Far Cry 6

Pulling back on a compound bow and waiting with baited breath, I yearned for that distinct, satisfying Far Cry squelch as the arrow found purchase, lodging itself into the brain of an oppressive cog in the tyrannical machine.

Dozens, if not hundreds of times, Far Cry 6 delivered that wet crunch as Dani rampaged through Yara like a rabid, murderous Robin Hood.

Far Cry 6 also allowed me to pin a Yaran soldier to a wall with a harpoon gun. Or I could render their bodies into swiss cheese with a nail gun. Or I could launch rockets out of my Supremo–a backpack turned into ultimate weapon–and decimate an anti-aircraft gun, accidentally blowing up the five soldiers guarding it and the precious depleted uranium I could use to buy a new Supremo that would shoot out a ring of fire and allow me to boost jump in the air. Or I could use a crocodile, wiener dog, panther, or rooster to kill or distract someone while I snuck to my objective.

Far Cry has become progressively more batshit insane. Its roster of charismatic villains looming over increasingly sprawling playgrounds of mayhem. Its cast of characters dialing into extreme personality tropes. Its unbridled chaos spiraling into ludicrous entertainment when things go absolutely wrong.

But as complex and insane as Far Cry may get, it is still immensely satisfying to sneak into a camp and, despite having a bevy of destructive gadgets and guns, pull off silent headshots with a well-placed arrow, hearing the crack of a helmet as it crumbles, giving way to the soft grey matter hiding underneath.

Just pray that if you miss, you’ve got a machine gun to tear through the reinforcements.

Antón Castillo, played by Giancarlo Esposito, is the driving antagonistic force behind Far Cry 6. He is the fuel for the fire, the reason the player is tearing through encampment after encampment. In minutes, the game establishes his deadly, generational clutch on the tropical and Cuba-inspired Yara. Castillo is Yara’s current ruler. Before that, it was his father. Before that, his grandfather. Players watch as Castillo “teaches” his son the hard lessons about leadership and how to best shepherd the people of Yara into prosperity.

Yara, however, seems less than prosperous. Within its city walls and on the outskirts of this massive island, people are are being shot down by Castillo’s guards. Any oppression is being snuffed out with violence. The island has cut itself off from the rest of the world for decades, meaning that modern pleasantries are hard to find. Viviro, a drug made from Yaran tobacco, is said to be the world’s premier cancer treatment but the workers who toil in the fields are often poisoned and experimented on.

Far Cry 6 opens with Dani–a male or female protagonist based on the player’s choosing–trying to escape Yara in the midst of a rebellion in the streets. Dani wishes to escape to America and live among the Yankees in a place where she (I chose a female character) can have some semblance of a dream. Obviously, things do not go as planned.

Like other Far Cry games, Far Cry 6 is about systematically destroying Castillo’s reign by aiding key figures in the Libertad rebellion force while eliminating powerful players in the regime. As such, Far Cry 6‘s narrative hinges on this cast of characters to deliver its exposition during and between the fighting and exploration.

Giancarlo Esposito is, unsurprisingly, a star in this role, acting with the quiet ferociousness that made him one of the most captivating parts of Breaking Bad. He portrays a character that manages to stray from being a one-note tyrant whose villainous actions are fueled by deeper demons, especially when it comes to teaching his son deadly “lessons” that often amount to shocking bloodshed.

Like the tone of Far Cry 6 itself, the supporting cast has obviously been directed to play it up based on the tone of the mission at hand or the focus of the larger narrative. People who wish to invest credence in a Far Cry story are often at odds with the brutal, often ridiculous delivery of its gameplay and the hammy, often ridiculous delivery of the voice cast. Characters have been written in a way to be extreme versions of a trope or a concept, saying wacky lines that might make them “more appealing to the youths” but toning it down when talking about how a murderous dictator is ruining the lives of thousands of people.

Far Cry 6 isn’t necessarily different in its handling of these characters. Juan, one of the first major supporting roles, is a drunk who has an attack crocodile named Guapo and spouts off his numbered list of rules for being a guerilla fighter. It’s played for laughs throughout his introductory mission and other quests but players will also see a warm, compassionate center that has witnessed a lot of death and desires to see Castillo’s end.

