As a seasoned gamer with over two decades of gaming under my belt, I have to say that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s latest DLC, Secrets of the Spires, is an intriguing but ultimately underwhelming addition to the game. Much like my first attempt at learning to juggle – it looked great in theory but fell flat in practice.
Similar to the last downloadable content for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, titled The Sky Breaker, Secrets of the Spires transports us to another fresh locale. Unlike the previous zone, this new area seems tailor-made to showcase the game’s aerial mechanics. Given the title of the latest DLC, it’s no secret that towering spires and flight will play a significant role here. Regrettably, Secrets of the Spires doesn’t seem to address the fundamental problems in the game that have been present since its initial launch.
The DLC initiates with a subdued start. Anufi aims to reunite the clans, leading you on an expedition into a largely uncharted part of Pandora, reachable solely by flight. Upon arrival in the fresh zone, you are treated to the splendor of the moon from a fresh perspective; almost everything within the new zone is breathtakingly beautiful, boasting expansive canyons and majestic mountains specifically crafted for players to soar through at top velocity.
Beyond flight being the central aspect, there isn’t actually a lot of fresh content in this expansion. To be sure, mounted combat takes center stage and the new flying abilities make exploration delightful, but you’ll find yourself spending most of your time engaging either local fauna for crafting resources or RDA troops for narrative purposes. Similar to the zones in the main game, the DLC zone seems more like a sandbox created primarily to showcase the fun of flight rather than with a clear design purpose other than “flying is awesome”.
In terms of visual appeal, the fresh zone presented in “Secrets of the Spires” is no less stunning than the main game or Sky Breaker.
As you delve into the culture of the native tribe in the unfamiliar region, gain their confidence, uncover novel aerial skills, and embark on the main plot, it often boils down to confronting RDA troops. On the positive note, though the narrative may primarily serve as a pretext for various activities, the gameplay itself can be quite enjoyable.
In Secrets of the Spires, it’s not too much to say that soaring through the skies is a key feature, not just an embellishment. The expansion unveils fresh mechanics enabling you to perform dazzling feats such as swinging from vines beneath Pandora’s floating archipelagos, among other thrilling maneuvers. However, it assumes that players are already proficient in the fundamental game mechanics, providing only minimal guidance during the initial stages of your journey to discover the new tribe.
Essentially, it’s typical for the DLC to become available once you’ve progressed significantly through the main game, as it demands a character level of 20. Also, in line with Ubisoft’s game conventions, there’s an option to skip the story if you want to bypass the grinding and jump straight to the enjoyable parts. This aspect raises questions like why include grinding that can be easily bypassed, but this has been a recurring design issue in Ubisoft games for some time.
“To call flying the core mechanic of Secrets of the Spires isn’t really an exaggeration.”
In the fresh area presented within “Secrets of the Spires”, the beauty is comparable to that of the primary game and Sky Breaker. The universe from James Cameron’s film franchise has been skillfully resurrected, creating a vivid impression, and under optimal system conditions, the game can approach looking just as stunning, with the right camera angles sometimes even surpassing the films in visual appeal.
The downloadable content (DLC) may not introduce fresh elements, but it excels at expanding the captivating world we admired in the main game. The narrative mostly takes a backseat as you unlock new abilities, allowing for more exploration and interaction within this enlarged environment. Much of the original gameplay remains, including upgrading equipment and discovering buff-granting food items by competing in visually stunning new locations.
Upon taking a break from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, revisiting it upon the launch of its newest DLC has led me to observe that certain elements of the core gameplay have grown somewhat cumbersome. This is particularly evident in the new DLC area, which emphasizes verticality extensively and offers a variety of novel travel methods such as bouncy flora. Consequently, the overall movement within the game feels overly weighted, and jumping in particular feels awkward when compared to some of Ubisoft’s other shooter titles.
“Ultimately, it always just seems to fall back to fighting off RDA forces.”
Combat, on the other hand, remains largely unchanged, aside from some of your new flight-based abilities. The core gunplay is still solid, and while it isn’t going to give you the same level of gory entertainment as something like Doom, it’s fairly competent, and mowing down RDA troops still has its charms. There’s also something special about being able to dive bomb into a group of enemies and quickly taking them out with your arsenal, which now also includes a crossbow designed to be specially used while flying. Unfortunately, this alone doesn’t really do much to shake up the gameplay.
In essence, Secrets of the Spires doesn’t seem to significantly revitalize Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. If you were deeply attached to the original game and yearn for more time with it, this DLC may not provide many compelling reasons to return. While the new flying abilities can be enjoyable initially, they lose their appeal rather swiftly. Since the DLC’s narrative is primarily a pretext for fighting against RDA once more, it doesn’t seem to offer enough fresh core gameplay elements to justify a return.
From another perspective, enthusiasts of “Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora” will surely rejoice at the prospect of a fresh area to traverse, along with some newly introduced skills that make maneuvering through the air feel less passive and more interactive than simply pushing forward on your control stick. However, “Secrets of the Spires” seems to end the series of DLCs with something of a fizzle rather than a bang. The new additions are intriguing enough to potentially hold a player’s attention for an hour or so, but they lack the depth to captivate most, leaving many to shift their focus towards other upcoming releases instead.
This game was reviewed on PC.
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2024-12-04 19:41