on taking full advantage of next-gen technology, as it sees the Avatar brand as a "major multi-year ??oppo??rtunity" for Ubisoft.

The fall window ahead

Ubisoft also announced a few more changes to its upcoming slate. First off,? it delayed a smaller but unannounced premium game from 2022-2023? into 2023-2024.

Also, as noted by Axios' Stephen Totilo on Twitter, Ubisoft canceled development of four more games. These are Splinter Cell VR, Ghost Recon Frontline, and two unannounced games. No further details were giv?en on why.

This still leaves two fairly large games in Ubisoft's upcoming fall lineup. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is set for October 20, 2022 on Nintendo Switch. And the long-awaited pirate ship sim Skull and Bones finally locked in a date for November 8, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and cloud services. Those who wanted to?? fly across the plains of Pandora this year will have to settle for the high seas instead.

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