Now that Far Cry 6 has been re-announced in a way, it’s time for all the details to start pouring out. The game puts you in the role of a guerrilla fighter, pushing back against the government that’s slowly choking the country to death. As such, you’ve got a lot of options for firepower. One of these is a backpack that can be changed out to suit different types of weapons. There’s one that’s a rocket launcher and one that’s a flamethrower, and I’m sure there will be loads more. In the recent trailer, we see the camera shift to third person for the rocket launcher attack, but now it’s been made public that the game can actually be played entirely in third person.
I’m not a Far Cry veteran, though I have enjoyed the small snippets of Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3 that I’ve played. Part of what I believe makes those games so good is the first person camera. You’re deliberately forced into using vehicles and traversing the lands around you in a view that restricts you in many ways. I’ve loved how the developers have worked with this limitation to implement mechanics that are now major parts of triple-A games. For example, the way the protagonist holds a map when driving if the player wants to see a minimap as they move.
Changing the perspective totally changes the game. No longer is Far Cry 6 a true Far Cry game. If anything, I’d say it’s much more a Just Cause game. The themes are the same, fighting back against the oppressive government, and the way in which you fight is the same, surprising enemies and using lots of explosives. There’s even a wingsuit in past Far Cry titles. This is where I think Ubisoft is treading too close to already well-trodden territory. Just Cause has flopped a little with more recent releases, and a big part of that is a lack of variety.
If people want more Just Cause, they’ll play that series. There’s no reason to jump into Far Cry 6 and try to make it feel like Just Cause. I wonder how well fans will receive this new mechanic if they bother to use it at all.