Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is slated to release in 2022 alongside the sequel to 2009's Avatar, entitled Avatar: The Way of Water, and fans might be wondering just how the game stacks up to the soon-to-be-released movie from a visual perspective. Unlike the upcoming Avatar mobile MMO, Frontiers of Pandora is placing a heavy emphasis on high-fidelity visuals that gamers have come to expect from a modern AAA title on console and PC. There is still plenty to learn about Frontiers of Pandora, but it looks like it will be similar to The Way of Water in many aspects.
Far Cry and Assassin's Creed developer Ubisoft is working on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which is planned to be a first-person, open-world action-RPG. The famous studio is using its advanced Snowdrop Engine to realize the alien world of Pandora in the most detailed and large-scale way possible. Due to the nature of the landscape, Frontiers of Pandora will be comprised mostly of natural environments filled with robust plant and animal life, but players will also presumably be able to visit human military compounds on Pandora, as humans are currently occupying the planet in the game's story.
Unfortunately, no gameplay has been shown for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which could follow The Way of Water's footsteps by being stuck in development hell. However, Ubisoft has shared a cinematic trailer, along with short snippets of the game through behind-the-scenes footage, giving a glimpse into what it will look like. Measuring this footage against the CGI trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water, there are comparisons that can be made.
Frontiers of Pandora's CGI Is Indistinguishable From Avatar 2's Visuals
Luckily, both trailers center on scenic, picturesque landscapes filled with verdant fields and lush greenery, which makes comparing them straightforward. Generally speaking, the two trailers look almost identical from a visual fidelity standpoint, with both focusing on vibrant luminescence, realistic shadows, and reflective surfaces in their natural landscapes. Although Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a new story, it will still feature both Na'vi and humans and while the latter have not been shown in trailers, the former have, and they look just as good as their film counterparts. Naturally, the aesthetics of The Way of Water and Frontiers of Pandora appear to be mostly the same.
Based on the CGI trailer alone, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's visual appear on-par with that of the film. However, it's important to note that the game's trailer and BTS footage do not include real-time gameplay, so it's impossible to judge how the actual game will look as it's being played. That said, Ubisoft - though not without its issues - tends to deliver when it comes to graphical fidelity, so the in-game CGI of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora may not be too different from Avatar: The Way of Water.