Fighting game fans can’t stop winning this year. From 2XKO to Invincible VS, and with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls on the horizon, there’s plenty to enjoy. Joining the fray for your attention, we've got a crazy 1v1 fighter that doesn’t quite play like anything I’ve touched in a long time—one that, despite a few shortcomings, has managed to make me enjoy a franchise I don’t particularly have any fondness for: Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game.
I don’t love Avatar. I’ve dabbled in the show, watching a few episodes here and there, but never fully committing to it. What I do love are fighting games. So, if you’re in the same boat as me, I can confidently say Avatar Legends absolutely delivers in the gameplay department and should be something on your radar, even if you don’t care for Aang, Korra, and the rest of the cast.
It’s a 1v1 fighter, but don’t be fooled; it’s not paced like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. If you’re jumping ship from those, expect a completely different rhythm. It’s much more movement-based than straight footsies. It might turn a few of you off—especially considering the SF6 crowd that started playing fighting games just recently will not be accustomed to what Avatar Legends demands from you—but learning the intricacies of its system mechanics is just as rewarding. Then again, you’re free to mash autocombo to watch cool stuff happen with minimal effort.
At the core of Avatar Legends is the Flow system. It’s kind of hard to distill in a few paragraphs, but rest assured, it allows each of the cast members to feel unique. Think of it as your Drive Gauge in Street Fighter 6 with much more utility, or at least a character-specific one.
It enables movement options exclusive to each fighter. For instance, my main, Katara, gets access to a really cool ice dash called Frostpath that has multiple follow-ups—she can avoid highs, lows, and even go for left-right mix-ups. She also has access to it while using other special attacks that can then get empowered by Frostpath. Fan-favorite Toph can surf on a rock or pull opponents toward her by using her earthbending technique and moving the stage.
Universal applications are just as cool: you have an automatic parry that lets you cancel into Flow moves to initiate your offense, Guard Reversals which act as your invulnerable "get-off-me" moves, or Flow Escape, an empowered grounded/aerial recovery that can disrupt the flow (no pun intended) of your opponent, who was perhaps ready to tech chase you.
Abuse Flow too much, and you’ll enter the Unbalanced State, losing access to Flow moves, being unable to mix your recovery due to a hard knockdown added to every single one, and suffering a few more debuffs that are incredibly hard to deal with.
Each character has a nuance that is so refreshing to experience. Modern fighting games have homogenized the process of discovery for the most part by virtue of having overwhelmingly powerful system mechanics that trump character expression or archetypes. In this case, the mechanics are tailored to each character. Yes, the Flow system is universal, but no fighter interacts with it the same way. It’s one of the best parts of Avatar Legends and one that lab monsters will definitely enjoy.
Adding to the uniqueness of each character are supports. These extra characters add a few different benefits or properties to your fighter of choice. In the case of Katara, Master Pakku improves her Flow movement, making it faster. Kyoshi can get access to a double jump courtesy of Kelsang. Azula can start in Firelord Stance thanks to Ursa, etc.
Beyond the Flow mechanic and supports, you’ll have to deal with the Energy system. Energy is displayed as small pips below your Flow gauge; you’ll need to use these pips for either EX or Super moves, adding another layer of strategy when it comes to structuring your offense. Getting these essentially requires taking a proactive attitude—you’ll get them by using specials, throwing your opponents, or using Flow in various ways.
To help you understand everything Avatar Legends has to offer in the gameplay department, there is, of course, a training mode and other tools to help players navigate learning the game. They’re not flashy or super in-depth, but you have character-specific guides that will give you an idea of how to play a fighter as well as their strengths and weaknesses, combo trials to get the lab juices going while exploring how to best mix and match all the moves at your disposal, as well as an overall "how to play" section, which I wished was a bit more dynamic than just listing all the systems in place.
That being said, Avatar Legends does a really cool thing where it breaks down a combo trial or character guide, letting you piece together a full sequence at your own pace, slowly doing it faster until you get the timing just right. It’s a godsend if you want to nail the timing of a specific button press during a lengthy combo. It’s something I wish to see more fighting games adopt moving forward. You’ll get rated for how well you did, giving you a crystal-clear idea of how good your execution is.
The roster itself is not massive, with only 12 launch characters (two versions of Aang and Korra included), but that gameplay variety really makes up for it. Furthermore, visually, the game is a stunning love letter to 2D hand-drawn animation. Every single fighter is gorgeously animated, with so much expression on display, whether they’re dishing out the damage or on the wrong side of a flashy combo. The stages are just as good, with Spirit Wilds in particular being my go-to while I lab some Katara combos.
The love and attention to detail put into character animations was sadly absent from the single-player content offerings, which are lackluster. As I said, I’m by no means an Avatar fan, but the story mode suffers from a lack of production value. The dev team behind the game is no doubt a passionate one, but also most likely a relatively small one, and while it’s commendable that the story mode tries to tell a compelling narrative—being voice-acted almost in its entirety—the fact that you’ll only be seeing text boxes and character sprites standing while talking for the vast majority of your time with it sours the experience.
Arcade Mode is no different, with small character interactions I’m sure fans will appreciate, but that ultimately do nothing for replayability.
Online works incredibly well, though, so that’s a major win. I couldn’t play a ton of matches, but setting up a lobby went without a hitch and, barring a couple of spikes, the experience with its rollback netcode was absolutely smooth. The game features crossplay, so there’s no worrying about picking it up on a platform with a smaller player base, even if Nintendo Switch 2 players will have to wait a little bit longer to jump in on the fun.
Ultimately, a lackluster story mode and a lean launch roster can’t hold back what is easily one of the most mechanically refreshing 1v1 fighters I’ve played recently. Whether you're an FGC veteran looking for a gameplay-first experience or a casual Avatar fan just wanting to press some buttons and watch your favorite characters pull off incredible sequences in a gorgeously animated 2D fighter, Avatar Legends delivers where it matters most.
A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
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