Far Cry New Dawn

While Far Cry New Dawn is visually similar to Far Cry 5, its gameplay has been somewhat boiled down. Nonetheless, its open world is still packed with interesting ideas, resulting in a game that gives you just the right amount of thrill. The story centered around family is not what one might expect from a Far Cry game, and the sarcastic banter of previous entries is not present here. A Far Cry game that supports rather than scolds the player feels new indeed, and its courage to be different should be praised.

For the most part, Far Cry New Dawn is fun, and that’s the only thing that matters. There is more than enough content to never feel that you’re grinding (although you are), and it fulfills one of the weirdest human fascinations, and that’s the life after a world-encompassing cataclysm. And best of all, the entirety of the game can be played in co-op mode.

Far Cry New Dawn is a ridiculously well-polished and fun to play action game (AI issues aside), with an enjoyable if largely mundane story and villains. It's so hard to negatively criticise too much. It would be unfair to judge this individual game against the wider approach of Ubisoft that some could argue needs to evolve more going into the future. The freedom that this sandbox gives to just shoot things and have fun is clear to see, and on PC the world looks incredible, filled with vivid colours, rich explosions, lush grassland and shimmering blue rivers. The real question following this conclusion to the Hope County arc and all its DLC is where Ubisoft will go next with this franchise. Ultimately it is impossible to separate New Dawn from feeling like an expensive DLC for its predecessor.

The amount of crafting and exploring so that you can craft, as well as a couple of minor issues, put a damper on an otherwise fantastic world, and fun game experience.

Far Cry sets off on a journey towards sandbox RPG experience with New Dawn. This spin- off boasts a truly living open-world capable of reacting to your every move. But at the same time, it’s never truly able to surprise you.

Far Cry New Dawn is a solid FPS, even if it’s nothing but a more of the same.

Far Cry: New Dawn cuts away some of the bloat of its predecessor Far Cry 5, to deliver a cleaner, more focused experience. The visual style breathes a good degree of life into a setting we've seen before, and Expeditions add more variety on top of that. The systems push you towards repeating content, but the boring rewards don't back that up. And hunting, once one of the core parts of Far Cry, is mostly an afterthought here. Despite those problems, New Dawn's short running time is a boon and the story provides closure to those who played the previous game. If you played and loved Far Cry 5, pick up New Dawn. If you didn't, know that it's still fun, but you'll lose some of the context.

It's fair to say that Far Cry New Dawn is 'more of the same', by and large. But when it's more of the same of the good kind, it's hard to find any serious complaint. The game is a ton of fun to play, looks great and runs even better than that. Just don't expect to find much of a post-apocalypse in this version of Hope County.

Far Cry New Dawn may be a shorter Far Cry experience, but it’s one of the most fun games in the series since Blood Dragon. The bizarrely colourful post-apocalyptic world is far more enjoyable to explore than the drab pre-bombing Hope County of Far Cry 5, and the Mad Max-style enemies are a lot more fun to take on than the Peggies. While the story’s mostly nonsense, with a few infuriating moments, and it’s undoubtedly all a cut-down experience - it never feels like a sub-par one, or even “just” an expansion. Far Cry New Dawn is the most enjoyment I’ve had with the series for a long time. Now, if only we had a full game like this…

Overall, it remains - also because of the lack of innovation - somewhat behind the predecessor. But if you're like me, you could still have a lot of fun with it.

Open world in New Dawn exists for one single purpose: to let player engage next group of enemies on his own terms. Hopefully, in next game Ubisoft will finally get rid of RPG elements (mainly, bizarre multi-tiered guns) and go back to the formula of first Far Cry. [Issue#236, p.54]

Ubisoft could've done more to refresh Hope County for Far Cry: New Dawn, but there's still some good, chaotic fun to be had here.

New Dawn oscillates between wink-nod silliness and dead seriousness in a way that’s disorienting and even unsettling at times, and I came away feeling the same as I did last time: Ubisoft needs to choose. It either needs to go full Blood Dragon or full Far Cry 2 realism again, but this uncomfortable gray area between earnest and flippant is (at least for me) unsustainable.

Alternatively, Far Cry: New Dawn can be easily described as an expansion pack of Far Cry 5. From the graphics engine to the gameplay's heart, the experience is well known, and it will fully please those who would not say "no" for yet another round. Those who are not excited from the latest installments of Far Cry, New Dawn is not here to change their minds.

This new Far Cry shines from its variety of side quests and a setup that gives a fresh taste to the formula. We would have loved a better scenario and a brand new AI system.

The sequel to Far Cry 5 fails to add anything meaningful or fresh. Instead you get a forgettable story garnished with some half-baked crafting and a post-apocalyptic setting that never really comes to fruition. Thanks to the same open world action that we've come to expect from the series - a fluid mix between stealth and explosive combat-, you still get hours of fun with Far Cry: New Dawn, provided that you keep your expectations in check.

Ubisoft’s open-world shooter digs into what makes the series great. Some of those experiments bear fruit, others bring frustration.

Ubisoft brought many of their strengths to the table in Far Cry New Dawn. The gunplay, sights and sounds, and environmental storytelling were great. I’m not sure the light RPG approach worked and would have loved to see more consistency throughout the narrative and from the characters that presented it. Far Cry New Dawn did provide me with a sense of closure in Hope County, and the highs outweighed the lows, but ultimately it left me craving a more complete experience.

It's Far Cry 5 again, on a smaller scale and with a post-apocalyptic paint job.

Far Cry New Dawn doesn't feel different. Is this a good thing or something bad? Is it really New Far Cry game or expansion pack for Far Cry 5?

Set in a vibrant and colorful world, the game plays on the safe side with its known setting and plenty of familiar action that goes around. Story and characters are weak and microtransactions are present. At its best, New Dawn can be fun and relaxing. At its worst, it can be very repetitive with annoying new main antagonists and a déjà vu feeling.

There's a lot of potential in the ideas seeded in New Dawn, but there isn't enough room for many of them to breathe and feel fully realized.