In two weeks time, Ubisoft will release its next instalment in the Far Cry series; the eagerly anticipated Far Cry Primal. Now if you’ve been living under a rock for at least a year or deprived of any internet service, you wouldn’t of heard the Far Cry is based in prehistoric times and has no guns. Zero. Nada. No “bang bang”.
Now when the concept for the game was first “leaked”, it was hard to Fathom how you could have a modern game without any of “America’s most loved and equally hated item of purchase from their local Walmart”. (Guns for those of you that didn’t get my poor attempt at political satire). But regular readers of the Blog will know that I have had a real affinity for games which have delivered us something a little different and out of the norm; and I think Primal will tick this box as well.
Primal’s main protagonist which the player will control is Takkar, son of the Wenja tribe. Taking a bit of a side step from the normal Far Cry structure to a game where you maybe looking to take over or save an area from an oppressive regime, Primal looks to make you into a world builder rather than destroyer. Without spoiling the plot too much, it falls to Takkar to rebuild his village and community in the harsh environment of around 10,000 years BC. Facing hostile tribes and hostile environments, the narrative will provide the player with the opportunity to develop his tribe by focusing on key areas of priority. Side missions will mean that you can unlock more facets to your villages and in turn increasing its population and providing more opportunities to gain more “specialists” to your village. You can see the cycle…
Now it needs to be noted that Primal isn’t the first game that is based in pre-modern civilisation, but it isn’t one of many. Talk about previous prehistoric games.Now it has to be noted that Far Cry Primal isn’t the only game that’s going back to pre-historic roots. In actual fact after a period of wilderness for pre-technological games, this could actually open the flood gates for more games in this sort of genre. Horizon Zero Dawn is readying itself in the wings to be Primal’s direct competitor. It should be noted that although based in a prehistoric era, the dinosaurs in zero dawn are actually artificial.
The brief snippets I have seen of the game do use elements of projectiles and types of guns so although a direct competitor in ‘genre’ I feel like that Far Cry Primal will probably give a more authentic experience. A bit of a sweeping statement, when the fantastical imagination of the game means you are able to take control of animal spirits to use some of the greatest land and air predators (will we get some for the Sea?) to your advantage; so take that statement with a pinch of salt. The implementation of the animal mechanics means that depending on the types of missions you can choose an avatar you believe most applicable; wolf, bear, owl etc. These can all be upgraded individually to the point where Primal is able to negate its lack of vehicles by allowing you to ride your sabre tooth tiger into battle. Admit it- you just got a little bit excited by that!
As modern day consoles (both current and last gen) have developed with technology, so has the gaming markets desire and need for more fanciful concepts of weaponry; see Call of Duty’s jump suits or even some of the Tesla based weapons in The Order: 1886. Yes I know there are successful franchises that can place you in varying times in history (Assassin’s Creed) or games which can take you fantastical Sci-Fi universes, but from what we have been teased so far it looks like Far Cry Primal has completely ripped the core reliance on technology and guns away which I find intriguing. How are they going to feed the needs of the masses without something going BOOM every 30 seconds? Ostentatious? Ambitious? Or just outright arrogant?
Either way it looks like we will be getting a game which seems to be loyal to the principles of the Far Cry universe, yet in a complete world of its own. Go get ’em Takkar.
