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Far Cry 6 Review: Unrevolutionary Caribbean Adventure Is Mighty Fun in Co-Op

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Far Cry 6 — releasing Thursday worldwide — is not a great game. It often retreads what have become Ubisoft clichés. But at times, it’s a really fun game. Far Cry 6 has moments of genuine inspiration where its combination of tropical paradise, co-op support, and new ideas fuse together to deliver something memorable. But between those admittedly enjoyable adventures, Far Cry 6 will also make you do a series of things that aren’t too different from one another. That sameness is pervasive. It feels like padding, though it’s nowhere near as bad as on Ubisoft’s other major franchise, Assassin’s Creed. That said, the world of Far Cry 6, Yara — a fictional Caribbean island that is heavily based on Cuba in many aspects — is the biggest you’ll ever see in a Far Cry game.

Yara is ruled by Antón Castillo, played by Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito, who was essentially elected on the promise to “Make Yara Great Again”. Castillo believes sacrifices are necessary to achieve that dream, so he begins ruling Yara with an iron fist. His 300,000-strong armed force Fuerzas Nacionales de Defensa (FND) controls the land, the skies, and the waters. No can get out, no can get in. The protagonist, a former FND officer Dani Rojas — playable as a woman (Nisa Gunduz) or a man (Sean Rey) — wants to do exactly that in the beginning. They just want to leave Yara for good. But after witnessing Anton’s horrors first hand, Dani joins the guerrilla movement Libertad that is trying to free Yara. It’s time for a revolution.

This is where the new ideas start to come in. After being a support studio on previous entries, and co-developing Far Cry 5 with Ubisoft Montréal, Ubisoft Toronto finally takes the lead on a Far Cry game for the first time. And for the first time since the first-person shooter franchise began, the protagonist in Far Cry 6 has a face. Not only do you see them in cutscenes, you also see them in third-person view at friendly camps. Given that Ubisoft took the pain of designing third-person view, I would have loved it if they allowed you to switch between first and third-person view in combat and driving too.

Why Far Cry 6 Player Character Dani Rojas Has a Face, a First for Far Cry

Since I’m on the topic of bias, personally I would’ve also loved it if Ubisoft put a bigger emphasis on Spanish casting. There’s too much English here, clearly because Far Cry 6 is designed primarily for English-speaking audiences. Yes, there is a Spanish dub option in the settings, but it doesn’t involve any of the main cast, including Esposito. I spent some time with the Spanish version, and though it feels more authentic and immersive — as with Japanese on Ghost of Tsushima — I ended up reverting to English because a) lip-sync and b) I can’t spoil Esposito’s face and acting with a dubbed voice.

Far Cry 6 combat

The goal on Far Cry 6 is to overthrow Castillo and his friends who control various parts of Yara. Along the way, you will to have form alliances aka do the bidding of three major factions that have a lot of influence among the commoners of Yara. Far Cry 6 narrative director Navid Khavari noted that this was a deliberate story choice, how in a revolution every side doesn’t want the same thing and their approaches don’t always align.

As for your combat approach, Far Cry 6 allows you to choose between the quiet stealth way or go out all guns blazing. I’m glad that it allows the user to pick and doesn’t force you into one or the other. You can make your way into mission area in a variety of ways too. You can take a boat and sneak in from under a fort. Zip line and swing in from the sides. Rappel and climb from another front. Or just drive through the front gates.

Tanks can be deadly in Far Cry 6
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

That said, Far Cry 6 encourages you to scout from high ground before bursting in. Using your phone, you can mark enemies and get a sense of what you’re up against. There are new enemy types in Far Cry 6, drawn from the fact that you’re not dealing with rogues like before but a full-fledged armed force at Castillo’s disposal. In addition to the standard riflemen and snipers, there are FND officers with varying ranks who can boost morale (read: stats), bring in reinforcements, and even call in airstrikes. Medics can help injured soldiers and revive them if they are bleeding to death. And engineers will plant turrets or trigger EMPs that will disable your vehicle. You know, they work like a unit. The FND also use shields, animals, tanks, alarm systems, and trip wires — by scouting, you know what can be disabled.

Far Cry 6 weapons

To deal with all these threats, Far Cry 6 gives you access to special weapons in addition to a range of standard weapons. At any point, you can have four weapons in the weapon wheel: a sidearm and three primary weapons. For the latter, you can pick between rifles, snipers, shotguns, and Resolver weapons.

