The sixth mainline Far Cry game isn’t full of too many surprises, but it’s got the series’ greatest hits in its playlist. Tonally, Far Cry 6 is all-over-the-place: funny when it wants to be, and serious when it needs to be. They can be hard shifts, but there’s a compelling narrative in here. You’ll be rallying those around you to fight an actual army by partaking in guerrilla warfare to unseat politician hungry with power. Activities have you hunt animals, win races, and even find hidden treasures. If this all sounds familiar, I’m willing to bet you’ve never taken over a military base with a blood-crazed rooster by your side. Far Cry 6 is a joy ride without wearing a seat belt.
After picking between Action or Story, the game’s two difficulty modes, a somewhat lengthy prologue (comparative to prior games) finally introduces you to Dani Rojas, your avatar for the game. You’re offered to choose between playing Dani as a man or a woman, as the game considers both of them canon, and will not play any differently. Now, while there’s a trans character you interact with in the story, Dani doesn’t have a non-binary option themselves. She’s a badass, as tough as they come. Watching her grow and evolve throughout the campaign is as visible as it is great. Out in the Caribbean, lies the fictional islands of Yara, where everyone desires to live in America. Dani is inadvertently roped into the revolution at-hand, and joins Libertad, the guerrilla forces behind the rebellion while also forging alliances. Anton Castillo is El Presidente, and has bull-headed determination to return Yara to it’s former glory that it held prominently in 1967. Tobacco is somehow now a main ingredient to cure cancer with Viviro, and now the main source of Yara’s cash flow. Giancarlo Esposito elevates the typical antagonist with his established credits as a bad guy, fitting for Anton. He’s a fascist dictator who constantly spouts about “true Yarans”, and Dani wants to put an end to his reign with a coup de grace. It’s a bummer of a game, but satisfying to dispose and unseat powerful assholes by force.
Once Dani becomes a guerrilla for real, she will earn experience as she completes missions. There’s checkpoints to capture, targets destroy like anti-air cannons, and so on. Dani’s rank equates to difficulty, and as she ranks up the presence around Yara will increase too. The enemies scale and increase evenly in that there will be some harder areas until you’re ready. Doing away with skill trees, all of the focus of Dani’s strength comes in how to use her weapons and gear effectively. Perks can be customized into weapons, or found in special weapons. Each individual piece carries its own perks, and they all have their uses, and together have a set bonus. Of the gear you can collect, will focus on fire resistance, parkour speed, or are stealth-based. What’s even better, is that any gear you equip can be transmogrified to give you the look you want, with all of its bonuses. This change in focus is one of my favorite things.
There’s a lot of familiar elements here: the checkpoints of Far Cry 2 (minus infinitely populating them with enemies), the paradisal island chain of Far Cry 3, the one big bad like that of Far Cry 4, and needing to topple powerful supporters before going for the head of the snake with Far Cry 5. The game is not afraid to honor its past while forging a new path.
Stealth has never been a necessity in this series, but is helpful. As you cause more trouble for the FND, they will increase the pressure and come after you harder, using special forces. I did find that the AI hunts you down way too well, often attacking you when you’re well in cover or in a tunnel without ever giving up. Though if stealth and executions are not your thing, you can just shoot your way out. The gruesome healing animations return to restore your health after you take damage from incoming gunfire. There’s a really satisfying slide, that takes you further and faster than other games you’re used to – it’ll spoil you. Weirdly, there’s no way to negate fall damage on medium-sized jumps, unable to avoid that unnecessary damage. You will regenerate health over time, still. Overall, the movement feels as fast as fluid on-foot as ever, if not better. At my first checkpoint mission, the high-ranking official there got into a fight with the locals as I was sneaking my way in, disabling the alarm system. He died during this process and I took it over. The chaos of the emergent gameplay is ever present and unpredictable. If you thought the random birds divebombing you were bad before, just wait until a crocodile sneaks up on you and knocks you on your ass when you least expect it. I love it so much.
If you’re worried about the RPGness of Far Cry 6, know that headshots actually count (provided you’re using the right ammo against the right enemies). The preservation of one-shot headshots was my primary concern, and I’m happy they’re in-tact. While you’ll have to rely on some makeshift weapons at first, you’ll be able to craft your own upgrades and military-grade gear at the workbench. There’s lots of components to scavenge out in the world, from gasoline to metal to industrial circuit boards. Workshops enable you to make more powerful attachments that improve the quality of your armaments. The guns you use can be customized from the ground-up, or you’ll acquire special weapons that have attachments already on them. While the island is fictional, the weapons utilize their real-life counterparts, such as the PM, SVD, AS-VAL, AK-47, M-133, and so on. Each weapon can be outfitted with specialized rounds that targets armor, flesh, and inflicting burns. Far Cry 6 impresses that you need “the right tool for the right job”, and it’s true.
