Summary
As far as AAAfirst-person shootersare concerned, theFar Cryseries is among the oldest still in active development. First released in March 2004 (making the series officially two decades old now), and since then has had six main releases and seven spin-offs of varying scale. Many of these titles are beloved by a wide range of gamers, while others have received a fair amount of criticism for one reason or another.
A common one as of late is the series' lack of innovation and overreliance on a tired formula. While earlier games in the series likeFar Cry 2have been noted for their fresh ideas and mechanics,Far Cry 6has been accused of failing to break the mold in any meaningful way, leading many to speculate as to what Ubisoft may do forthe upcomingFar Cry 7to keep the franchise from stagnating any further. With many a rumor abounding as to what this means for the series, here are a few potential ways that the series might play with its formula in future titles.
1More Choices And Branching Paths
Putting Narrative Control In The Player’s Hands
Far Crygames have always beenlinear narrative gameswhere the player follows a set path, save for one or two choices at the very start or very end of the game. A great example of this isFar Cry 4’s alternate ending in which the player just waits ten minutes at the beginning until they are cleared of all wrongdoing.
The next game could take this idea and expand upon it greatly, adding all sorts of narrative-shifting choices to various points during the story, each having a branching effect rather than simply changing something about the ending (although that would also be nice). At the very least, this would give players more of an incentive for repeat playthroughs.
2Deeper Skill Trees
Player-Directed Strengths And Weaknesses
Skills have been toyed with in theFar Cryseries but never to an extreme extent. Generally, the player gets a perk that gives them a new perk. There hasn’t ever really been “skill specializing” of any kind, where the player chooses a specific role to play.
Imagine being able to prioritize stealth skills at the cost of health and armor, or specialize in heavy weapons skills but sacrifice speed. Moving away from the player being a jack of all trades in favor of solidrole-building mechanicsthat enforce clear strengths and limitations could really serve to spice up the gameplay of theFar Cryseries.
3Seasons And Environmental Changes
Real-time Seasonal Changes That Affect The Game World
One of the rumors floating around forFar Cry 7is that it will implement a time limit tocomplete the main storyfor the player. This is something other games have done in the past, such asSystem Shock, for example. It is not known how long this time limit will be (or if it’s a sure thing). However, an interesting companion mechanic to this could be seasonal changes that affect the map if there’s a long enough in-game time limit (i.e. 30 real hours translating to three in-game months).
Rivers could freeze in the winter, revealing new paths and locations, for example. This serves as an indication to the player of the passage of time in a very tangible way, and may even impact both their ability to complete the story in the allotted time and how they choose to do it.
4Dialogue Options
Would Greatly Enhance The Ability To Engage With Characters
Cyberpunk 2077showed that a fully voiced character is not necessarily a hindrance to the idea of having dialogue choices in an open-world FPS. This matters becauseFar Cryhas actually experimented with the silent protagonist concept, but it was met with a rather negative reception, and rightfully so.
Far Crygames usually feature a whole host of colorful characters and not being able to appropriately respond to them can often leave the player feeling robbed of the ability to truly engage with or challenge them. Adding dialogue options alongside a voiced character prevents this problem from occurring entirely and can also play nicely with the idea ofexpanded narrative choice.
5Weapon Condition & Other Survival Mechanics
Taking A Look At The Series' Past To Reinvigorate Its Future
Far Cry 2is one of the most beloved games in the series to this day, and one of the reasons for this is its commitment tosurvival-style game design. Players can not only get sick with diseases, their weapons degrade over time to the point that they will explode in their hands, but not before their stats fall off a cliff.
These are examples of great mechanics that newer games in the series have completely forgotten about in favor of a more arcade-like experience.Far Cry 7should bring these mechanics back and expand upon them for modern gaming audiences to create a fresh experience.
