No matter whether it’s a book, movie or video game, there’s a special, deep-seated satisfaction to returning to a world that you know and love. Pandora is such a world. Home to the Na’vi, and bursting with neon flora and fauna, incredible creatures and the iconic floating islands, James Cameron’s fictional planet remains amongst the most vibrantly-realised sci-fi settings of the modern era. From the Ashes takes us back to this place, a new expansion for Ubisoft’s excellent Frontiers of Pandora, while tying in with Avatar: Fire and Ash, the brand-new cinematic outing for the franchise. It’s a return that’s well worth making.
This time out, you play as So’lek, the Na’vi warrior who you fought alongside in the first game. Your original character is here as well – initially referred to as simply ‘The Sarentu’ – but So’lek makes for an interesting new central character that is brusque and thoughtful in equal measure. Set two weeks after the events of Avatar: Fire and Ash, you come face-to-face with the Mangkwan, the new Na’vi clan of brutal, vicious warriors who’ve aligned themselves with the RDA, here led by Major Bukowski, against the peace-loving groups we’ve come to know.
I held off working on the later portion of my review so that I could see the movie without ruining it, but I really didn’t have to. There’s nothing in From the Ashes that you can’t parse from watching one of the trailers for Fire and Ash, and the events here happen within their own pocket of Pandora, just as in the original game, the narrative fitting within and alongside that of Jake Sully and his extended family.
The world is on fire. The beauty of Pandora has been marred by flame, smoke and ash, and it makes for a striking point of difference from the main game. It still looks incredible, the beautiful landscapes punctuated by destruction making for an evocative and painful change to the setting, and it still stands as a huge technical achievement.
From The Ashes is also the perfect chance to check out the technical improvements that have been made to the game since its release. There’s the addition of both a third-person mode and a 40fps graphical option on console, for use with 120Hz supporting screens and TVs, which strikes a midpoint between the previous quality and performance settings. Both of these improvements serve to give players a greater variety of ways to experience both Frontiers of Pandora and its new expansion.
As someone who played across PC and PS5, the 40fps option definitely lifts the console experience, bringing an improved level of fidelity over the performance mode, while still giving players a smoother and more fluid feeling experience over 30fps play. It’s not quite perfect – there were definitely occasional hiccups here and there – but overall, I found it a major improvement, and it became my preferred way to play through From The Ashes.
The third-person view, however, isn’t as successful. Having played the game in first person, shifting to third person actively reduces one of the game’s greatest strengths: its visuals. You lose the immediacy, and the wider field of view when in third-person, and while it does serve to cement your place as a Na’vi, it’s not a strong enough payoff when compared to first person play. Still, having the option is ideal, and you can switch at any point if there are sections that you think would be easier or better from a particular viewpoint, just as the game already did when you hopped on your flying companion to get around.
All of the overt strengths of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora are here too, from the exceptional visuals to the enjoyable traversal and high-octane flight. From the Ashes is a bit less open-ended, though that affords for some tense and well-paced narrative moments. For all that, you can still wander off into the jungle and lose yourself to hunting and exploration for as long as you like. For returning players, though, it’s all going to be about the continuing story.
And that story is a real success. The tighter, more personal focus is arguably even better than the one from the main game. You begin exploring through areas that you previously experienced, marred by both the unstoppable power of Pandora’s flora and fauna, and the arrival of the Mangkwan, before settling into exploring and fighting your way through the smoking forest. It gives you more context and understanding of the new faction, and the villainous RDA, and frankly, it makes them even more imposing, with some great encounters and narrative moments across the DLC’s significant 20-hour runtime.
