Far Cry 6 Review – Revolution For a Just Cause (PS5)

The Far Cry series has been taking people to far flung places, and even eras, for over a decade. We’ve been to Pacific Islands, the Himalayas, the remote back country of Montana, the prehistoric past, and a post-apocalyptic future. Far Cry 6 heads to Yara, a fictional country modeled after Cuba. Cut off from the rest of the world by restrictive trade embargoes, Yara is run by a cruel nationalistic dictator named Anton Castillo. Dani Rojas must join the fight against him and his regime, recruiting guerillas to Libertad in order to free the country from Castillo’s ruthless iron grip.

Far Cry games have always been buoyed up by iconic strong villains—charismatic, brutal, and ever-present, even when they aren’t actually taking up space on the screen. Giancarlo Esposito, known for his roles as iconic villainous characters in Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, and The Boys, steps into the role of Anton Castillo, emanating all the grace and firm brutality that a murderous fascist ruler needs. But well beyond Esposito’s time in the spotlight, Castillo’s influence can can simply be felt all over Yara. The threat of his rule is pervasive and it drives the entire experience. This being Far Cry, that’s par for the course, and I’d expect nothing less from the latest memorable villain in the franchise.

Perhaps the most obvious difference in Far Cry 6 is the setting, which now includes a large cityscape. While other Far Cry games haven’t shied away from having pockets of civilization, the presence of buildings and communities was rarely the focus, and certainly never on the scale seen in Far Cry 6. The map is enormous; there are still plenty of those classic Far Cry jungles and forests and cliffs and swamps and caves, but Yara presents far more vast civilized city environments than we’ve ever seen in a Far Cry game before; a literal concrete jungle. And for all the trekking around Yara I’ve done, I haven’t gotten bored of it yet. The density of interesting locations and landmarks in the world keeps everything interesting, from its variety of biomes to the hidden secrets scattered across the map.

Far Cry 6 Review – An Empathetic Observer

Criticism has been levied at the series in the past for leaning into stereotypes to create a fictionalized playground for an outsider character. Far Cry 6 changes that by putting players into the shoes of a local. Whether you choose to play as male or female Dani is up to you, the story doesn’t change either way (though after playing as both, I much prefer the female Dani as my main save). Making the move to third-person cutscenes also helps players better connect with Dani and their story, including the plight of Yara and its people. It’s less about players taking on the role of an invasive outsider and more about creating an empathetic observer. Dani is a part of Yara, as much as Yara is a part of them. There’s a level of connection to Dani that provides a better window into this world than a blank slate character ever could.

In fact, it feels like the Far Cry writers finally realized that creating a strong protagonist to be the foil to monumental villains makes for a far stronger story than trying to create an empty shell everyman player character. Far Cry 5 suffered because the player character had zero stakes in the world; a nameless faceless deputy thrust into a situation where the player had to derive their own motivation. In Far Cry 6, you are Dani Rojas, who has their own very clear motivations and connection to the story and world.

And it’s not just Dani. Yara itself feels layered with history, culture, and life. Whether it’s random events or conversations between characters—both the primary cast and random Yarans—every piece of Yara feels vital to its culture. From the young new revolutionaries doing things their way, to the old guard, to random civilians who are unsure whether to side with Castillo or Libertad. This beautiful country is a living, breathing place, which makes it easier to care about what’s happening to it. Yara feels like its alive even when you aren’t there interacting with it, and it’s been living for a very long time. Environmental storytelling is just as present as active storytelling, whether as part of missions or via random events and environment design.

Speaking of missions, it’s the Yaran Stories and Treasure Hunts that really help delve into the interesting stories to be told in this world. Yaran Stories are active stories of the people within Yara, sometimes even recruiting them to your cause, while Treasure Hunts focus a lot more on discovering the stories long past found within environmental storytelling, eventually landing you some of the game’s best gear. Rewards aside, these missions are rewarding in their own right simply for how they enhance the world of Yara.

Far Cry 6 Review – Tonal Balance

Despite Ubisoft claiming that they don’t want to make a clear-cut political commentary, Far Cry 6 certainly feels like it’s stumping for the rights of the people not to be subject to the rule of a fascist tyrannical murderer, even if it does present some pointed questions about the repeated cycles of violence.  This is far from a criticism; I was actually overjoyed to see Far Cry 6 embrace its very obviously political nature. Whereas Far Cry 5 took a bit of a softball approach to its politics, the fight against Castillo puts the struggles of a revolution and the people that make it at the forefront. It also has a number of other topically sensitive topics—and how they intersect with Castillo’s rule—with better nuance than one might give a Far Cry game credit for, allowing things like LGBTQ+ representation to just be a part of a character’s identity in a natural way without clumsy handling. It even leaves the recurring character of Hurk Drubman back in America in order to not have him trampling all over the story and Latin America culture. (Though there is a nice little Easter egg connecting this game to Far Cry 5’s Hurk, along with a certain “good boy” that can aid Dani.)

But for all the seriousness the topic of revolution brings to the table, Far Cry 6 wholeheartedly embraces the fun and goofy, and in a much better way than its predecessor. Far Cry 5 felt tonally inconsistent, stumbling between the absurd and the darkly serious with very little bridging the gap. But Far Cry 6 embraces its more fun aspects and activities by portraying real people just living their lives, trying to make the best of a bad situation in an oppressed Yara. Under the regime of Castillo and the US trade embargoes, people are forced to make do with what they have, which ties into a lot of the light-hearted nature many Yarans have to keep their spirits up in the face of the ongoing awfulness.