This time around, Ubisoft has worked more to flesh out these characters in the context of the world, giving them a fuller sense of purpose. While I’m sure Juan, the rebellious rap duo players free, or the family of mercenaries players try to impress could potentially be dropped into any other Far Cry game, they are most at home in Yara. There are obvious parallels to real life freedom fighters who have faced opposition in communist and fascist governments and the writing attempts to portray these figures with necessary restraint while making them fun enough to be engaging quest givers in a game that ultimately may just be about players wanting to blow shit up.

Far Cry 6 manages to avoid being overly preachy about a standard set of morals, it usually has been. It does swing towards making political statements, you kind of have to in a game where a political leader is the driving force of why anything on screen is happening. Dani is a vessel for the player and is along for the ride, reflecting and reacting to Yara and its people with appropriate optimism, curiosity, and disdain. I’m not sure if the game will cause many people to put their magnifying glass on the troubles of the world, despite how easy they are to find these days, but its brand of fiction is close enough to reality that it becomes more universally approachable to any subset of gamer.

What Far Cry 6 does is contextualize its madness. In a not so different world, you could imagine it would take a band of off-kilter personalities with radical ideas to topple the establishment. After all, hasn’t that been the case throughout history? I’m glad to play a Far Cry game where its fine to turn my brain off and unleash destruction on my enemies. But I’m equally glad that it doesn’t feel jarring when the writers ask just a little bit more from me and pay attention to my surroundings and the deeper impact of my actions.

It only helps that Yara is brought to life with great voice acting and a truly beautiful sandbox. Giancarlo Esposito may be the highlight but the voice cast is doing work to say the least. Accents, inflections, a distinct character quirk, these actors manage to grab onto the roles they’ve been given and make otherwise potentially grating characters easy to latch onto.

On PlayStation 5, Yara is undoubtedly lush. Sweeping palettes of earthy tones surround landmarks of varying shapes and sizes. This connected, Caribbean-like world holds true to the setting and is stacked with hidden gems like underground caves and ancient ruins. With an exceptional draw distance and incredibly fast loading times, Far Cry 6 takes on a boundless quality, where the next opportunity or viable path of prosperity is within grasp.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to review Deathloop, a game which managed to circumnavigate the career trajectory of Arkane Studios. First-person simulators can often struggle with given players a heavy burden of choice. Do you take the stealth options because it seems more rewarding? Do you go in guns blazing because that’s more crazy and fun? What if you mess up an encounter and piss everyone off and die? Deathloop made mistakes and death the most minor of hindrances to the player because at the end of the barrel, there was always more to be had, whether it be a story beat, a revelation, or entertainment.

Far Cry 6, upon reflection, strangely feels like Deathloop. It’s no passing statement to say that the game works to provide the player with any number of options for them to act on. Yara is one of the larger Ubisoft open world sandboxes and the largest in the series. And while a good amount of that real estate may be water or trails of wilderness, Yara is booming with opportunity. Roadblocks are set up that can puncture tires if driven over fast, meaning a horse needs to be taken to maintain speed. Or that roadblock can just be taken over in the name of Libertad. A weather station is peppered with soldiers in buildings, bunkers, and sniper nests. Players can sneak in through a break in the fence, walk through the front door, or climb to the top and pop the heads off the bad guys.

Like any Far Cry game, the efforts to capture the red landmarks belonging to Castillo and turning them the blue of Libertad will ultimately reward the player with new gear, upgrades, and an increase in power that will make the final siege less impossible.

I often fervently defend the core structure of a Ubisoft open world, recognizing that some may see these massive landscapes as digital laundry lists where icons are slowly removed from the map. And in a way, that mindset isn’t wrong. But I’ve always found a kind of comfort in the chance to scour a distant vista and head there or zoom in on a nearby location to make sure I haven’t missed out on a chest.

Far Cry 6 wants you to explore without getting too lost in the details. This is best represented in the numerous workbenches that are found across Yara. At a workbench, players can upgrade their weapons with crafting materials. Guns can be given new scopes, muzzles, suppressors, and bullets that can turn a situation from stealth to loud. I love being sneaky, I use a bow all the time. But sometimes I miss a shot and a guard triggers an alarm that causes a helicopter and a truck to rush in. A nail gun and some arrows aren’t going to do much good. Weapon swapping is easy but at the workbench, players can prepare to tackle a base with more forethought. Equip a sniper with hard-target rounds to blast through armor from a distance. Get an assault rifle with a compensator and soft-target rounds to mop up when things go wrong.