It’s not long before you’re given a one of different kinds of Supremo, an ultimate ability with a long cooldown that can devastate its target with an explosion, empower you with a huge boost to defense while you unleash a torrent of machete strikes, or weaken enemies by a blast of venom poison. The first one you’re given is great for taking out anti-air cannons, and is something you’ll likely stick with throughout most of the game. In coop, the medic Supremo will revive your partner and restore health to the both of you. Resolver weapons are special weapons you can purchase with depleted uranium captured from the anti-air cannon stations you’ll take down. These weapons are more novelties to increase the fun factor than anything you’ll want to rely on. They’re powerful like the harpoon gun, or hilarious like the one that shoots “Macarena” CD-R’s like spinning sawblades. They’re definitely not quiet weapons, but are a riot to use.
Between Operations, Yaran Stories, Military Targets, and Treasure Hunts, there’s lots to do. Operations are essentially the main missions of the game, offering the most variety and personality you’ll find. Everything else can equate to side missions and activities. While capturing bases and dismantling the army are part of the primary goal, there’s still a bare minimum you can do to get by. Don’t forget to completely clear out an area, or it’ll be repopulated quickly. There’s a heat level that you’ll accrue while playing, and Far Cry 6 wants you to “have fun” but reinforcements kill that once the tanks start rolling. It all feels like a game of controlled chaos rather than unadulterated chaos. With the side activities like fishing, treasure hunting, and finding the various kinds of collectibles, this game revels in its “down time”. Each activity is engaging in their own right, and can be relaxing to rewarding.
Guerrilla Camp Facilities will be built up in headquarters. You’ll have six options to choose from, with only two slots available across the three factions. There’s some careful decisions to be made, but you’ll eventually have them all. They each can be upgraded to provide more powerful benefits. For instance, the cantina offers recipes to make special food that has lasting effects like it’s Monster Hunter. It’s here that you’ll unlock the wingsuit and parachute which become essential early into the game. Interestingly enough, the game goes into third person for the camps, making it the first time it does, and the only time. I’m glad the open-world can’t be played this way, as it would be very un-Far Cry, but I’m curious why it isn’t offered for the driving.
You won’t be playing this one alone, you’ll always be accompanied by an amigo, a ferocious pet. Whether it be the first one you get, Guapo, a crocodile with an attitude and undying loyalty or Chicharron, a rooster with a thirst for blood. There’s many references to Far Cry 5, and so you’ll even come across Boom Boom in Yara. Your amigos can rank up, earning more perks for performing different tasks based on their skillset. In a way this is a type of bond and makes the both of you stronger with what they offer. The game can also be played in coop with another person to increase the chaos.
Four rides can be unlocked to be delivered to you at anytime. These can be upgraded and customized to your liking. There’s a healthy amount of cars, boats, planes, and helicopters to summon from guerrilla locations. Adding new cars is as easy as driving them to their designated locations. I spent too long taking every car I liked, bringing them back before realizing you could just scan them, and they get added right away. You can’t scan military vehicles, though, so those have to be driven to the points. There are horses to ride now, but first-person horse riding ain’t great. What is great is the driving or flying of anything else, thankfully.
Far Cry 6 fixes problems of prior games of not showing the main villain enough. There are certain moments where he appears in these “too good to be true” or “too quiet” moments. The Anton interludes between big chapter breaks are refreshing. During these times you’ll learn more about the Anton character and his motivations, and you almost sympathize with him. It’s only for a moment, because when he reinforces his oppression of others with a casual “true Yaran” remark, you’re reminded ‘yep, he’s an asshole still’. There’s a snag in all of this, and that’s Diego, Anton’s son. He’s raising this teenager as the heir apparent, ensuring that Yara continues to thrive. It’s established earlier in the game that Diego does not share his father’s visions anymore, and wishes to do something else. Anton is shown to be an unforgiving father with tunnel vision, unwilling to accept any other outcome than what he envisions. This internal conflict in addition to external conflicts are fascinating to see play out in the game’s plentiful cutscenes.
Far Cry 6 has Ray Tracing, and it’s absolutely stunning. There’s not NVIDIA DLSS, but there is AMD FSR. While AMD FSR supports NVIDIA GPUs, I avoided using it. My performance was always above 70fps in 1440p, making it incredibly performant. This was with everything maxed, using a field of view at 110°. Yara is a beautiful place, with some stunning views that you’ll find yourself using the photo mode a lot more than maybe you have in the past. You’ll have hundreds of screenshots throughout your time with it.
My PC Specs:
– Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
– Intel Core i9 9900K @ 5Ghz (Turbo)
– Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM 97 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
– Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
– EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB GDDR6X FTW3 ULTRA
– Seagate FireCuda SSD (500GB)
– Seagate BarraCuda SSD (1TB + 2TB)
– OWC Aura P12 NVMe SSD (2TB)
Far Cry 6 is a much longer game than its predecessors, where you’re looking at an upwards of 40 hours just to see the end of the campaign. It does feel like an amalgamation of the Far Cry games up to this point, and doesn’t do a lot new to set itself apart. So Far Cry 6 retreads a lot of familiar ground that the series is known for, but with a bold new backdrop that helps keep it exciting. Far Cry 6 adds some RPG-lite elements to its systems that thankfully don’t get in the way of the gameplay. Dani is awesome as a fully voiced protagonist. She brings so much personality as she sings along to the songs in the car, speaks her mind, and is just a total badass in everything she does. Far Cry 6 is a next-generation adventure, hindered only by a few last-generation ideas.
A Ubisoft Connect code was provided by the publisher in advance for review purposes
