Ubisoft is planning on releasing Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora some time this year, but the famous gaming company should take care not to repeat its Assassin’s Creed mistakes with this title. The massive French studio has remixed and revamped its globe-trotting historical action franchise in many ways over the past decade, and not always for the best. The gaming community has leveled no shortage of complaints and criticisms against this franchise, mostly as it pertains to microtransactions, bloated game design, bugs, and repetitive gameplay mechanics. There is even a sentiment that Ubisoft lied about AC Valhalla fixes, as that game was meant to mark a return to stealth-based gameplay but didn’t.
Assassin’s Creed might be a flagship franchise for Ubisoft, but it is far from the only thing the studio is working on at the moment. One of the most anticipated and peculiar items on Ubisoft’s 2022 release calendar is undoubtedly Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, an action FPS taking place in the same world as James Cameron’s hit 2009 film. Not much is known about the game other than the fact that it will be an open-world adventure with a narrative that doesn’t directly tie into the Avatar movie or its upcoming sequel, along with some other miscellaneous and cursory details about aspects like graphics, game systems, and traversal.
With that said, gamers more or less know what to expect from a Ubisoft game in 2022, as countless memes mocking Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed-esque clutter, bloat, and microtransactions have surfaced over the past few years. Whether players enjoy this approach to game design or not, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora needs to avoid taking the same approach if Ubisoft hopes to set it apart from the rest of its prolific catalog. For this upcoming Avatar game to be enjoyable and memorable, it needs to steer clear of many tropes laid out and popularized by the modern Assassin’s Creed releases.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Needs To Have a Better Story Than Assassin’s Creed
One of the best parts about Assassin’s Creed is the fact that it transports players to exciting historical settings. While seeing these unique time periods and locations is an at-times thrilling novelty, the games simply don’t have the narrative chops to serve interesting stories in these settings. This is to say nothing of the overarching, long-running Assassin’s Creed story, which is confusing and boring at best and nonsensical at worst.
The good news is that, although it is tied to an existing franchise, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora presents an opportunity for Ubisoft to start fresh with a story and not worry about years of franchise baggage. Since Frontiers of Pandora will not be following film protagonist Jake Sully, Ubisoft can aim for a self-contained, satisfying, and simple story that doesn’t overextend itself the same way that Assassin’s Creed does with overly complex conspiracies, time travel elements, and poorly planned science-fiction concepts. Ubisoft will probably want to leave the door open for a Frontiers of Pandora sequel, but that doesn’t mean that a gratifying and conclusive narrative can’t be achieved in a single game.
Assassin’s Creed’s Cluttered Open-World Design Has No Place In The Avatar Game
Ubisoft has a strong interest in open-world games that borders on obsession, so much so that gamers were ready to believe that the Splinter Cell remake would be open-world, despite the fact that Splinter Cell has no real business being so. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with open-world design, but Ubisoft franchises like Assassin’s Creed are routinely poked fun at for having remarkably rote and predictable exploration elements that boil down to following endless map markers and scaling towers. Indeed, this approach to making open-world games has reached a point of parody, especially in the age of critically acclaimed games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, which have received praise for rejecting these Ubisoft-style open-world trends.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will be an open-world game, but it doesn’t have to be like Assassin’s Creed in this regard. Pandora is a more interesting environment than even the coolest Assassin’s Creed setting, and the alien planet will likely be one of the main draws for many players. As such, it will be crucial for Ubisoft not to squander the exploration and storytelling opportunities that it holds. Natural, gratifying exploration like that of Breath of the Wild and a genuine sense of unpredictability like that of Elden Ring could lead to a truly interesting and one-of-a-kind experience.
Assassin’s Creed-Style Microtransactions Would Ruin Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Ubisoft has been aggressively ramping up its microtransactions over the past ten years, and the Assassin’s Creed franchise is a prime example of this. Assassin’s Creed releases following Assassin’s Creed: Unity have had some of the most egregious microtransactions in a single-player game. While AC Valhalla‘s armory might get fans playing again, this same loot-centric game design and increasingly MMO-style progression systems are underpinned by in-game purchases of cosmetics and gear. Perhaps the worst in-game purchases, however, come in the form of XP boosters, which have a direct impact on the glacial pace of base-game leveling and upgrading.
Unfortunately, Ubisoft doesn’t appear to be interested in toning down microtransactions any time soon, if AC Valhalla and the upcoming live-service Assassin’s Creed are any indication. Still, if Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can resist the urge to commodify collectibles, gear pieces, and in-game currency, tying these resources to real-world money, it would result in a game that is much less frustrating and more focused on offering a fun experience over one that has the most profit potential. The game would also avoid the problems that Assassin’s Creed games face when it comes to pacing.
There are features Assassin’s Creed can use to bring back old players, but it’s clear that many gamers are simply tired of where the series, along with Ubisoft as a company, has been heading. Regardless of what the future of the Assassin’s Creed series looks like, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora would be well-served by dodging AC tropes, which have by extension become tropes of Ubisoft as a company. The last thing that many want is another clone of Assassin’s Creed, so an original, inventive, baggage-free Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora could be good not only for the gaming community, but for Ubisoft itself.