Most locations, major or minor, have a vantage point and a workbench nearby that players can use if they feel like changing up their fight. The same goes with Supremo weapons and tools. Supremos are absurd and one of those It factors that give Far Cry 6 its particular flair. At first players will have the one that fires a barrage of rockets. Soon they can unlock the fire blast one, or one that shoots out an EMP to stun enemies and disable security cameras and alarms, or one that heals the player and partners during co-op. Supremos can also be slotted with modifications that augment a player’s abilities like weapon reserves and stamina.

Picking favorite loadouts should be pretty easy for most but I think Far Cry 6 would benefit from a dedicated loadout feature where players could assign weapons and Supremos with specific slots rather than having to navigate the menus every time a change was desired. It’s perhaps the most glaring flaw in the game’s vast pool of customization. Skill trees and having to hunt down specific pelts are gone, replaced by just rewarding the player for acquiring varying levels of crafting material–but you can still get rewards for legendary animals and other minor prey. There’s also a limit to how many bonuses can be equipped, meaning that a player never has too many passive advantages to be overpowered.

As more dents are hammered into Castillo’s foundation, the difficulty level of a region will increase, meaning a player will have to progressively acquire better weapons to even the odds. Often this is represented in raw damage output but I also found that higher level suppressors would need to be equipped to maintain the quiet over the battlefield. While equipment has a star rating, it is unlike the mild number crunching found in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint or recent Assassin’s Creed games. Each piece of an outfit has a specific bonus to it as well, so players can also mix and match what they think will work out best.

Players experienced in the gospel of Far Cry won’t find gunplay that different from before. While Far Cry 6 isn’t as tight as Rainbow Six: Siege or even Call of Duty, aiming and shooting feels good. Not only do the DualSense adaptive triggers have a give to them, the varying stats of a weapon do make a difference. Early automatic guns could feel unwieldy even at close range, while better guns have noticeable improvements.

The game’s assortment of Amigos adds another wacky layer to Far Cry 6, as Ubisoft fully embraces animal companions aiding you in battle over humans. Specific Amigos like Guapo the crocodile and Chicharrón the rooster are best in combat, while Chorizo the tiny dog or one of the panther Amigos will help distract foes. Players also unlock perks for their Amigos that further increase their viability not only in combat but in item discovery.

But Far Cry 6 isn’t satisfied with a large list of things to do. It’s bursting at the seams with content. There’s treasure hunts, races, fishing, supply drop theft. Players will be able to upgrade bases to unlock new gear or engage in tournament fighter-style cockfighting that may offend some but has undoubtedly amazing music. At these bases players can send off a team of AI on timed missions that will provide money or materials as a reward.

And let’s not forget the cooperative madness that has become one of my favorite parts of Far Cry. With friends, taking down an outpost can become a dual-pronged game of cat and mouse or a descent into hell as friends unleash pain on fascism. Co-op can be done in Yara proper or in standalone missions akin to those found in Far Cry: New Dawn. Joining in online shenanigans can also reward a different type of currency that can be used for various unique unlocks.

Ubisoft has put a good deal of effort into making Far Cry 6 a palatable game for a wider audience. The developer/publisher is continuously stepping up their accessibility game, making it easier for anyone to have a shot at Far Cry. And though I’m not the most knowledgeable or wisest voice on inclusion and political discourse, Far Cry 6 makes strides into not turning people into jokes. It may not set the highest bar for representation of Latin and South American culture but I never felt like any particular community was being mocked or played down to. I may have balked at a couple glitches and having to hover over collectibles in awkward ways to pick them up but head to toe, Far Cry 6 has an amount of polish in code, script, and gameplay. Even when I for some reason was able to slide down a hill almost infinitely with increasing speed, I couldn’t tell if it was a bug or a feature. And that kind of madness is what I expect from Far Cry.

Far Cry 6 strikes me as the apex of the series, mechanically, structurally, and narratively. Far Cry has gone through its fair share of growing pains since Far Cry 3 became the de facto standard. Yet all roads, rocky or otherwise, have led to this point. Crazed villains, bombastic mayhem, and open freedom have been polished to their highest sheen. What’s presented is a dramatic piece of open world escapism, rife with possibility. Players can become decorated contract killers, loosing the bonds of an oppressive regime with any amount of chaotic bloodshed, engage in aimless side quests, or paint the world red with friends. The massive scope of Yara provides a playground of opportunity for engagement, transforming Far Cry 6 into the best yet, a date with destruction.