After some leaks earlier this week, Far Cry 6 got a proper reveal during today’s Ubisoft Forward event. It stars Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian) as the main villain, Anton, who is the ruthless dictator of a fictional small-island country heavily inspired by Cuba.
(It is also set in the modern day, which means that the young-kid-is-Vaas theory is (probably) dead.)
A new post on Ubisoft’s Blog revealed a lot of details about the upcoming open-world shooter. For starters, Far Cry 6 has been in development for over four years, and actually started development before Far Cry 5 was finished. And in an interview with GameSpot, narrative director Navid Khavari from Ubisoft Toronto explained that the team wanted to create a game focused on guerrilla warfare. So they chose to base their fictional island nation on Cuba, because according to him, “when you’re talking about guerrilla warfare, you go to Cuba.”
Yara is a small nation that’s not just another tropical island, something the series has already featured numerous times. For the first time in the Far Cry franchise, Far Cry 6 will feature large urban areas, alongside more familiar locales like farms and coastal villages. The largest of these urban areas is the capital city of Esperanza, the main target of the rebellion. According to Khavari, these new urban locations will allow for new gameplay and more verticality than seen in older Far Cry titles.
The island is also described as being “frozen in time.” In an interview with GameRant, Khavari explained that he spent a month in Cuba talking to guerrilla fighters and other locals. Cuba has long been cut off from the rest of the world due to economic and travel blockades. This had the effect of freezing time on the island, with cars from the ‘60s still driving around. This is also the case on Yara, where players will find themselves using weapons and gadgets that are nearly 50 years old.
Players will take on the role of Dani Rojas, who can be either male or female depending on what players choose, and who is a local of Yara. They join the guerrilla fighters to help overthrow Anton. Rojas will be voiced and will have more agency than previous Far Cry player characters.
Sadly, for folks out there hoping that this is a prequel to Far Cry 3, that’s not the case. Khavari explained that this game is set in the modern day. This would mean Anton’s son, Diego, can’t possibly be Vaas, the infamous villain from Far Cry 3. This also seems to imply that the theory that all Far Cry games are set in the same universe is no longer true, as Far Cry 5 ended with (warning, Far Cry 5 spoilers ahead) a large nuclear war that devastated the world, which was then the setting of spin-off New Dawn.
There are still some questions left about how much time Far Cry 6 will actually spend humanizing the island’s locals, and if the developers are willing to tell a story of revolution and all the politics that comes with, without pulling punches. Considering the series’ checkered track record, I’m not so sure.
Far Cry 6 releases on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on February 18, 2021.