Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From the Ashes expansion review

After an amazing trip to visit Lightstorm Entertainment to see a sneak peak of the brand new expansion for Frontiers of Pandora, From the Ashes had my expectations HIGH. Not only is this a brand new story featuring fan and developer favorite, So'lek, it's also the best way to experience the new 3rd-Person setting at a great level AND it ties in with the new movie Fire and Ash. Does From the Ashes live up to the hype generated by the preview event? Let's discuss...

First of all, So'lek was the PERFECT choice for a protagonist for From the Ashes. His level of brutality and efficiency made him a legend within the Na'vi clans but also the Sky People. Known as the Dog Tag Warrior, So'lek "gave up" his violent ways at the ending stages of Frontiers of Pandora (and subsequent beginning stages of From the Ashes). We get to see him throw his dog tags in the fire and try to let go. However, that peace does not last long as the RDA has now teamed up with the Mangkwan Clan and have started to destroy the forests we came to know and love during our time in the Sarentu Clan in Frontiers of Pandora's main story.

This is all while Jake Sully is dealing with Miles Quaritch and Varang on another part of Pandora. The way that From the Ashes works well with Fire and Ash is a testament to how the world-building works in the Avatar-verse. Everything that is officially put out from the official channels is canon; the comics (which we've covered here on GamingTrend), the figures, the coloring books, the art books, the games, and, of course, the movies all work together to paint a full picture. There are references in RDA notes of things happening in other areas of Pandora. Knowing that what is happening in the movie has fully affected what happened in the areas we have traveled for hours, as our Sarentu is both devastating and impressive. Side note: I would HIGHLY suggest watching Fire and Ash before playing through From the Ashes as you'll catch some moments you may not notice without.

So'lek's quest has him on the hunt for survivors of all of the attacks by the Mangkwan Clan, with him searching for all of the NPC's from Frontiers of Pandora's main campaign, and along the way helping other clans and fighting Mangkwan Clan and RDA. His story is extremely sad at times, especially seeing the fire and ash all over the lush jungles of Pandora. But that sadness you feel will help fuel you to keep going. I won't say much more about the story as I don't want to spoil things, but it's an emotional tale of a man who's excellent at being a lone-wolf killing machine, trying to be a leader, or at least find those who can lead better than he can.

The gameplay works so well with 3rd-person in mind. That's by design; the team wanted to make sure that So'lek's movements were fluid and could fully utilize the new perspective choice to showcase his brutality and the sheer size of Na'vi versus a human. While the movie Fire and Ash may have felt like it lowered the power level of the Na'vi, So'lek makes you realize just how powerful a fully realized Na'vi can be against humans. That's where the Mangkwan Clan comes in. This is the first time that we have Na'vi vs Na'vi combat and it's so much fun. I would HIGHLY recommend playing From the Ashes on at least a medium difficulty to make the combat feel as balanced as possible. Easy is simply too easy sometimes, and while you feel powerful, I didn't feel nearly as cool just taking them down with 3-4 shots.

You have multiple Mangkwan Clan members to fight, but the leadership is where the combat shines as you'll fight these leaders both on the ground and in the air. I was truly pleased to finally use my Ikran for something other than fighting RDA or getting chased by a bigger predator. This Na'vi vs Na'vi combat was a big star of the show.

Unfortunately, I have a similar issue with From the Ashes that I did with Frontiers of Pandora's main story: repetitiveness. There is some level of repetitiveness to be expected in an open-world game about a war happening. However,  the amount of times I felt the desire to just skip an RDA mini-camp, especially with how often we did those runs in the main story, was high. While So'lek's abilities give the same car a new coat of paint, after that shine dulls, it sometimes feels like the same thing we did before.

What I really loved were the new main story beats. While those of you who have been following along with the From the Ashes content on GamingTrend have seen one of the main story beats (the freeing of animals from an arena-style testing prison), most of the plot points are interesting, emotional, and keeps you going. There came a point where I just started following those main beats and ignored some of the side moments I flew by on the way to the main quest. The question then becomes, did that mess with my playthrough?

The answer is a simple "no." While they're always great for XP and to level up skills, these side missions are TRUE side missions. You can do them, you can choose not to, either way, you can make it through the story at the pace you want to go with, and there's something wonderful about that from a player's perspective. I'm generally someone who goes through every nook and cranny, but with giant open-world operations, that can sometimes feel overwhelming and make me not stick it through. But with From the Ashes, the emotional component of So'lek searching for his friends and the clans while taking out the Mangkwan Clan leadership ended up being a push to  chase that story. It reminded me of playing Fallout 3 for the first time; while you know that the side stuff is fun and will give you experience, materials, and new items, the emotional drive kept me pushing forward until the end.

The graphics are very similar to the main story, however, the animation and usage of the fire and ash vibe really stands out. Walking through the forest is devastating with the experience in the main game, as you watch fire rain down from trees or bushes in flames. My only nit-pick would be the appearance of smoke on the Xbox Series X was seemingly unable to fully render at times, leading to some blocky or weird-looking cloud fumes. Other than that, I never ran into any game-breaking issues nor any glitches during missions. The load times were a bit longer than I expected, but it's easy to forgive that given you rarely have load screens and when you do, it's usually after a main story beat so you can catch your breath, or during fast travel.

The final big thing I wanted to mention is the use of the Ikran during this story. This story really shows the importance of the bond between Na'vi and Ikran, and how the Mangkwan Clan doesn't respect that bond the way other clans respect their bonds. This intensified my sadness if I did get Iley (So'lek's Ikran) hurt in any way. It also made me furious when Iley would enter combat when I did not ask him to fight. While Frontiers of Pandora's main story did a great job discussing bonds from the new perspective of a young Na'vi learning; it was great seeing an older, more experienced Na'vi at the helm and what a bond means to him.

From the Ashes is extremely complimentary to Fire and Ash and allows fans of the franchise to see the movie in theaters, then jump into the world themselves right after. If you enjoyed Frontiers of Pandora, this will be a great opportunity to play as a fully-realized Na'vi warrior in action while also continue to learn about Na'vi culture and how they deal with grief.