This is further propped up by Dani’s resilient personality and how she interacts with and comments on the world and events around her (seriously, the female voice actor for Dani is fantastic, delivering these lines with a stoic perfection). This ties back to Far Cry 6 actually having a character that has personality and history, rather than being a blank slate. It contextualizes many of the things you and other characters do in the world as coping and simply making the best of the situation they find themselves in; controlling their own destinies and happiness with what they are given.

In fact, Far Cry 6 fixes so many of the criticisms I had with Far Cry 5 specifically. You still have the ability to tackle the map and story in any order that you’d like, but instead of each region feeling like its own mini-campaign, separated from the others, Far Cry 6 better weaves together and integrates its missions, story, and activities in the world. There are still three (technically four) distinct areas in Yara, each with its own set of allies and villainous henchmen, but Far Cry 6 encourages you to not mainline one area too much. In fact, in order to get all the benefits you can from building up the guerilla camps, you’ll want to play the initial couple of missions in each area fairly early on. Other side missions may see you crossing borders into other regions, which helps to nudge players into not sticking to one spot. And quick load times on PS5 certainly don’t hurt when it comes to using fast travel to hop around.

World exploration feels important again in the development of your camps, your character, and your gear. Where Far Cry 5’s world activities felt like something of a façade, scrounging for every scrap of metal and drop of gasoline in Far Cry 6 only further helps empower the Libertad movement. Resources feel just scarce enough that it behooves you to go around and clear out rooms of anything you can find. To this end, there’s a great pace of exploration, story, and stoking the fires of the revolution. The one downside here is how annoying it can be to collect various items, with the activation point being a very finnicky balance of proximity and looking at the thing in order to finally hold Square and pick it up. This is only an issue because of how often you’ll be looting things, so it’s quite noticeable.

Far Cry 6 Review – My Good Pup

I’d be remiss not to mention the Amigos, animal companions that can aid Dani in the fight against Castillo. By this point, everyone knows about Chorizo, and with a mini dachshund of my own, it’s hard to ever choose another companion at all. However, each companion features a number of different skills, which can be unlocked by performing various actions, so sometimes it might be best to leave little Chorizo at home and go with something that doesn’t send me into a rage every time a soldier even looks at him wrong. However, animals don’t get into cars or other vehicles, which can cause some annoying issues when you leave them behind and finally get to your destination, where you have to wait for them to either run a long way or randomly teleport closer to you.

Upgrading your character has changed quite a bit from previous Far Cry titles. Dani doesn’t grow by earning perks or anything that gets directly applied to your character. You use gear, mods, and building up Guerrilla camps to enhance your capabilities, which naturally ties in with the Resolver mentality of those living in Yara and fighting this fight. You aren’t physically changing, but using what you have around you to grow. Want stronger weapons or better armor or faster movement speed? You’ll need to find, equip, and upgrade the right gear to tailor your build to how you want to play, with the freedom to swap things around at any time. There’s almost a “looter-lite” mentality to it, though don’t worry, I’d hardly consider this a looter shooter by any stretch of the term.

Yet for everything that it does differently, it’s still Far Cry through and through, earning its place as the latest numbered entry in the franchise. Some of the series’ longest-running staples are here, including everything from the obvious uprising against a borderline psychopathic villain, to littler things like animal attacks and spreading fire. Those hilarious “only in Far Cry” moments are back; chance events that make you go “well, that just happened.” In one case (of many), I was running through a forested area when I heard booms, bangs, and screams from over the hill in front of me. I crested the hill just in time to see the chaos settle, the fire burning itself out among a pileup of about six vehicles, four dead soldiers, and the bodies of some civilians and revolutionaries. Standing amidst the carnage, I was looking pretty guilty when a tank came rolling down the road. Let’s just say I got myself a shiny new tank out of that encounter. Crazy events like this happen all the time, making Yara feel alive well beyond your own interactions with its world.

In many ways, Far Cry 6 feels like Far Cry meets Just Cause, perhaps owing to the fact that both share similar themes of overthrowing oppressive dictators, relative goofiness to balance serious situations, and a sense of extreme freedom in exploring their vast worlds; cityscapes nestled among varied natural landscapes. And yet, for all that it does differently from previous Far Cry games, Far Cry 6 is still decidedly Far Cry in look, feel, and just about every way that makes Far Cry… well, Far Cry. That’s not a bad thing at all (unless you don’t like Far Cry), but it’s quite noticeable that the developers can maintain what makes the series while subsequently tuning and smoothing out the edges, changing little things to make it feel truly different while somehow staying faithful to the franchise. It’s got some performance issues to iron out—cutscenes occasionally saw noticeable dips in frame rate, and occasional screen-tearing caused issues in some fast-paced moments—and there are the expected little launch bugs that an open-world game has, but nothing that was damning to the overall experience.

Additionally, the whole campaign (after a certain point) can be played in co-op, as well as specific little side mission areas separate from the main Yara map that you can undertake with friends. There’s also a host of post-launch content planned, both free updates—with some crazy licensed crossovers—and paid Season Pass expansions featuring the last three games’ villains.

While it may not wholly evolve the franchise in a radically new way, Far Cry 6 smooths out many of the wrinkles and growing pains previous Far Cry games have had, while building on a foundation that’s largely worked for the series since 2012’s Far Cry 3. Far Cry 6 strikes a great tonal balance, a variety of activities and exploration that never get dull, another imposing villain whose presence can be felt throughout, and a brilliant main character. Yara is a fun playground because it’s Dani’s playground, and that’s a crucial part of the equation, part of the meaningful growth the latest entry brings to the Far Cry franchise. ¡Viva la Revolución!

Far Cry 6 review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on PlayStation 5. For more information, please read our Review Policy.