Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is hoping to make a giant splash with its upcoming tie-in DLC, From the Ashes, a full-blown enlargement that we just lately obtained to check out.
Between flying the skies on our Ikran and taking out the brand new Na’Vi Ash Clan enemies, we sat down to talk with From The Ashes’ narrative director, Aoife O’Friel, to speak in regards to the means of cooking up a narrative in such a lore-stacked world, and the way it all ties into the upcoming Avatar: Hearth and Ash film.
Push Sq.: What’s the method of moulding a story inside such a longtime franchise? Is there a back-and-forth with Lightstorm Leisure?
Aoife O’Friel: Yeah, completely, it is a collaboration with Lightstorm, particularly for From the Ashes, as a result of we wished this film tie-in with Avatar: Hearth and Ash.
So from the very starting, once we considered doing an enlargement, they have been fairly enthusiastic about So’Lek. He type of stood out as a fan favorite from the principle sport. And likewise, for us, for the staff, at Lightstorm and at Huge, we actually preferred him.
After which the chance to make use of the Ash, the Mangkwang, within the sport was wonderful. That was one thing that we didn’t dare to dream, however Lightstorm thought, “Yeah, that is nice!”
You’ll be able to have this tie-in, the place folks can expertise the Ash within the film and get launched to them, and then you definitely get to go dwelling, and also you get to combat them. So yeah, it was a really sturdy collaboration from the beginning, figuring out the weather we wished to incorporate within the story.
Model synergy was the large factor that stood out to us with this enlargement. How does tying into this wider story then affect the way you inform your story?
We wished to suit with the darker themes of the place the franchise is heading. Hearth and Ash goes to locations that we haven’t seen earlier than, particularly with preventing in opposition to Na’Vi. Preventing in opposition to your personal form.
We’ve at all times considered Na’Vi as being very peaceable and in tune with nature. After which to fulfill these Na’Vi which are so brutal, and who defy Eywa and Eywa’s will, and use steel and human weapons, and are so merciless. It was surprising for us. It was enjoyable to have the ability to tie into that darkness.
After which So’Lek, as effectively, because the protagonist, has plenty of darkness. We see that in the principle sport, when he’s going round looking down RDA concerned within the battle, taking their canine tags, and carrying a string of them. He’s already very a lot a personality embedded in his personal trauma.
So following that thread with him, and that type of darkness that drives him, and evaluating and contrasting with the darkness to drives the Ash Clan, that was actually attention-grabbing for us and a pleasant technique to tie in with the themes.
To comply with on, the place do you begin with a narrative in a pre-existing world like this? Is it the narrative thought first, that then will get influenced by the lore? Or does it at all times begin with Pandora?
That’s attention-grabbing. I feel they most likely affect one another, prefer it’s very embedded in it. Like once we wished to discover having the Mangkwang within the sport, that meant studying about their tradition.
What is sensible for them? Particularly once we have been constructing out the characters. Like now we have Wukula and Zari, brother and sister. We gave them this rivalry, after which it meant going to Lightstorm and being like, “Does this make sense? Is that this one thing Ash would care about?”
After which now we have Rak as effectively, constantly killing her Ikran in battle after which bonding once more. That was an enormous a part of the lore in the principle sport and within the films. You see, the bond between Na’Vi and Ikran is so necessary and so sacred. After which utterly turning that on its head with Rak, who doesn’t care about that, and the way it’s consuming away at her, as a result of she refuses to acknowledge the loss.
So that they actually affect one another, and the way Na’Vi tradition, Pandora, and the lore can affect the story. And what we are able to do within the story that matches with the lore.
Why was it the time to modify to So’Lek? Up till this level, it’s been the participant’s Sarentu character.
I feel, actually, it was the chance of Avatar: Hearth and Ash. We wished to inform a unique type of story, one which match with the film.
If you happen to performed the principle sport, you already know that the Sarentu character additionally suffered plenty of trauma. They have been captured as a baby, kidnapped, and avoided their dwelling. After which whenever you do lastly escape, the character has type of a curiosity about Pandora, and even some naivety, as a result of they do not actually know their very own story.