Drawn from Cuba’s make-do-with-what-you-have Resolver way of life, Far Cry 6 lets you unlock a bunch of unique handcrafted guns: a flamethrower, a crossbow, a riot shield, silent nail gun, and a poison gun that turns enemies on each other. On top of all that, Far Cry 6 has “Supremo” backpacks that are like an additional super weapon. They offer guided missiles, an explosive ring, EMP pulse generator, or a rage booster that turns you into a mini-Hulk. It all feels very Just Cause-y, though it’s going even further with the zaniness, I must admit.

Far Cry 6 Is All About Cuba, but Yara Is Not Cuba

When you use Supremos, Far Cry 6 briefly switches into third-person view to show you how the backpack functions. But that’s the only time you’ll see third-person during combat on Far Cry 6. More importantly, I would’ve appreciated a bit of manual control for Supremos. On one occasion, when there was a plane flying across in the sky, the backpack automatically locked onto the plane rather than the anti-aircraft installation that I was trying to target.

Gunplay is quite satisfying on Far Cry 6. You will grow into it, I believe, because you start off with weak weapons that give you the feeling you’re not entirely in control. But it gets better fairly quickly, as you unlock more powerful rifles with better scopes and other weapon mods.

Resolver weapon in Far Cry 6
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

All this equipment and weapon variety is important to Far Cry 6 because Ubisoft Toronto has ditched the RPG-style skill trees that were present in some of its predecessors. Though you still earn XP and level up, you won’t get any points that unlock new abilities. Those buffs have been transferred to the armour and clothing you put on. As you make your way across Yara, you will find new gloves, trousers, masks, and chest pieces that will dictate what kind of benefits you get. Weapon modding allows you to pick between various ammo choices — some are good against others but poor elsewhere. You can discover this when you’re scouting. Of course, headshots are headshots as always though (I had a lot of fun with this). You can also insta-kill by using a bow, or sneaking up to them.

Far Cry 6 vehicles and amigos

You can also kill enemies using the vehicles available in Far Cry 6. You’ve tanks, helicopters, planes, and cars and boats with turrets. (You can use all of them to get from point A to point B as well, in addition to horses which are back in Far Cry 6 and quite enjoyable.) Though you’ve to be careful how and where you use them. The FND has anti-aircraft installations across Yara. Wade into an area with one and you will invariably be shot down. If you jump out in time, you can deploy a parachute or wingsuit — the latter is especially fun — to land safely.

You can destroy the anti-aircraft guns. But as you cause chaos in Far Cry 6, your “heat” meter will rise. The maximum heat level is “wanted”, which brings in the FND special forces. But during my playtime, they didn’t pose a bigger threat or anything weirdly. My Xbox game stats tell me I shot down a bunch of special forces, but I don’t recall anything different or tougher from the ones I was already killing.

All You Need to Know About Far Cry 6

To participate in the mayhem, you can also bring in an animal companion. The Fangs for Hire system returns as “Amigos” on Far Cry 6. Amigo choices include an alligator, dogs, and even a rooster. They will help you in combat by attacking or distracting enemies — this also feeds into the stealth or all-out approach. Amigos aren’t that helpful though honestly, and they seem like a thing that exists to sell toys and generate buzz on social media. I mean, that’s already happening with Chorizo, the wheelchair weiner dog that’s one of the Amigo options.

Since Amigos follow you everywhere, it results in hilarious scenarios at times. While dogs can get in alongside you in cars, alligators will follow your vehicle endlessly. They become weirdly inaccessible at times — not reappearing even after you try to call them back.

The alligator amigo Guapo in Far Cry 6
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

Far Cry 6 co-op

Far Cry 6 currencies

There are four in-game currencies in Far Cry 6: depleted uranium, Yaran pesos, Moneda, and Far Cry Credits.

Depleted uranium is found at army bases and anti-aircraft installations. It is needed to unlock more Supremo backpacks and Resolver weapons.

Yaran pesos is found on dead soldiers and in loot. You can use it to buy gear, weapons, and intel from double agents.

Moneda can be used to purchase unique weapons at a store.

