If there’s one thing that PlayStation’s recent showcase certainly didn’t lack, it’s variety. Though there weren’t quite as many first-party reveals as fans had hoped for, PlayStation’s Showcase was still packed with plenty of announcements, albeit from some smaller developers. And, rather surprisingly, these announcements came from a wide variety of different genres, from action-adventure games likeMarvel’s Spider-Man 2to2D Metroidvanias likeUltrosto ambitious open-world Indie titles likeTowers of Aghasba.
Another brand-new IP from a first-time studio, Dreamlit’sTowers of Aghasbais an open-world action-adventure game with a unique twist in that it’s also a city-builder. Though it’s coming from newcomer,Towers of Aghasbahad one of the most breathtaking trailers in the entirety of PlayStation’s Showcase, showing stunning graphics, beautiful environments, and capturing a sense of adventure that’s only really present in AAA games likeZelda: Tears of the Kingdom. ButTears of the Kingdomisn’tTowers of Aghasba’s only influence, with a good few of its environments looking eerily similar to those found in James Cameron’sAvatarseries.
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Towers of Aghasba Puts Pressure on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to Finally Release
Over the course of its brief minute-and-a-half-long trailer,Towers of Aghasbashowcased a slew of gorgeous environments, some of which look truly ambitious for a studio’s first game. And whileTowers of Aghasbaclearly has a wide range of influences, its environmental design clearly owes a lot totheAvatarfranchise. The biggest example of this comes about a minute into the trailer when the protagonist is paragliding their way through a forest of brightly-colored, tall plants gradually stretching their way to the sky. A few seconds later,Towers of Aghasba’s trailer shows the main character swimming underwater, again surrounded by bright foliage. The trailer then ends withTowers of Aghasba’s player-character gliding through the air, passing floating mountains and landing on top of a huge flying whale-like creature.
Along with theseAvatar-like environments,Towers of Aghasbaalso shows a brief glimpse of archery gameplay, with the main enemy type seemingly being hostile creatures. TheAvatarparallels don’t stop there either, as according to a recent post on the PlayStation Blog,Towers of Aghasbawill revolve around the titular island’s complex and ever-changing ecosystems, and how they impact the protagonist’s tribe, just like Pandora and its effect onthe Na’vi peoplein theAvatarmovies.
ThoughTowers of Aghasbahas enough of its own identity to stand apart fromAvatar, its presence at such a high-profile showcase does naturally bring up questions aboutthe whereabouts ofAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoraonce again. Officially announced all the way back in June 2021,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorais the long-awaited open-world game from Ubisoft that’s gone practically radio silent since that first reveal. According to some reports,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorahas allegedly been in the works since 2017, meaning that it’s been in development for six years now, and if that is the case, then it’s about time that fans got to see more from it than just a pre-rendered CGI trailer.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorahas already had a multitude of opportunities to take the spotlight over the last few years. Most recently, Ubisoft could have timed some kind ofAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoranews tocoincide with the release ofAvatar: The Way of Water, a movie that has continued to perform outstandingly well at the box office. And whileTowers of Aghasbaprobably won’t scratch the same itch that a true licensedAvatargame will, it shouldn’t be theAvatar-like game that fans are talking about right now.
Towers of Aghasbawill launch for PC and PS5 in 2024.