They do not know what occurred to their folks. You discover out as the sport progresses that your clan have been massacred. Whereas So’Lek is aware of his personal story. He is grown up as a Na’Vi. He is aware of what he is misplaced, and he is aware of what the stakes are.
So this was actually a fantastic setting for us when it got here to tying into themes of the film, that that is somebody who stands to lose a lot, and whose historical past and backstory we haven’t actually delved into.
Let’s say, you’re a brand new participant to Frontiers of Pandora, are you able to soar proper into From the Ashes? Must you full the bottom sport first?
No, you possibly can soar straight into From the Ashes. We’re going to present a little bit “Beforehand On” video at first. So for those who haven’t performed the principle sport, and also you’re unsure what’s occurring, you possibly can watch that, and it units the stage for you and the most important gamers. After which you possibly can soar straight into From The Ashes.
Is that this enlargement happening concurrently with the brand new film?
It’s roughly across the identical time, however in From the Ashes, the RDA and Ash clan alliance has already been shaped. So we see that occur within the film, after which we see the implications of that within the sport.
You talked about earlier than that the Kinglor Forest, which has been devastated by the Ash Clan, would evolve over the course of the marketing campaign. Are you able to elaborate on that?
You’ll get to see the attractive Kinglor Forest pristine earlier than the Ash come, after all. But additionally, because the Ash progress of their occupation of the land they usually’re enabled by the RDA, you’ll have extra pockets of fireside and ash, pun not supposed, bobbing up around the globe.
The story drives a few of that as effectively, and so do the Mangkwang, on this planet, and the RDA. , establishing their services, extracting from the land, as they’ve earlier than, and so that you get to see that evolve.
After which, you have an effect on RDA operations as effectively. You’ll get to see perhaps like a part of Pandora attempt to reclaim itself, and attempt to combat again in a means. So yeah, you will note that development as you retain going.
Do you suppose the brand new third-person perspective adjustments how you’re experiencing the story?
Positively, particularly with So’Lek as a result of he’s a pre-established character, and so you possibly can, after all, select to play his story in first particular person. However I feel it’s extremely attention-grabbing to see how completely different he’s in contrast with the Sarentu character, for those who select third-person, as a result of he is a really visceral fighter.
He is obtained these brutal ending strikes. It’s clear how skilled he’s, and you actually get a really feel like a badass, as you are taking part in third-person since you see the best way he strikes.
And likewise it made a giant distinction for us with the cinematics, as a result of, after all, with third-person we are able to do plenty of fast cuts and digital camera shifts in perspective, and so we have been in a position to make extra action-packed scenes, due to that. And be extra cinematic, on the whole.
Why is now the time for this stronger sense of synergy with different parts of the Avatar IP?
I feel it’s in regards to the evolution of the franchise. After we have been engaged on the principle sport, Avatar: The Method of Water had not come out but. So folks’s solely publicity to Avatar was the primary movie.
After which we have been happening on the entire different aspect of the moon, on a unique continent. So it was necessary to construct out Pandora another way. Within the Western Frontier, now we have the Kinglor Forest area, which might be essentially the most acquainted to gamers. However the Higher Plains have been utterly new and unseen earlier than. And the Clouded Forest, additionally utterly new.
And so we wished to ascertain extra of Pandora. That there was extra to Pandora that you just’d by no means seen earlier than. And the participant character and their story, and being saved from that, then studying and exploring that. All of it match rather well for it to be its personal factor.
After which with From the Ashes, with the film developing, and us being able to make use of the Ash Clan in From the Ashes, that made extra sense as a result of they need to unfold their fireplace throughout Pandora.
Then, with So’Lek’s historical past to attract from, and we gave him a connection to the Ash Clan, all of it simply began making increasingly sense.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – From the Ashes drops on PS5 on December nineteenth. Will you be trying out this story DLC? Tell us within the feedback under!
