Ubisoft made waves at E3 2021 with its reveal of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, a first-person action-adventure game set in the world of James Cameron's 2009 film. The game is being developed with Ubisoft's Snowdrop Engine and designed specifically for current-generation consoles and PC. While the scenery in the new trailer is familiar to any Avatar fan, it raised several questions about how the game will tie into the cinematic universe, including when Frontiers of Pandora takes place in the timeline.
Described as a standalone story, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora lets fans play as a Na'vi on a journey across the western frontier of the planet Pandora. Players will have a chance to explore a yet-undiscovered area, as well as fight against the threat of human invasion from the RDA. The Frontiers of Pandora trailer teases the game's first-person gameplay, showing a Na'vi walking through the jungle, surrounded by and interacting with various native creatures, as well as fighting against RDA helicopters in aerial combat.
Notably absent were any actual details about the narrative and characters. Scouring the trailer for clues regarding Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's timeline placement, however, indicates the game takes place before the film, likely when the RDA first landed on Pandora.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora Likely Takes Place Before The Movie
The first clue to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's place in the timeline is its title. "Frontiers" implies unexplored territory, meaning the RDA (or the Na'vi) is likely new to part or all of Pandora. The trailer also features sweeping shots of a Pandora largely unscathed by the events of the movie or the colonization of humans. Given the extent of the damage wrought by the RDA in Avatar, the game would likely show some of this if it took place afterwards. Additionally, the RDA leaves Pandora at the end of the movie, so its presence in the game indicates its events precede the film. It stands to reason, then, that the catalyst of the game's plot would be the RDA's initial arrival on and violence towards the planet.
Also missing from the trailer are any characters from the Avatar movie. There is no dialogue (save one person's indiscernible shout), and none of the Na'vi shown look like Jake Sully, Neytiri, or others from the film's cast. In their absence, it seems likely the game's narrative takes place before their arrival. Of course, this is subject to change as more information about Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is released, long with information about Avatar 2.
Setting Frontiers of Pandora in the past would be a smart move, as it could add a great deal of new lore to the Avatar franchise. With four Avatar movie sequels currently planned, doing so would also allow Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to sidestep any entanglement with the narratives of those films, preventing non-canon events and creating a streamlined experience between movie and game.