It has been just over a week since Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: From the Ashes had its simultaneous release alongside the highly anticipated premiere of its cinematic twin sister, Avatar: Fire and Ash. Like many who took in James Cameron’s latest three-and-a-half-hour magnum opus about a week earlier than most, I admit I left the theatre itching for a little more of Pandora. I was highly curious about how much I would enjoy From the Ashes once it was released to the public.
Well, a week later, I got my wish, and it is difficult to find a word more appropriate to express my feelings than “disappointment.” This is not because of the story, which I genuinely found compelling, or its main protagonist, So’lek, who remains a formidable presence. Rather, the issue lies in the return of several gameplay problems that were present in the base game and honestly should not still exist in 2025.
For those who have not been keeping up, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: From the Ashes takes place during the Mangkwan Na’vi invasion. The conflict was sparked by an alliance formed between Colonel Miles Quaritch of the RDA and Ash Clan leader Varang in the latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. So’lek, a hardened warrior who played a supporting role to the main Sarentu character in Frontiers of Pandora, is now the central protagonist in From the Ashes. His mission is to find and protect his loved ones while pushing back against the Ash Clan trio of Wukula, Zari and Rakx, as well as the newly promoted human RDA commander, Tyler Kupowski. Together, their formidable forces have already ravaged the Aranahe Hometree and much of the surrounding Kinglor Forest, leaving it nearly unrecognizable.
“Unlike the Frontiers of Pandora base game and its previous DLC add-ons, The Sky Breaker and Secrets of the Spires, From the Ashes is a standalone expansion.”
It should be noted that once players have digitally purchased the Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: From the Ashes DLC, they can jump straight from the main menu into the present-day From the Ashes timeline, set in Earth year 2170. They can also choose to start a new save or load an existing one to begin or continue their adventures in the Frontiers timeline, set in Earth year 2169, if they prefer to do so first. In either case, a “Previously on Avatar”-style video brings players up to speed on what they need to know before starting.
Unlike the Frontiers of Pandora base game and its previous DLC add-ons, The Sky Breaker and Secrets of the Spires, From the Ashes is a standalone expansion. It does not support two-player co-op or allow players to jump between missions from different campaigns.
A welcome side effect of this compartmentalization is a dramatic improvement in visual stability and performance when compared with the base game.
When Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora launched in 2023, it displayed noticeable hitches and frame drops almost immediately, particularly during action scenes on my Xbox Series X. Recent revisits have proven far worse, with nearly unbearable frame-rate drops occurring every time the player mounts and takes flight on an ikran. By contrast, From the Ashes does not appear to suffer from these issues and delivers an impressively stable 40-frames-per-second Quality mode, alongside a 60-frames-per-second Performance mode.
There may simply be fewer objects in From the Ashes’ open world that need to be rendered due to the narrative’s more focused scope, which in turn contributes to the improved performance. Regardless, I am happy to take the wins where I can get them, though, as will soon become clear, they are not plentiful.
Another small but notable gameplay improvement is that when So’lek kills an enemy who drops equipment, the items are automatically highlighted by a visible beacon. These beacons can be seen in the field with or without using Na’vi Senses, making it easier for players to locate and collect loot and resources that would otherwise be concealed by foliage. Aimlessly wandering in circles after a fight, searching for fallen enemies simply because their items are hidden under dense vegetation, was a frustrating part of the Frontiers of Pandora experience. I am glad to see that issue addressed here.
I should also give Ubisoft Massive its due, as it appears the studio did take my 2023 complaints about pathfinding and the user interface in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to heart. The result is a new, vibrant orange quest marker that stands out more effectively against the player’s surroundings. The From the Ashes marker even includes a white arrow indicator that subtly points players toward the objective if they are not already looking directly at it, including when the target is above or below them. When viewed head-on, the UI also displays the exact distance to the objective. It is the kind of clear, simple assistance that Frontiers could have used far more consistently.
