A good hero is essential for a video game. After all, players are the ones who control the protagonists and identify with them. That huge role shouldn’t overshadow the fact that a good villain is just as important. They’re the straw that stirs the drink. They’re gasoline that powers the engine.
If the villain fulfills that role, it drives the players and the plot forward. It helps give them a reason to play. Nowhere has this been more important than in the “Far Cry” series. It’s a franchise known for its bad guys from Vaas Montenegro to Pagan Min to Joseph Seed. They’ve all been memorable and they have driven the action for some of the most compelling scenarios.
For its latest entry, “Far Cry 6,” Ubisoft tapped actor Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad” and “The Mandalorian”) to play El Presidente Anton Castillo, the dictator of the fictional island nation of Yara. It’s a high-profile move that will likely pay off.
Players don’t get a real sense of his character from a clip or preview. They need to sit with the game and stew with him to capture a sense of his viciousness. In a preview event done remotely, I had chance to do just that, playing the first few hours of “Far Cry 6.”
SURVIVING THE NIGHT OF DEATH
The campaign begins with the end of the world in Yara, or at least, it feels that way as the locals experience what they call the Night of Death. Anton cracks down on dissidents, and as Dani Rojas, players have to flee with a friend named Lita. They have no weapons and they have to sneak by soldiers and tanks to get to a boat, where they can flee the country.
This shows some of “Far Cry 6’s” stealth elements, which have become a staple of the series. Crouching lets players move quietly. Dani can peek behind corners to scout and avoid being spotted. The protagonist, which players can choose to be male or female, will have to avoid spotlights and authorities. What’s notable is that even if they are spotted later in the campaign, Dani has about five seconds to quietly dispatch adversary without setting off an alarm.
Eventually, they reach the boat and persuade the captain to let a boy aboard. That child ends up being Anton Castillo’s son, Diego, and El Presidente manages to stop the vessel. He retrieves his child, and after saying he would release the boat, he orders his troops to kill everyone onboard. Yeah, ruthlessness is an understatement.
Anton is evil but Esposito plays him with a mesmerizing charisma. It left me with a surprising hatred that made the next step logical. Dani manages to survive on a beach of Isla Santuario along with a mortally wounded Lita. She tells Dani to find Libertad, the guerrilla fighters that she has been helping. They happen to have their headquarters on the island.
FIRST STEP OF A REVOLUTION
Revenge, a desire for freedom, a need to escape Yara, those are all the motivations swelling up inside the protagonist as the hero embarks on the first steps in the fight against the Castillo regime. At first, Dani just wants to leave, but as the young military dropout gets involved with Libertad and its leader Clara Garcia, the stakes ratchet up and the protagonist becomes more involved with the revolutionaries.
In terms of gameplay, “Far Cry 6” core loops remain intact. Players take on missions and they accomplish their objectives by scouting the area with a smartphone and marking enemies, alarms and potential trouble spots. After planning an attack, players have to execute by sneaking into a base and methodically dispatching adversaries or by hijacking a tank and blasting everything in sight. Both ways — stealth and brute force — work. That flexibility has always been a strength of the “Far Cry” series.
Ubisoft Toronto adds new elements to the franchise by giving players more of a loot shooter approach. Dani can don five pieces of gear that each have their own perks. Players can acquire them by completing missions, finding treasure boxes or shopping at a store. The helmets, chest pieces, pants, wrist items and shoes each have their own stats and perks. That means one set of gear could be great for stealth missions while another is better for straight-up assaults. Other armor pieces such as the Incendiary Set negates the effects of flames, making them invaluable during missions involving fire.
BRING THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB
On the offensive side, players will encounter several types of guns that they can be modify with scopes, different types of mags and muzzle breaks. Players have to scrounge around for resources to craft these upgrades, but once they’re on they can make weapons useful but not necessarily more powerful.
That’s because “Far Cry 6” changes how damage is dealt. Players will encounter enemies who are vulnerable to certain rounds and attacks. Some of Castillo’s minions will be wearing body armor and they’ll be vulnerable to armor-piercing rounds. Others will be strong to that ammo but weak to soft-target bullets that excel at piercing flesh. Players can carry three primary weapons on hand at a time, so it’s best to have a diversity of arms, ones that can handle any type of adversary they come across in a mission. A side arm is available if they run out of bullets and need to finish off an enemy real quick.
During my missions, I found out that it’s better to focus on finishing the objectives. Players should stay on mission and ignore the temptation to clear enemies from a camp or do more than the should, the chaos that players create often leads to unintended consequences and unexpected deaths. In one of missions, I had to burn down tobacco crops but I was distracted with killing every Yaran soldier in the facility. I wasted more time than was necessary slaughtering Castillos’ stooges rather than torching the plants. In “Far Cry 6,” backup appears to be tougher this time around unless you have heavy duty weaponry like a tank to lay waste to everything.
NEW WAYS TO MOVE
The other change to “Far Cry 6” comes in traversal. Yara and its island jungle landscape gives players plenty of opportunities to move around the world. Players get a grappling hook early on and they can use it to latch onto predetermined spots on cliffs and scale them. They’re also handed a parachute that they can use to drop into forts and other hard to reach areas.
The biggest change though is the Supremo, a specialized backpack made from spare parts that ex-spy master Juan Cortez can get his hands on. He teaches players how to craft mods and other items with the Resolver spirit. That’s the idea of MacGyvering fixes and upgrades to gear using the available scraps. Imagine crafting a make-shift motorcycle out of lawnmower engine and bike chains.
The Supremo is the embodiment of that idea. The first few versions are simple to use and acts as a portable mortar for Dani. But later on, the Supremo becomes more complex and it turns into a traversal tool. The Furioso model gives Dani something that resembles a double jump. It lets the character lurch upward after an initial leap. That opens up more avenues for platforming and puzzling solving for “Far Cry 6.” When players aren’t using the Supremo as a double jump device, they can use this version to rocket up mountain faces like an express elevator to the sky. Another version of the Supremo called Medico-Zona will let Dani self-revive and it rapidly heals teammates around the protagonist. It’s an ideal Supremo to switch into when playing co-op.
