Far Cry 6

If you’re looking for a game to unwind, then there’s no better place to look. But if you’re looking for something unique, something that will stick with you for years to come, you’re better off looking somewhere else.

Ubisoft won't change its Far Cry formula, but it doesn't polish it either. There's no effort made to improve IA and the whole tone of the game is borderline schizophrenic with fun and horror battling for attention. Despite this, Far Cry 6 remains fun and obsessive for explorers and completionists, with a ton of things to do and see (and kill).

If you have no prior experience with the franchise, Far Cry 6 is a game that can definitely be fun to play. If you're one of the series' devotees, you'll spot stagnation and repetitiveness in its mechanics from a mile away, to the point where finishing it at 100% is a real feat. Therefore, if you know what it's all about and haven't had your fill yet, then Far Cry 6 is for you. If you think you'll cry out "enough" if you see one more fortress, then leave it alone.

Far Cry 6 is often a fun game that feels like it's throwing everything at you, and if you want a heap of content, Far Cry 6 absolutely has you covered. In isolation, a lot of its elements are interesting ideas. Taken together, though, it feels like a lot of disparate things that keep taking your attention back to menus and map icons. It's a lot of exhausting extra stuff, when really, what Far Cry 6 is good at is giving me opportunities to blow stuff up.

The series' foundations have been rejigged to offer an exciting and satisfying new gameplay loop. Not all of the revisions work in its favour, but unfortunately it's the complete lack of change with its approach to storytelling and structure that really holds Far Cry 6 back.

Far Cry 6 is not a bad game, far from it. We have to admit that the scenery of the island of Yara is exotic and the story around Antón Castillo is rather interesting. However, the recipe is starting to run out of steam. The few new features are not enough to make up for a huge but cruelly empty map. As for the scenario, it quickly becomes a bit stale, with quests following one another without really managing to keep us in suspense. Nevertheless, if you want to dive into the heart of the guerrilla war with a friend, and not Chorizo, note that the game becomes much more fun with two players.

It sounds like I’m ragging on Far Cry 6 a fair bit, but that’s mostly just because of how much it feels like squandered potential. We’re at the sixth installment of this series now, spin-offs notwithstanding. And yet dismantling Castillo’s grip on Yara doesn’t feel too far removed from going up against Hoyt Volker, Pagan Min, or Joseph Seed. If you’ve played a recent Far Cry game, you know exactly what you’re in for with 6. It’s a well-trodden formula of epic scale that has just enough life in it to keep it from being tired.

Far Cry 6 finds the series at its most complacent and stale, showing little desire to push things forward and missing the mark when it comes to its story and villain. And yet, despite the tired recipe, there’s still an adequately enjoyable first-person shooter underneath that manages to offer the freedom expected of it and make popping the heads of countless dumb opponents feel satisfying. How much you’ll enjoy it really depends on where you’re approaching it from. As a new player, its world will keep you busy and show you a good chunk of what the series has to offer. If you’ve played previous entries in the series, you’re more likely to be left wishing there was more. Yara’s had its own revolution; perhaps it’s time for Far Cry to follow suit.

Far Cry 6 is two steps forward and a step back. The characters are brilliant, as is the work put into bringing them to life. Sadly, the game continues to be bogged down by more pointless content. The epitome of ‘less is more’.

Far Cry finally got rid of the most annoying bits (like the infamous towers), but that’s pretty much the extent of the series’ progress. Far Cry 6 doesn’t improve on the core concept in any way. Still, all the expected mechanics work as advertised and keep the game above the line.