Far Cry Credits come with pre-orders and special editions. You can also buy it with real money, an egregious practice that Ubisoft continues despite charging Rs. 4,000 or more for games upfront. Far Cry Credits can be used on the in-game store to buy cosmetics and more.

But dogs don’t fit in always too, depending on the vehicle and the number of amigos. That brings me to co-op.

Like previous entries, Far Cry 6 supports co-op across the entirety of its campaign. I wish Ubisoft also provided this opportunity with its other major franchises, Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs. Every game is more fun with friends, naturally. You get support during missions — I loved taking down a pair of soldiers at the same time with a friend — but you can also just have a good time around Yara. In a car, one can drive and the other can handle the turret. Jump into a helicopter, with one person flying and firing missiles, and the other as a gunner. Or heck, you can even get into a motorbike with a sidecar and have your own Sholay moment in Far Cry 6.

Playing co-op also helps you earn Moneda, an in-game currency that you can only get via co-op and special operations. There are a couple of niggles with co-op support though. You can’t access a vehicle’s additional controls like the radio or missiles. Additionally, you can’t go too far from your partner in co-op — unlike The Division 2 (also from Ubisoft) where there were no limitations. And sadly, there’s no support for cross-platform play. But it does offer cross-gen co-op support, on par with Watch Dogs: Legion and The Division 2.

Far Cry 6 missions and more

Thanks to the largest Far Cry map ever, Far Cry 6 has a lot of story missions to offer. As I pointed out earlier, some feel repetitive: travel to a place, kill everyone there, and you’re done. Some missions also quickly fell behind my rank. Though initially my level seemed to be falling behind what was required, eventually it was ahead of the missions available to me. I would’ve liked a The Division-type mechanic that ensured some quests were always at my level. Being level 7 and doing a level 3 mission is not very appealing.

Co-op horseriding in Far Cry 6
Photo Credit: Ubisoft

But there are other missions in Far Cry 6 that put a smile on your face. An early mission called Fire and Fury is scored to the famous revolution song “Bella Ciao”. No, it’s not called ‘that Money Heist song’. There’s another mission that feels like it belongs in a Bond film, except it would have been perfect if Ubisoft had the right sense to make it take place at night.

If you’re not in the mood for missions, Far Cry 6 has side activities on offer too. You can spend your time and money fishing, buying bait and reeling in the cash with the fish you catch. You can go hunting for treasure or big game. There’s also time trial racing that involves everything from horses to hovercraft. Neither of them are particularly special though — and I ended up being drawn back into the story…

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Returnal PC Review: Eternal Awakenings on a Lovecraftian Planet

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Returnal might have struggled to wow gamers after its initial reveal as a PS5 exclusive, but it amassed a niche following when some gameplay emerged online. Finnish developer Housemarque faced a few challenges: for one, it was a less-known studio trying to sell an original IP for a full $70 — competing against a pool of well-established AAA creators that anyone could blindly trust. Furthermore, in its original marketing campaign, Sony portrayed the game as a generic action shooter, where all you do is run around and kill aliens. While that is true to an extent, its highly addictive roguelike DNA was made clear a bit later — ultimately turning heads. Joining hands with Climax Studios, Returnal’s frenzied bullet-hell action now heads to PC, with some tweaks for a new audience.

The game opens in a rather abrupt fashion, setting you among the stars as deep space voyager Selene Vassos. Steering her ship into the eye of a cyclone, she approaches the forbidden planet Atropos to investigate a mysterious signal called “White Shadow.” Unfortunately, things go awry and she crashlands on the surface, overgrown with exotic vegetation and strewn with the ruins of an ancient Xeno-type civilisation. Barebone introductions are a hallmark of roguelike titles, giving you only just enough information to get going, as the larger narrative unfurls through repeated runs.

You see, Selene is stuck in a bizarre, infinite time loop, in which every death brings her back to the crash site and scrambles her brain a little. In fact, our journey in Returnal starts right in the middle of one, but that isn’t conveyed directly. By exploring the world and retrieving Scout logs (audio recordings) left by your former selves, you slowly peel apart the layers of the mystery. If anything, Selene’s hazy memory serves as a tool to immerse you, by feeding exposition in a less obvious manner. “I don’t remember recording that,” she says at one point, closing the gap between the character and the player’s mentality. Both start on a similar, relatable note with scant knowledge of the situation they’re in.

