Ubisoft’s underappreciated adaptation of the Avatar universe gets new DLC to tie in with Fire and Ash, and it’s arguably more enjoyable than the main story campaign and the film.
Avatar’s cerulean blue eco-aliens, the Na’vi, are locked in a life and death struggle with military-capitalist human invaders, set on raiding their Eden-like planet for its resources, and not minding who they kill in the process. James Cameron’s series of incredibly long CGI-infused films, has tracked their attempts at fighting back, hampered in the latest instalment, Fire and Ash, by the Mangkwan, a pyromaniac renegade Na’vi tribe who ally themselves with the humans.
It’s no coincidence that From The Ashes, the latest piece of downloadable content for Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, has been released on the same day as the new film, and as its name suggests, it deals with a corner of the same events. The game doesn’t go in for the films’ vast set piece battles, settling instead for Far Cry-esque solo base raiding, mixing stealth with bow and gunfights, as well as aerial sequences riding an ikran – the giant birds the Na’vi use for transport.
This is Frontiers Of Pandora’s third DLC expansion, and the first that you’ll need to buy separately from the season pass. Although all players got a recent free update that added a third person viewpoint and New Game+, From The Ashes features its own discrete story and is not a continuation of the existing save. Your character from the main game does appear, but they aren’t playable.
Instead, you’re So’lek, a grizzled older warrior who’s helping take on not just the RDA, the sci-fi equivalent of the East India Company and the organisation responsible for all the commercially sponsored ecological destruction, but also a branch of the sadistic Mangkwan. It takes place two weeks after the events of Fire and Ash, so watching that before playing this expansion is the best way to maintain plot continuity.
It’s also useful background because, like the movie, the game starts with the arrival of the wind traders, a group of Na’vi who fly in huge airborne ships towed by billowing creatures in complex rope harnesses. Things rapidly go bad, with a huge tract of Kinglor Forest, an area that also featured in the main game, having been set on fire by the RDA and their evil Na’vi sidekicks.
You can immediately see why this expansion needed to be a separate story, because much has been changed. Most obviously it’s received a graphical overhaul. Frontiers’ version of Pandora already looked magnificent, but it’s now more vibrant than ever, its undergrowth even denser and more verdant, while interiors are sharper and better lit.
There’s much less emphasis on crafting and the minigame where you had to carefully harvest ingredients has been removed, along with hacking. Instead, So’lek can stab locked door panels with an electrified knife, which he also uses for Assassin’s Creed-like stealth takedowns, which eventually work on even the biggest Amp suits; Avatar’s take on mechs.
This gives combat a different rhythm, and along with the streamlining of many of its systems makes it a tighter game to play, concentrating on the fun rather than the fiddly bits. Structurally it borrows slightly from the first DLC, The Sky Breaker, by getting you to take out a succession of support bases, each of which weakens a larger main base, making it easier to finish it off when you finally reach it.
You’ll also regularly find new waves of RDA arriving when you complete objectives, which keeps the pressure on and lets you enjoy more of the expansion’s faster paced combat. There are new enemies, including different types of robot dog, more lethal grenade-lobbing Amp suits, and a slightly less annoying version of the shield carrying Amp that’s significantly easier to kill than the equivalents in Sky Breaker.
So’lek comes with his own skill tree, rapidly making him a force to be reckoned with. Once powered up, you’ll no longer need to do as much creeping around. Instead, you can hurl yourself directly from the back of your ikran, taking down Amp suits in a single lunge before leaping amongst frailer enemies with your electro-knife, and that’s before you unlock the explosive bow, which transforms each arrow into a cathartically destructive cluster bomb. This turns the game from predominantly stealth based, to a more kinetic melee brawler.
That removes most of the tension but given the shorter run time – around 10 hours if you ignore most side quests, although well over double that if you get properly involved – and quicker, more energetic feel to its combat and systems, it helps lend this one-off side story its own distinct character. That’s amplified by some memorably cinematic boss fights and missions, from an ascent through the burning ikran rookery to your various interventions helping the wind traders with their flying ship.
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There are still quest markers, but rarely more than one at a time, and like the main game you can choose to pare back the HUD until there’s nothing left. That makes it considerably tougher to figure out where you’re going but also answers some of Ubisoft’s critics who get tired of blandly chasing waypoints. It’s nice to have the flexibility.
The tie-in with the film is well done, and while From The Ashes’ story is told via different characters, it fits perfectly with the movie’s content and themes. Much has been said about Avatar’s peculiar lack of cultural influence, despite being a monstrously successful franchise, and it’s fair to say its eco messaging can be a little on the nose, but in the game none of that matters. Pandora supplies a conveniently beautiful backdrop and endless excuses for firefights, and this is the most fun the game has ever been.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora – From The Ashes review summary
In Short: One of the few slices of DLC that can claim to be better than the parent game, as the gameplay of Frontiers Of Pandora is tightened up and the graphics pushed even further.
Pros: New moves give combat a more dynamic feel and the game looks even better than the already glorious main campaign. Tie-ins to the new movie are handled well.
Cons: You can really see the in-house influences, from Far Cry to Assassin’s Creed, and while its systems have been streamlined it’s still every inch a Ubisoft game.
Score: 8/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £20.99
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft Studios
Release Date: 19th December 2025
Age Rating: 16
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