Even the ‘Avatar’ Fighting Game Is Disrespecting ‘Legend of Korra’

You might recall that we’re supposed to get a fighting game for the Avatar franchise sometime this year. Over the past few months, developer Gameplay Group International has held playtests and gradually revealed Avatar Legends’ 12-person roster. For Airbender fans, the roster is more or less who you’d expect, and if you like Legend of Korra…well, it’s basically an honor to get anyone from that show this early into the fray.

While Korra and an Avatar State variant made the cut, the only other person from her show included at launch is season three baddie Zaheer. In isolation, he’s a good choice; certainly up there in the show’s villain lineup, has arguably its coldest moment, and adds some Airbender representation beyond Aang. That all tracks, and it’s too bad we currently can’t see how Zaheer plays to show how evil the fighting community will be with him.

Even so, it’s a strange move to be so Airbender skewed and leave Korra with crumbs. Maybe not everyone in her version of Team Avatar is fighting game material—sorry, Mako, but see one Fire guy, seen ’em all—but surely some like Asami and Lin Beifong deserve a spotlight. This’ll likely be addressed with DLC, but that all depends on if the game gets enough of an audience for the studio to make DLC. It’s not the only fighting game based on a licensed IP to come out this year, and a brand name doesn’t guarantee a future.

Speaking of a future, we’ve also got a release date for Avatar Legends: July 2 for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, and Xbox Series X|S. And if fighting games aren’t your thing, the animated Aang solo movie hits Paramount+ in October.

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