Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of those rare shows that has proven to have lasting power among many generations of fans. Now, the beloved story you know is being made into a free-to-play mobile game for iOS and Android devices. Players step into the shoes of their favorite characters, travel around the world of Avatar, and take on enemies in turn-based battles.
As of right now, a soft launch is only available in certain areas of the world. So many us must wait a while before we can access this game on our iPhones.
Avatar: Generations — What's the plot?
The story generally follows the one from the original Nickelodeon TV series. However, there will be some abridging and some changes made.
Katara and her brother Sokka live in a world where people have the ability to move elements in a power known as Bending. There are Waterbenders, Firebenders, Earthbenders, and Airbenders. In general, Benders keep to their own nations. For instance, Katara is a Water Bender from the Southern Water Tribe.
One day while on their boat, Katara and Sokka find a young boy named Aang and his flying bison, Appa, unconscious in a ball of ice. Shortly after helping him break out of it, they learn that he has been asleep for 100 years and that he is the Avatar, a powerful being who can gain mastery of all four elements and gets reborn in a new body time and time again.
Aang soon learns that shortly after he disappeared, the Fire Nation attacked and brought chaos and ruin to many areas around the world, including the Air Kingdom. Now it's up to him to set things right. He's already a skilled Airbender, having been raised at the Southern Air Temple, but he still needs to master the other three elements and must find masters who can teach him. Once he's mastered all elements, he can help save the world from the Fire Lord's dominating clutches.
Meanwhile, Zuko, the banished prince from the Fire Nation, is on a quest with his Uncle Iroh to hunt for the Avatar and bring him to the Fire Lord. While there are many bounty hunters looking to find the Avatar, Zuko has a far more personal reason to do so. He has been disgraced and will only be accepted back at his father's side if he manages to bring the Avatar in.
Avatar: Generations — Characters
We don't know much about this mobile game other than it follows the story of the original TV show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. These were the quintessential characters from the show, so it's likely most of them will be in the game from early on.
| Character | Description | Nation |
|---|---|---|
| Aang | A young monk who also happens to be the Avatar, a master of all elements who is reborn. He is found frozen in ice. | Air Nomads |
| Appa | Aang's flying bison and one of his closest friends. | N/A |
| Azula | Daughter of the Fire Lord and sister to Prince Zuko. She's a fierce bender with a deviously intelligent mind. | Fire Nation |
| Fire Lord Ozai | Ruler of the Fire Nation and a harsh parent. | Fire Nation |
| Iroh | Zuko and Azula's uncle, a renowned general known as The Dragon of the West. | Fire Nation |
| Katara | A young Water Bender from the Southern Water Tribe. She and her brother Sokka find Aang frozen in ice. | Southern Water Tribe |
| Momo | A flying lemur who is Aang's pet. | N/A |
| Sokka | A young warrior from the Southern Water Tribe. Katara's brother and Aang's friend. | Southern Water Tribe |
| Suki | The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and a skilled fighter. | Kyoshi Island |
| Toph | A strong young woman who doesn't like the dainty life. She's blind but uses her Earth Bending powers to see around her. | Earth Kingdom |
| Zuko | The banished prince of the Fire Nation whose life mission is to capture the Avatar. | Fire Nation |
Avatar: Generations — Is Korra in it?
The name does seem to hint at the possibility of moving past Aang into the next generation of Avatar. However, at the moment all we know is that this game will follow Aang. Perhaps if it does well enough we'll see some stories for Korra down the road. But we'll have to wait and see what's in store.
Avatar: Generations — What is gameplay like?
Avatar: Generations is a free-to-play open-world RPG for mobile, available on both iOS and Android devices. The game uses both idle and RPG mechanics, meaning that some aspects of the game continue on their own as time passes while others must be controlled by the player.
Players will progress through the many levels by tapping a quest location on the map and choosing which characters to bring to that spot. Quests have requirements, like requiring Aang and Katara in your party, so you must adhere to these parameters when choosing your team members. Heroes must also be unlocked before you can use them.
The story is moved along with beautiful imagery showing characters and backgrounds above a dialogue box. Sometimes full images will appear on the screen. These appear to be new images and not recycled ones from the TV show.
At certain points, players will be able to fight enemies with their party. We've already seen that Katara, Sokka, Aang, Toph, Iroh, and Zuko can be party members. Battles are turn-based with each character having their own health bar and unique movesets. Just tap on their moves when it's your turn to make them attack.
As a way to progress through the story, players will jump from controlling Team Avatar (Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph) to playing as Zuko and Iroh early on. It's likely that other character groups will also be playable as a way to advance the story forward.
Avatar: Generations — Character customization
As quests are completed and enemies are defeated, players earn helpful items for their journey. Equipping the best items can increase your characters' stats, making them more powerful in battle.
Avatar: Generations — Are there microtransactions?
Unfortunately, whenever a game is free-to-play, it almost always means it'll have microtransactions of some kind. Some free-to-play games are worse about this than others, like how negatively Diablo Immortal's microtransactions have been received.
While we don't have official confirmation Avatar: Generations will have microtransactions, we can assume it will. We'll have to see just how things are when Avatar: Generations launches.
Avatar: Generations — Developer and publisher
Avatar: Generations is being developed by Navigator Games who has partnered with Square Enix to bring this beloved story to mobile. As stated by Navigator Games CEO Will Moore in a statement, the project is being worked on by Avatar fans.
“It has been a huge privilege to partner with Square Enix on the creation of a game with such an iconic IP like Avatar: The Last Airbender," he said. “The Avatar: The Last Airbender universe has so many layers and complex storylines to explore and we look forward to fully unveiling it and sharing it with all the incredibly passionate and loyal Avatar fans."
It would be nice to say that we can trust other fans to do Avatar justice, but the fans have been burned before. After all, M. Night Shyamalan was a big fan of the series, and we saw what happened with that movie.
Avatar: Generations — Closed beta information
At some point this month, Canada, Denmark, South Africa, and Sweden will get a soft launch of both the iOS and Android versions of the game. No exact date has been given for it yet and as of now we do not know how to enter this closed beta.
Avatar: Generations — Release date
As of right now, it's unclear if the full game will be launching worldwide this year or not. We will update when we find out more.
Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked
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Few children's TV shows have provided such depth of character and as interesting a plot at Avatar: The Last Airbender. Hopefully, Square Enix's upcoming mobile game will do this beloved series justice by providing an engaging story for players.