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With no dramatic build-up but loads of questions, Returnal gets straight into the action with zero hand-holding. Selene is pitted against an array of door-to-door levels, where both the environment and the hostile aliens within them are randomised upon subsequent deaths and runs. While roguelikes commonly have an isometric or top-down view, Housemarque has shaken things up by presenting Returnal in a third-person shooter format. Not only is it visually unique, but the design serves as a gateway for mainstream gamers to get a taste of this niche genre. Even with the pivot, the developer has retained its core bullet-hell philosophy from past titles such as Nex Machina and Matterfall — urging you to time jumps and dashes against a barrage of brightly glowing projectiles. It’s tough, and you will die a bunch of times before getting the hang of it. Don’t feel bad about that, because a bunch of story elements are tucked within those death scenes as well.

Gameplay is clearly the highlight here, with Atropos’ ever-changing landscape providing fresh scenarios that keep each run exciting and give you new challenges to overcome. The rules are simple. You start each run with your base weapons and go adventuring across the randomly generated dungeons, killing enemies, looting items, and finding upgrades, before eventually making it to the bosses who grant access to the next biome. Die somewhere along the way, and you’re sent back to the very beginning with an empty inventory. The back-and-forth trips to unravel each mystery can get quite mind-numbing, especially if you lack patience. Returnal counters this sense of drudgery through its frantic gunplay, which always keeps you moving, and the experience is elevated by an ever-present cosmic horror aesthetic.

Atropos thrives with unforgiving beasts that are randomised at the start of each run
Photo Credit: Housemarque

Running through the first couple of rooms in the Overgrown Ruins, Housemarque’s emphasis on speed is instantly noticeable. Selene is extremely agile and has no stamina limitations, letting her manoeuvre and change directions constantly. Her standard movement speed is much like sprinting in most other action games, but Returnal also punishes you for relying on it too much. Unlike roguelikes such as Hades, looting in Returnal requires puzzle-solving skills, as some valuable upgrade items are stowed in hard-to-reach areas. Equipped with a jetpack, I could hop across complex platforms to reach my destination, but upon landing, I found this fast pace to be a hindrance, causing me to run off ledges or at times fall straight into the abyss. In the early stages, Selene can’t swim, so I kept rushing haphazardly into water bodies in pursuit of shiny loot, only to get injured. Some of this can be solved by upping the brightness, which makes terrain formations more visible. You’ll also unlock a grappling hook later, which lets you swing around and reach high areas.

The planet Atropos is full of unforgiving beasts, designed uniquely after the habitat they belong to. For instance, the forest biome is packed with celestial parasitic organisms, splashed in a Lovecraftian coat of paint. Meanwhile, desert areas such as the Crimson Wastes are cast in red with giant vertebrae pillars, and are inhabited by formidable enemies such as hard-shelled crustaceans and floating squids, reminding me of the Caelid region from Elden Ring. The barren foundations of the Derelict Citadel, however, are endlessly patrolled by automatons that fire lasers. It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?

Tentacles are a recurring theme, with their bioluminescent strands firing waves of neon orbs towards you. While the ambushes were hectic at first, I soon found it easy to just shoot twice, dash in, and slice the tentacles with my Atropian Blade. Repeat this across levels and you’ll be treated to glorious explosions, with the severed appendages wiggling about on the ground. Some particle effects might cause heavy stutters on low-end PCs, so I’d recommend messing around with the slew of graphics options available in Returnal on PC. It also has an FOV (field-of-view) slider — a new PC-exclusive feature — that helps adjust how much of your surroundings can be seen and need to be rendered on screen.

Returnal PC System Requirements and Features Revealed

Tentacles are a recurring theme in Returnal
Photo Credit: Housemarque

Just when you think you’ve mastered combat, Returnal surprises you with new threats that test your ability to adapt. There are airborne creatures that close distances, teleporting corpses that send out fungal spores, and even minibosses that serve to make your life hell — and this is in just the first biome! Forgetting my learned tactics, I began making decisions on the fly — panic dodging, missing shots, and wrongly timing skill checks, which led to longer reloads. As fights grew in intensity, all I could think of was somehow zigzagging my way to healing items, hoping I didn’t get shot in the back. The highly devastating Alt Fire mode, which every firearm you come across has, saved my sorry butt so many times, inflicting big chunks of damage that made quick work of minibosses. You can lob a grenade, shoot a flurry of homing bullets, and deal continuous shock damage for crowd control — akin to Winston from Overwatch. There’s also one weapon that fires tentacular creatures that latch onto foes and deplete their health over time.

