Ubisoft Montreal dropped a bomb on us all with the announcement of their next Far Cry game set in the Stone Age. Everyone knew another game in the ongoing series would appear at some point but no one could’ve assumed they’d go this route. Treading in the past, 10,000 B.C. to be exact, gives the tired formula a much-needed facelift.
Far Cry: Primal follows Takkar, “a seasoned hunter and the last surviving member of his hunting group.” Taking place on the land of Oros, players will have to hand craft weapons and tools made from the beasts they kill to survive. But those ferocious predators aren’t the only things you have to worry about in Oros; traitorous tribes will lurk, and pounce to hunt down players to conquer the land for themselves.
The debut trailer shows off a small tribe taking down a mammoth before something unexpected gets the upper hand on them. Check it out for yourself here.
Outposts (guarded by humans of course), spreading fires, and character upgrades all return from previous entries alongside new features such as a dead prey attracting new predators with simply their scent. This alone will add another layer of immersion to Far Cry.
Ubisoft Montreal is also getting a helping hand from Ubisoft’s Toronto and Shanghai studios. Creative Director, Jean-Chrostophe Guyot said the game’s focal point will be going back to the time when humans threw a stick in the ground and claimed territory. The time we started to climb the food chain, which came with a degree of conflict with not just animals, but with humans and nature as well.
For a more in-depth look at Ubisoft’s latest game, check out the vision behind the idea of Far Cry: Primal in this video here.
Moving away from the shooting of waves of unintelligent AI with machine guns in previous entries and going with this timeline gives this game a grittier edge. Something that, in my opinion, was sorely lacking from the franchise. I’m hoping to see a more animalistic take on Far Cry with this new game scheduled for early next year. Far Cry: Primal launches on PS4 and Xbox One on February 23, 2016. A PC release will drop in spring 2016.
