Far Cry New Dawn Review (PC)

Ubisoft’s fascination with the open world genre is an interesting one and is spawning increasingly better games. Far Cry New Dawn is just the latest in the series, and it somehow feels like a step towards something else.

The famous Adagio that “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” can be adapted for Far Cry New Dawn and a number of other franchises, including Assassin’s Creed.

What I’m trying to say that if a franchise manages to pump out enough good games, without compromising itself, they will eventually revert to an RPG. The same thing is happening with  Assassin’s Creed, and I have another example for you: FIFA. The story mode allows players to upgrade their character with points, just like in classic RPG. Granted, FIFA is a stretch, but it’s happening.

Far Cry, even before it landed in Ubisoft’s backyard, was a first-person shooter and it was impossible to dispute that. It stayed an FPS for a very long time, but subtle changes were implemented in the past couple of editions, and now we’re even closer to an RPG.

We’re probably never going to reach a full RPG experience, but it’s very likely that whatever comes after Far Cry New Dawn is going to be even further away on this path. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with the direction of the franchise, I’m just noticing a trend.

Story and gameplay

Even though I said that the game is incorporating some RPG elements, it’s still pretty similar to previous titles, and that means that it shares the same basic idea. There is a bad guy and the center of all, and you’re forging a way through his people to get to him.

Far Cry New Dawn also does something new, and that is to pick a storyline from the previous game, in this case, Far Cry 5. It’s been 17 years since the events in Far Cry 5 unfolded, and that includes a nuclear war.

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Players are still in the same region of Montana, in Hope County. People are trying to rebuild but are terrorized by the group of outlaws called Highwaymen led by Mickey and Lou, a couple of deranged twin sisters.

Your character is part of a group of people who are traveling the country, helping people rebuild. The sisters derail their train and everyone is killed, with the exception of the leader and yourself.

You eventually arrive in the town of Prosperity, but rebuilding and fortifying the city is now a much more difficult task with everyone from your group gone. Slowly, you gather other individuals from the county who can help, building up the forces so that they can take on the twins.

The story is not as predictable as you might think, and there are some twists and turns. For example, you’ll have to join forces with what’s left of Project at Eden's Gate cult from Far Cry 5, and that can only end in disaster.

As for the gameplay, Ubisoft kept much of what they have built until now, and that includes the well-known FPS mechanic, but they’ve also added a few new things. For example, the enemy tiers are now clearly marked and are linked to the type of weapons being used.

You’re going to have a difficult time taking down an enemy from the second tier with a weapon from the first tier. Unfortunately, that also means that headshots no longer count all that much.

Since the type of weapon and the health of the characters are more important, you’re only going to do the maximum amount of damage for that weapon with a headshot. Executions still work, but you need the right perks to be able to pull them off on enemies from higher tiers.

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Also, a large part of the gameplay is all about building and strengthening Prosperity, and that means that you’re always gathering supplies for what you need. There are lots of minor supplies, but the ones that drive the upgrading process are ethanol and titanium. Ethanol is needed to advance the buildings to higher tiers and titanium to build vehicles and weapons.

As you can imagine, finding enough ethanol is not easy, and you never have enough. It’s frustrating at times because it feels it stretches the gameplay unnecessarily, but it’s not happening all that often. For the most part, you’re finishing missions and go through the content in the map.

Some random events are present, like hijacking a truck of methanol or freeing hostages, so it’s not an empty map with only main missions. The hunting mechanic is back as well, and it’s very important because the meat and furs can be traded for other materials.

And we mustn’t forget about companions, who are an integral part of the gameplay. As you go through the game, you’ll unlock various companions, each with its specialization, and depending on what you need, you can summon them at will.

A new component that’s unique to Far Cry New Dawn is a gameplay mode named Expeditions, which are single missions designed to provide users with unique weapons and resources, taking players to other location than Hope County.

This takes us to the last part item on the list, the outposts. Any Far Cry fan will know that outpost are basically forts with lost of resources, but in the previous games they were kind of boring. After liberating an outpost, at most you would have to defend it, but now things have changed a little bit.

After you finally liberate an outpost, you will be given the option to scavenge it for more resources. The downside is that the enemy is going to take it back, and enhance the defenses, making it more difficult reconquere it. It’s a nice way to encourage players to challenge themselves and to give the gameplay a little bit more unpredictability.

Graphics

The system requirements for Far Cry New Dawn are moderate, especially if we take into consideration just how well the game looks. Ubisoft has been using and improving this engine for a long time, so it’s not really surprising that they’ve managed to optimize it.

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I played on the PC, and most of the time the surroundings are mesmerizing. The only part that’s not all that pretty is the flyover. Once you unlock the helicopter, you will notice that Hope County looks sparse from above. Granted, a nuclear bomb went somewhere in the vicinity, but it feels like a huge difference between the ground level and overhead.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion