Far Cry has consistently been one of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises for a few years running, so it’s no surprise that in early 2021, at the onset of a new generation, about three years after the launch of Far Cry 5, Ubisoft will be delivering a new game in the series. Far Cry 6 was – as all Ubisoft games are – leaked before its announcement, but it has now been officially announced, and Ubisoft have released quite a few new details on its story, world, and more. In this feature, we’ll be talking about some of the biggest details we have on the game right now.
SETTING
After having taken players into rural Montana in Far Cry 5, the open world shooter series is heading back into more exotic locales. Far Cry 6 is set in the island nation of Yara, a fictional version of Cuba. Being a Far Cry game though, something is always going wrong with its settings, and so, too, is the case, with Yara, with the nation being caught in a grips of a revolution raging against the rule of its ruthless dictator, Anton Castillo. That, incidentally, brings us to our next point…
VILLAIN
Far Cry as a series has always prided itself on its antagonists, from Vaas in Far Cry 3 to Pagan Min in Far Cry 4, and the upcoming Far Cry 6 is going to keep that legacy going. In fact, with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul’s Giancarlo Esposito playing the enigmatic villain Anton Castillo, it may very well take things a little further than its predecessors. Meanwhile, another character that will have a crucial role to play is Anton’s teenage son Diego Castillo, whom Anton will be preparing for when he eventually inherits his father’s position.
PROTAGONIST
Far Cry 5 did something unusual for the series by putting players into the shoes of a faceless, voiceless, blank slate of a protagonist. With Far Cry 6, however, Ubisoft are going back to a voiced protagonist. Players will play as Dani Rojas, a guerrilla warrior fighting in the revolution to liberate Yara. Players will be able to select Dani’s gender at the beginning of the game, but unlike Far Cry 5, the protagonist here is going to have a defined personality, and as such, more of a role to play in the story.
GREATER FOCUS ON ANTAGONIST
Far Cry always puts its villains front and centre, especially when it comes to the pre-release marketing, but often, those antagonists end up not being that prominent in the games themselves. For instance, Pagan Min was on the fringes for much of Far Cry 4. Apparently, however, that won’t be the case in Far Cry 6, which is supposedly going to put a much greater emphasis on the antagonist that its predecessors.
When asked by Press-Start about how big of a role Anton Castillo will have in Far Cry 6, narrative director Navid Khavari said, “It was not only important for us that you’d get a good amount of face time with Anton just to see that window into his worldview, but also to create this almost dynamic between the three of you that carries through all the way to the end of the game. So I think you’re going to be seeing a lot of Anton, you’re seeing a lot of Diego and I think where it becomes really interesting is throwing Dani perspective into the mix.”
REVOLUTION
Far Cry games almost always choose to go with these grounded, real-world settings and narratives that are charged with fictional versions of issues that feel very real and very relevant- or, well, so it seems on paper every time. Far Cry 5 is a solid example, for instance, of a game that hints at some interesting themes with its narrative premise and pre-release marketing, but never actually does anything meaningful with that material other than touching upon it very tangentially.
It seems, however, that with Far Cry 6, Ubisoft are looking to actually properly explore the themes that the game’s story is built on. Speaking recently with GameSpot, narrative director Navid Khavari said, “I think it’s actually been quite powerful to watch these themes gain more prominence in the last few months around the world, particularly in the United States, Canada, London. For us, what I’m proud of is when we were looking at building the revolution in Yara, we didn’t try to shy away from difficult subjects and really to draw meaning from that. So I’m hoping players will be able to see that meeting and have those themes resonate with them. I think that’s exciting for us to be able to present in the game.”
THIRD PERSON CUTSCENE
Purely first person games – ones that choose to stick to first person even outside of gameplay – often run the risk of having a protagonist that feels somewhat disconnected from the story. I mean, if we can see nothing but their hands, we might not care that much about them, right? Curiously enough, that won’t be the case in Far Cry 6. Speaking in the aforementioned interview with Press-Start, Khavari confirmed that there will be third person cinematics in the game, also adding that that is something that will incentivize cosmetic customization for Dani a little bit more. He said: “We’re going to have third person cinematics, where the player gets to see their character, their customised character, in the third person and sort of interacting with all the other characters.”
WORLD
We know where Far Cry 6 is going to be set, but there’s much we don’t know about Yara from a gameplay perspective. We’re going o have to wait to get those details, of course, but Ubisoft have teased out some tidbits to tide us over until then. For instance, the developers are claiming that Far Cry 6 is going to have the largest open world map in any game in the series. Meanwhile, we can probably also expect plenty of environmental variety, with coastal towns, urban environment, jungles, and more to explore.
Oh, and speaking of urban environments…
CITY
Far Cry always puts players in the middle of rural locations with not a lot of urban environments to explore. Far Cry 6, however, is going to become the first game in the series to have a full city environment in its map. The capital city of Yara will be fully explorable, with its rooftops, crowded alleyways and streets, building interiors, and more. As Anton’s seat of power from a narrative perspective, it will also be a challenging location to traverse.
Speaking in an interview published by Ubisoft, Khavari said that the new city environment is “a complete game-changer”. He said: “You can’t have an island – this country – without having a capital city, and I think there’s a lot of love and care that they put into not only just building the city, but the demographics around that. This is the seat of Antón’s power. This is where most of his supporters are, and on a narrative side, you want to feel like you’re walking into the lion’s den. And on the gameplay side, the verticality is a complete game-changer. Being able to run across rooftops, use back alleys, fight against some of the toughest opponents in the game in this setting, I think is really unique and fresh. And it completely changes the way the game feels.”
FANGS FOR HIRE
Far Cry 5 introduced the Fangs for Hire system, an offshoot of the Guns for Hire that allowed players to recruit several various friendly furry friends, and that, to no one’s surprise, will be the case in Far Cry 6 as well. Who these animal companions will be remains to be seen, but one of these has already been confirmed- the small and dangerous wiener dog Chorizo.
LAUNCH
Far Cry 6 is, thankfully, not too long away from launch. Ubisoft have confirmed that the open world first person shooter will be releasing on February 18, 2021 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia. Meanwhile, Ubisoft have also confirmed that the game will support Smart Delivery on Xbox and free next-gen upgrade on PlayStation.
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