When is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora set?

Close up of a Na'vi riding a flying creature
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

With more and more details about Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora now out in the open thanks to June's Ubisoft Forward 2023 event, many folks are now wondering when is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora set.

We always knew that it was set around the time of the films, naturally, but do we know any more specifics about when the game's story and timeline take place? Well, it turns out we do; and we heard it straight from the horse's mouth by speaking to Ubisoft at this year's Ubisoft Forward event in the E3 2023 schedule.

In short, the game takes place during the events of the second Avatar film, Avatar: The Way of Water. This is when the Resources Development Administration (RDA) returns. However, as we know this much, we can start to put the events of the game and movies into the context of one another and build a more fulsome timeline to see exactly when Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is set.

When is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora set?

Here's when Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is set, when compared to the movies:

  • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's story begins in the year 2138 when the protagonist is kidnapped by the RDA.
  • In 2154, during the events of the first Avatar movie, you're saved by your teacher who puts you into cryosleep.
  • The game then takes place 15 years later in 2169, during the events of Avatar: The Way of Water, when you have to defend your homeland from the returning RDA, including the Battle of the Hallelujah Mountains.

A Na'vi looks up at a floating island

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

This means we have a really clear idea of how the game's story and setting play into the wider Avatar timeline and lore - and how it expands upon it. Combine this with the knowledge of where the game is set - in "a never-before-seen region of Pandora: the Western Frontier" - and we can start to get a really clear image of the game's complete setting.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is one of the most hotly anticipated upcoming games of 2023, and could easily be one of the most imaginative and memorable contenders for best single-player games of recent times too.

Rob Dwiar
Managing Editor, TechRadar Gaming

Rob is the Managing Editor of TechRadar Gaming, a video games journalist, critic, editor, and writer, and has years of experience gained from multiple publications. Prior to being TechRadar Gaming's Managing Editor, he was TRG's Deputy Editor, and a longstanding member of GamesRadar+, being the Commissioning Editor for Hardware there for years, while also squeezing in a short stint as Gaming Editor at WePC just before joining TechRadar Gaming. He is also a writer on tech, gaming hardware, and video games but also gardens and landscapes, combining the two areas in an upcoming book on video game landscapes that you can back and pre-order now.

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