Avatar: The Last Airbender is having a moment right now. While it’s not all good news, as the Avatar sequel film leaked in its entirety earlier this year, if you ever cared about Nickelodeon’s anime-inspired series, you’re probably eating right now with the movie’s official release on the way later this year, a new sequel series called Seven Havens in the works, and the second season of the live-action show coming out on Netflix later this month. However, one piece of Paramount’s reinvigorated push to get airbenders on screens that I’m feeling could deserve just as much fanfare as a new series is Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, which I played a bit of at Summer Game Fest.
As the name implies, Avatar Legends is a 1v1 2D fighter that features characters from both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and though its starting roster is small, each of its eight playable characters wields their own element-bending abilities into unique playstyles. Aang uses his airbending abilities to fight efficiently in air, Toph’s earth-manipulating powers let her shift the battlefield to her whims, and even Sokka, who doesn’t have any magical powers, is a vicious rushdown character who can hold his own.
All of these characters are beautifully animated in a way that looks like they came right out of the show, with a fluidity that is both gorgeous to look at and feels good to utilize as you dash around the ring. Legends comes from Them’s Fighting Herds developer Gameplay Group, and the studio’s fighting game prowess shines through with each character. At the same time, its attention to small, fanservice-y details from the series doesn’t feel like it comes at the expense of mechanical depth. The game has complex systems and setups to follow, but Avatar fans with little fighting game experience will probably get a kick out of the nods, both in and out of its characters’ movesets, to moments and relationships from the series.
Fighting game fans can be fickle, and even the best game might not get picked up by the larger community, but Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game has the sauce to carve out its own space, and is approachable enough that it could draw in even casual fighters who want to play as all their Avatar faves. It’s also coming out for the budget price of $30, so the barrier to entry is lower than ever. I don’t know if Avatar Legends will be the next big thing, but what I played at least made me confident that it will be exactly what it needs to be when it launches on July 23.