Far Cry 5 is out, and you’ll be able to explore all that Hope County has to offer in its lush forests and mountainous Montana region. We’d be lying if we said our sense of wanderlust wasn’t piqued, so we’ve come up with six places – and time periods – we wouldn’t mind exploring in Far Cry 6, along with some bold moves Ubisoft could pull off in these environments.
Far Cry 6: Mother Russia
The snow-capped forests of Russia aren’t just for Metro Exodus anymore (even though we’re still excited for the game). One of the issues we came across in our review of Far Cry 5 was that collecting animal parts became about making money rather than upgrading equipment. A trip to a frozen tundra teeming with wildlife could bring Far Cry back to its roots by making hunting and gathering more than a fun way to earn extra cash, but rather a means of survival.
Bold move – Make survival a priority
If Far Cry 6 were to move back to a snowy locale, then you should have to manage more than just a health bar. We’d like to see things like temperature, hunger, and sleep play a pivotal role to emphasize survival. Cold weather could affect things like how effective health items are or how much damage is taken, while hunger can affect damage output and sleep deprivation might cause hallucinations. The supplies that you craft and the food that you gather could benefit from added realism too, with clothing that’s damaged from prolonged battles or raw meats and poisonous plant life that would cause more harm than good. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the larger-than-life action sequences of Far Cry games, but at its core, you’re still someone trying to survive in a strange wilderness. We’d like to see more emphasis on that.
Far Cry 6: Invasion
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon showed what a futuristic Far Cry game could look like and one of Far Cry 5’s DLC packs is set on Mars, so why not combine the two ideas and shift time to a reality where humanity is no longer the world’s apex predator? In this iteration, the world has been ravaged by alien forces that have almost completely wiped out mankind. You would play as one of its last hopes, desperately searching for other humans to recruit and fight back against the alien forces. While there would still be plenty of opportunities to survive in the wild, the biggest battles with the best gear could be found in dilapidated cities, where the alien presence is at it strongest.
Bold move – A four-person co-op experience with scalable difficulty
Far Cry 5 is the first time the franchise has allowed players to play through an entire game via co-op. We’d love to see Far Cry continue to build on its co-op component and allow us to team up with up to four people to fight back against overwhelming odds, with difficulty that would scale depending on how many people are in your party. These aliens would be the greatest challenge of any Far Cry game to date, towering masses of monstrous destruction who would require the best laid plans to defeat. Parts gathered from these larger than life encounters could yield rare materials used to craft powerful alien weapons and tech that would make the next encounter a bit easier, but they will take everything in your standard arsenal to take down. These aren’t the kind of enemies to tackle alone. After all, they have almost eradicated humanity; to overcome the brink of extinction, you’re going to want to have all the help you can get.
Far Cry 6: On The Bayou
We know the series just explored America, but there are numerous ecosystems that could make for a great Far Cry game. The swamplands of the South play home to a variety of dangers, especially when vicious alligators thrive in the muddy waters that limit your movement. Far Cry games excel whenever there is some psychedelic, supernatural force at play, so what could be better than an environment rooted voodoo culture? Well, we have an idea.
Bold Move – Voodoo that you do
Instead of facing off against a supernatural threat, you become the supernatural threat. This story could focus around the player as they seek the wisdom of voodoo priests and priestesses to save someone they love. Along with a smaller selection of weaponry (which should include something like Mafia III’s exploding voodoo dolls), dabbling in the dark arts allows you to wield certain spells and incantations against enemies and solve puzzles. But be warned, using these powers could lead to madness and you can never be sure which witch doctor you can trust.
Far Cry 6: Medieval
Far Cry Primal proved that the franchise can travel back in time, so why not take a jaunt back to the Middle Ages? You would play as a knight tasked with exploring and conquering new lands for the sake of expanding your lord’s kingdom. You could choose how much or little armor to wear while exploring the wilds. Like Primal, we imagine that most of the combat for this would be melee focused.
Bold move – Build a fortress for thy liege
Rather than hunting wildlife to upgrade your gear, the emphasis would be on capturing enemy fortresses. Typically, one of the more fun activities in Far Cry games, conquering enemy encampments and claiming them as your own would do more than make them fast-travel points. Instead, this would be the primary mechanic for earning better gear. Fortresses could expand your kingdom and allow you to acquire better items, weapons, and armor throughout the game, adding a healthy dose of Middle-earth: Shadow of War into your Far Cry experience.
Far Cry 6: Down Under
We’re actually surprised that Far Cry hasn’t already made its way to Australia considering all the dangerous wildlife unique to that continent. Granted, it may be difficult to make a desert world compelling for eight to twelve hours, but if any series is capable, it would be Far Cry. Much like the extreme cold in our Russia concept, the climate could be a huge part of the survival element here.
Bold move – One hell of a hangover
As in the beginning of Far Cry 3, you play a young tourist looking to find adventure after graduating college. You try peyote and start the game going through a Far Cry psychedelic experience. When you come to, you wake up naked in the desert with an incredible thirst and a fear that night will soon be upon you. You must do whatever it takes to survive the harsh wilderness and hostile natives while piecing together the events that led you to this point as you try to make it back towards civilization with your humanity intact.
Far Cry 6: Samurai
In another period piece, this would transport players to late 12th century Japan during the rise of the samurai. You play a young warrior learning their ways and must complete some sort of pilgrimage before your training is complete. If you survive your journey and return, you will become a samurai warrior and may aid your clan in the battles to come.
Bold move – A Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed Crossover
If we can get a Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed crossover, why not take two of Ubisoft’s most successful franchises and mash them together? It would probably have to be some sort of DLC where the samurai meets and/or battles against an assassin, but we’d love to see a game where these two duke it out. Oh wait, that’s For Honor …
Bolder move – A Far Cry/Assassin’s Creed/For Honor Crossover Extravaganza
For our thoughts on the most recent Far Cry, check out our review of Far Cry 5 and some of the craziest things to do in Hope County. What would you like to see from the next Far Cry game? Let us know in the comments below!