I’m not sure who Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is for. The bones of an excellent fighter are here, with a roster of varied fighters, gorgeous hand drawn animation, and a ton of bespoke mechanics and systems that make each character a rewarding challenge to master. The problem is that Avatar Legends feels so unfriendly to newcomers that I don’t know how anyone other than the most FGC-pilled player is supposed to find their footing in it.

I know this criticism will inevitably spark a bunch of “get good” tomato throwing, but I like to think I’m an above-average fighting game player who, when given the tools to learn a character, can hold his own in a lobby. Avatar Legends’ suite of single-player modes and tutorials doesn’t feel adequate enough for anyone who hasn’t already played the game to actually learn how. Its story campaign and arcade modes start you off against foes that are far beyond a beginner’s level, chaining together combos and tech a newcomer will not know how to respond to, and it provides you with no difficulty options you can use to set your own pace. Its trials and tutorials that let you learn individual character combos start out complex rather than giving you a rundown of fundamentals to build from.

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Avatar Legends starts at high-level play without providing an adequate onboarding ramp for the average player, and given the game’s budget $30 price tag, I’d hoped that the game would feel more accessible to Avatar fans who might not be too familiar with the fighting game genre. There’s a glossary of terms to teach people about its systems, but they’re not presented in a way that helps visually illustrate their meaning to someone who isn’t fairly familiar with the game already. 

Trying to train in Avatar Legends is frustrating because the game feels resistant to letting anyone—or at least anyone who wasn’t on the dev team, watching each of its systems evolve over the course of development—get a punch in. The game feels a little bit like a budget game at times with simplistic presentation and menus, but when the punches are flowing and the elements are bending, it’s a truly compelling fighting game to watch unfold. Its animations are sublime, its characters’ personalities are reflected in their kits, and whether you’re a fan of Avatar or Korra, there are characters here you’ll recognize. I just hope some tweaks will make space for people who aren’t already pulling off incredible combos like it’s a full-time job.