Unfortunately, the new quest marker, or markers, still mimic the same puzzling behaviours as the old ones. They sometimes fail to appear until the game arbitrarily decides to reveal them, or they do not appear at all until the player dies and reloads at the nearest checkpoint. As improved as the markers are, they are still not enough on their own to prevent players from getting lost or frustrated. It has become much clearer to me that the markers are merely a symptom of a larger, persistent issue. Quest guidance in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and its DLC remains extremely vague.
Case in point, there have been countless times when I have flown, drifted or fought my way to a map location, only to have my markers disappear upon arrival and be replaced with the words “Inside Search Area.” It feels less like guidance and more like being told, “You are close, now wander around and see what happens.” Players are left slowly circling the area, examining their surroundings and hoping a conversation or event will eventually trigger.
Sometimes the solution is more involved, such as using the Inspect ability alongside So’lek’s Na’vi senses to gather information about a massive plant blocking a cave entrance. This process provides hints about how to remove the obstacle, but the clues are so vague that it often takes another 15 minutes of aimless experimentation before the player stumbles onto the solution. And just when you finally crack the puzzle and expect a rewarding story moment or action sequence, there is a good chance you will instead receive another quest giver who sends you on yet another fetch quest that leads to yet another puzzle.
“There may simply be fewer objects in From the Ashes’ open world that need to be rendered due to the narrative’s more focused scope, which in turn contributes to the improved performance.”
What makes this especially frustrating is that there may be a large, action-heavy fight against Ash Clan and RDA forces waiting just beyond that point. By then, however, mental fatigue has already set in. Night after night, I would boot up the game eager to make progress and reach the more exciting story moments, only to find myself wandering through a clearing or cave, searching for an ill-defined clue until I quite literally fell asleep. Eventually, I grew tired of the snail’s pace imposed by all the searching, so yesterday I put down the controller for good and began writing this review.
Even advanced features that have been part of the game since day one continue to cause issues. Ironically, the game’s trio of built-in, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, dynamic global illumination and day-night illumination cycles do few favours for non-HDR-capable gaming displays like mine. These features also cannot be disabled on the console. As a result, it can be difficult to make out details in nighttime or low-light scenes, which in turn contributes to players getting lost. I found this especially true when attempting to explore caves, tunnels or forests after dusk or during the night, even when those environments were filled with neon light sources.
The Na’vi may resemble catlike humanoids, but their Na’vi senses are not particularly helpful in the field when it comes to simply seeing better. They work well for following scents and clarifying quest objectives the game wants players to locate, but they offer little assistance beyond that. Additionally, From the Ashes would have players believe that So’lek is an agile climber who never stumbles or slips. In practice, players should prepare for many awkward slips, trips and falls throughout Pandora’s floating mountains, along with unforgiving checkpoints that force lengthy skirmishes with the RDA to be replayed or tricky platforming sections to be repeated. Just remember, your ikran will not always be there to catch your fall.
On the positive side, So’lek’s Warrior Senses perform as reliably as expected. While not a game changer, activating Warrior Senses using L3 and R3 grants players a brief, near-invincible window in which attack power and resilience, fuelled by rage, pain, fear and adrenaline, are dramatically increased. This allows players to take on multiple RDA threats, either one at a time or all at once, which can be genuinely satisfying. Collecting dog tags from fallen Ash Clan and RDA enemies further enhances these abilities by filling the Warrior Senses gauge more quickly, extending the ability’s duration and, of course, increasing damage output.
As I mentioned in my preview, Warrior Senses encourages a much more aggressive and damage-absorbing playstyle than Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. That approach pays off once players learn to stop worrying about the occasional bullet or two and instead focus on chaining AMP suit takedowns, finishers, melee kills and similar attacks. It is easily the most fun the game has to offer, aside from flying an ikran, of course. It is just a shame that the navigation and exploration elements are nowhere near as enjoyable.
What is truly unfortunate about From the Ashes is that it also features an intriguing story, one centred on the Na’vi and told from the unique perspective of So’lek. He is a Na’vi who is not a “chosen one,” like Jake Sully, nor a lost-out-of-time Sarentu, and the narrative boldly embraces themes of pain and loss. Sadly, it is a story that few players are likely to see through to the end because of the many previously mentioned gameplay issues, which often seem to exist solely to exhaust and frustrate the player.
