Far Cry 6 Review

The Far Cry series is one of Ubisoft’s most significant properties and one that I would say arguably isn’t milked quite as much as franchises like Assassin’s Creed seem to be. I enjoyed the last main entry in the series quite a bit back when it was released in 2018, even though it overstayed its welcome a little bit, but I wasn’t as happy with New Dawn, which felt like more of a glorified piece of DLC than an actual game. I was excited to see what Far Cry 6 had to offer in a more tropical setting, with water, a mountainous region to traverse, and an evil dictator to overthrow.

There is a LOT to do in Far Cry 6. When you first jump into the game and see the map start to populate with different activities and things to do, it feels a little bit overwhelming. This is the large open world full of animals, militants, allies, vehicles, and more that you’ve become very familiar with if you’ve played a Far Cry game before. You play as Dani Rojas (either male or female), and you’ll have many systems to navigate, from base-building to weapon-modding to sending guerrilla teams on missions in a very rudimentary way. As much as there is to do, much of it can feel like an afterthought or repetitive.

Story

The general idea of the story is that you play as Dani Rojas, a one-man army who is tasked with overthrowing dictator Anton Castillo with the help of a few different groups of guerrilla fighters that you have to attempt to recruit so that they can take back the Caribbean island nation of Yara, which is loosely based on Cuba. Castillo exploits the nation’s outcasts for slave labor to produce the cancer drug Viviro. Castillo was elected on the promise that Viviro would bring wealth back to Yara, but he’s keeping it for himself. Even worse, Viviro is made using a poisonous chemical that is killing Yarans in droves. This sets you up to take down Castillo and his military sprinkled throughout the island. 

Allies

As the game progresses, Dani starts to gain new allies, and listening to the cutscenes and the different backstories of all the characters is one of the playthrough’s highlights. You start to care about all these characters quite a bit, and some of them can sometimes be quite comical. For every serious moment, there are missions like the Chicharron missions, where you have to accompany Chicharron, the rooster, on his path of destruction. Speaking of which, you gain new amigos that will accompany you on your journey through the game. Some, like Guapo, the alligator, will be more of an attack amigo, while Oluso, the panther, will use stealth to take out enemies individually. 

Gameplay

The general gameplay is pretty simple: you’re attacking bases and checkpoints to capture for your group, Libertad. Most of the actual story missions involve you gaining new allies and taking out Castillo’s lieutenants. Amidst all this, you’ll find intel to see where new points of interest are, gather materials to upgrade gear and bases, and find new weapon blueprints or armor. There is so much loot to pick up that it sometimes becomes a bit too much to deal with. With all the stuff I’ve picked up in this game, I should have everything at my disposal now, but I’m not even close. There’s always more. 

Weapons

A large part of Far Cry 6 is figuring out what weaponry will be most effective for what you’re about to do. Different types of bullets do different types of damage to various kinds of enemies. There are armor-piercing rounds for armored enemies, soft-target rounds for regular enemies, incendiary rounds to combat poisonous enemies, blast rounds to cut through windshields, and poisonous rounds to combat flamethrowers. Of course, this is more of a suggestion than a requirement. There are even unique weapons that can’t be modified but have a special combination of perks already equipped. I used an automatic pistol my whole playthrough, which would take enemies out with a quick headshot, and I could reload the clip so fast that it was better than a rifle. There are also resolver weapons, like a flamethrower and a sniper that fires explosive rounds. You always have options and can choose them all on the fly, which helps. 

Play Your Way

With all of the weaponry at my disposal, I found that the easiest way of taking care of most of the bases I had to take over was to equip my sniper with armor-piercing rounds and a silencer and pick off enemies one by one. I would also use a stealth amigo to take out other soldiers simultaneously. This doesn’t work for every mission. Sometimes, you need to go in hot and hope to survive the battle with some explosives, but a good portion can be done silently. There are Supremo weapons you can obtain if you want to cause absolute chaos with things like a missile battery, a pack that launches poison bombs, a pack that gives you an instant self-revive, and more. I liked these weapons, but the cooldown meant they were only beneficial once per mission, which didn’t help me much. I used the missile battery to take out choppers more often than not. 

AI

I will say that the enemy AI was very inconsistent. I could drop somebody right next to an enemy, and nothing would happen one time, and the next, the entire military would be on top of me. It was nice that they wouldn’t bother you if you had your gun holstered. I don’t want to be in a firefight every moment I play the game, and I feel like I got a break here and there when I didn’t look like a threat. Another thing I liked was the addition of guerrilla paths, which allowed me to sneak up on bases or gave me a workbench to modify my weapons while gearing up to take a base down just over the hill. As you upgrade your bases, you can unlock more paths and add workbenches. You can even better equip your freedom fighters and have rocket-launching allies around the island to help you. 

Final Thoughts

Far Cry 6 is an entertaining game when it descends into chaos, and you’re using everything at your disposal to take out loads of enemies coming your way. There is an overabundance of content, and I think it becomes too rinse-and-repeat after a while. Co-op missions, treasure hunts, recruiting new Amigos, crafting more guns, buying more Supremos, adding more vehicles to my bases, chasing unique weapons, finding roosters, fishing, hunting, gathering materials, etc. It all becomes a bit much after a while because none feels that varied. That said, there’s a reason I keep returning to it. It’s just plain fun at its best.