By the time I was Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, I felt as though Ubisoft had finally created the best possible version of their long-running series. It felt tightly wound, honed over years of tinkering and design evolution. However, in order for the series to endure, it also felt like it needed to take some time off to regroup and come up with fresher, vastly different ideas. I feel the same way about Far Cry Primal.
It’s the year 10,000 B.C. and cave man Takkar is just trying to survive. He is dragged into a strange paleolithic turf war following a hunting expedition gone horribly wrong and must fight for not only his own survival but that of the Wenja tribe. Do to this he will need to fend off and secure territory from various competing tribes, some cannibals, some harnessing the destructive power of fire. Far Cry Primal’s prehistoric setting is a novel one for a video game, and I’m surprised games set in this era haven’t popped up very much. It’s such fertile soil, both mechanically and narratively.
In-keeping with the Far Cry series’ primary trait, survival is the order of the day here. These are brutal times, debts were paid in blood and every living thing is fighting desperately for the chance to simply live another day. I felt more threatened in Far Cry Primal that I ever did in other Far Cry titles and that alone was refreshing. All you have to defend yourself is your own ingenuity, your ability to live off the land and create weapons from the most basic of supplies. Clubs, crude bows, stone knives and spears are your best bet for martial combat but there’s another element that sets Far Cry Primal apart from its forebears and that’s animal handling.
Like a prehistoric Pokemon, Far Cry Primal grows the limited animal handling mechanic from Far Cry 4 to new heights, allowing you collect, order and even ride many of the game’s savage beasts. Wolves, bears, wildcats, sabretooth tigers and mammoths – all can be collected, tamed and (most importantly) petted whenever you want. There is a savage pleasure in paradropping a bear directly into an enemy camp and watching it tear the place to shreds like a shaggy, brown wrecking ball. Follow up with your bow to put the stragglers down, give your pet a feed and a pat for a job well done and you’re on your way to the next camp. Each animal is suited for different scenarios. Panthers are great for stealth attacks, wolves can help you detect enemies further off. You can also switch to an aerial view via owl to get the lay of the land. The owl can then be trained to swoop and drop explosives, which, I don’t know what else you could possibly want from an owl.
For those returning from previous games, there’s a lot about Far Cry Primal that will be familiar. In terms of size, the map is about as large as the one from Far Cry 4 (a game to which it apparently bears more than a passing resemblance), but the stripping back of elements felt like the right move to me. There’s none of the bloat that had begun to bog Far Cry 4 down, nor is there any of the directionlessness that game suffered from. It’s always clear where you should be going. The need to properly clothe yourself and move from fire-to-fire in colder areas is a great addition that recalls some of my favourite Skyrim survival mods.
To bring this review back around to my opening comments, however, it really does feel like this is the end of the road for Far Cry in its current format. A friend recently pointed out how much more fluid and survivalist Dying Light felt than even this most survival-y of entries in the Far Cry series. Like Assassin’s Creed, it feels like Far Cry could use a bit of time on the bench to regroup and rethink. With Ubi’s new focus on longer-term, persistent games like The Division, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a similarly MMO version of Far Cry materialise in the future.
Review Score: 7.5 out of 10
Highlights: Great setting; Brutal combat; Prehistoric pets!
Lowlights: Series more in need of some fresh ideas than ever
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: February 22, 2016
Platform: PlayStation 4,, Xbox One, Windows PC
Reviewed on Xbox One
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