Releasing a licensed fighting game is always a risky venture these days, unless you’re DC Comics or Marvel. When you consider that Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, today’s subject, had actually been cancelled for a time, there’s even more reason to approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism. It only took us a hands-on session during this year’s Summer Game Fest for our team to realize we had judged it too quickly. Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game looked like the real deal back then, and now that it’s finally available, we can confidently say it absolutely is.

Are you a fighting game rookie? No worries, you can still just mash X and stylish s*** will happen onscreen.

For a title crafted not by a studio specialized in fighting games, and actually focused on revitalizing previously canned projects, I was impressed with Avatar Legends‘ mechanics. Following an Injustice-esque approach, each of its characters plays completely differently from one another, with specific mechanics, meters, and strategies to think of. Some have specific meters that increase their strength for a short period of time; another fighter is 100% focused on summoning assists to help him out during battle. Aang and Korra, the two most famous characters from the franchise, on the other hand, are accessible fighters with a more all-around combat style, with combos that are easy to pull off and flashy to look at.

In fact, the gameplay as a whole felt incredibly solid. If you want to simply mash buttons and see what happens, you will be able to deliver some flashy and punchy combos. By adding different buttons to these sequences, however, you can then perform even punchier combos, all depending on your timing and positioning. The typical case of a game that is actually incredibly easy to learn (as it should, considering this is still a licensed Nickelodeon game after all), but quite tough to master.

This is, without a doubt, one of the best-looking fighting games ever made.

That doesn’t make the game easy to pick up and play on your own. For some bizarre reason, there is no way to choose the level of difficulty on Arcade Mode. There is just one difficulty setting, and one where the CPU can occasionally be a cheap son of a gun. The level of difficulty when playing the (simplistic but decent enough) story campaign is a bit more fair. Finally, you do need to take into account that, at least for now, battling other people on the game’s handful of online modes isn’t as prohibitive as other fighting games. It’s a brand new franchise per se, so everyone is still, somehow, a rookie.

You can get additional interactions depending on who’s fighting who.

But let’s face it, whilst the gameplay is indeed excellent, that is not the best thing Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game has to offer. It’s also not the amount of content, which is just… fine, at least for now. What makes this game stand out from most of its peers, especially those in the indie / not-fully-priced realm, is its excellent presentation.

It is a cliché, I know, and I apologize in advance, but I have to say it: Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game‘s visuals are so magnificent to the point of feeling like you are actually playing the animated shows it is based on. Every single character is superbly well-animated, featuring limited frames akin to a cartoon / anime. Meanwhile, backgrounds were taken straight from the shows, adding an extra layer of fidelity to what was already pretty dang impressive, considering its smaller scope. There is a bit of voice acting as well, but the shows’ VAs did not reprise their roles. Instead, the same people behind other Nickelodeon-tied products reprised their roles… to mixed results. Then again, a minute complaint.

Every fighter has a unique combat style, and three different “sub-styles”, akin to what Injustice and Mortal Kombat 11 had.

Avatar games might not have enjoyed the best reputation over the past couple of decades, but Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is on a completely different level. Not only is it a phenomenal feast for the eyes, but it’s also a genuinely excellent fighting game with responsive controls and an impressive amount of combat variety. It may not be overflowing with content just yet, but the development team has already promised more updates down the line. That, combined with its very appealing price tag, makes it even easier to recommend.

Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch and Switch 2.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game was provided by the publisher.