Having lived through all that, it was time to reap rewards. In addition to looting upgrade items from chests and random areas on the map, Returnal has an in-game shop. Here, you can exchange Obolites collected during gameplay for single-use consumables, enhancements, and traps that give you an extra edge in heated moments. Some rooms might provide higher-level guns, or lead you to purple-hued malignant items that inflict a negative effect. Think of this as a high-risk high-reward trade, where you’re granted a decent perk but get a debuff as well. Assess whether the pros outweigh the cons, and make informed decisions for the run ahead. Try not to overthink it, as these ‘malfunctions’ can be cleansed by completing specific objectives or by spending Ether, a rare Atropian resource. That said, I’d recommend saving the latter since it has a more beneficial use — respawning — more on that later :). Ether also happens to be the only item that stays in your inventory after deaths.

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You can exchange Obolites for upgrade items and consumables at shops
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

It’s easy to get mesmerised by the bosses’ appearance, but try not to get carried away as a simple mistake could cost you an entire run. No matter whether you face the three-armed Phrike in the chasms or the airborne Ixiom atop the mountains of the Crimson Wastes, your strategy will more or less have to remain the same. Think of fighting Sigrún in God of War (2018), where everything you’ve learnt from past battles culminates in this supreme moment. That said, the boss fights in Returnal do not feel like a test of endurance. Sure, they have three phases each, but bosses’ attack patterns change accordingly — switching between relentless barrages of orbs, laser beams, and spiralling bullets that are guaranteed to test your mettle.

I’d gotten way too comfortable with spamming Selene’s dash ability, abusing its brief invincibility window to cheese past boss attacks. The game recognised this and in response, integrated some energy ring/ wall attacks that demanded I leap over them while simultaneously trying to avoid incoming projectiles. It’s safe to say that I relied on my muscle memory too much and died pretty quickly.

The boss fights in Returnal are unforgiving, demanding timed dodges and jumps
Photo Credit: Housemarque

However, I wasn’t dispirited. Yes, I kept losing my items. Yes, I choked at some pivotal points in fights. But there was something so alluring about memorising attack patterns and going through the loop over and over again until I perfected my runs. If you don’t feel the same way or can’t afford to no-life this game, you just need to be lucky enough to reach Reconstructors scattered across the biomes. Remember when I told you to save Ether earlier? By exchanging six of these tokens at designated sites, you can activate a checkpoint. If you die later on, you will respawn at the Reconstructor without being penalised by way of lost weapons, upgrades, and progress. It’s essentially an extra life. Also, since Returnal’s PC port carries over the co-op mode from the original PS5 version, you can summon friends or random players online to help ease your journey.

Reconstructors can be used to respawn in exchange for Ether
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

Throughout repeated runs, you’ll also encounter a mysterious, out-of-place house, nested within the Overgrown Ruins. Echoing the vibes of Hideo Kojima’s P.T., you’ll find horror mini-games that serve as fragmented storytelling devices, dropping clues to Selene’s past and what led her to embark on this interstellar trip. It’s super cryptic — the kind of challenging narrative that demands you come up with interpretations and piece things together. My favourite kind of storytelling! Adding to the immersion is a sudden shift to a first-person perspective, where instead of a chest POV, — as seen in other FPS games — the camera is enclosed within Selene’s space helmet. While it feels disorienting at first, Housemarque’s goal was to foster a greater sense of intimacy, and the claustrophobia of that effect is further improved by masked breathing noises and grunts. Thanks to support for Dolby Atmos audio, the right equipment could make Returnal’s sound design come alive.

Returnal PC review: Verdict

Returnal is a test of the human capacity to adapt and persevere, fuelled by a relentless stream of Lovecraftian horror. Mixing roguelike mechanics with the wonders of exploration, every biome on planet Atropos offers fresh challenges through randomised gameplay design, plus satisfying gunplay. The cryptic storytelling might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it never failed to keep my attention, making Selene an intriguing protagonist. There were a few performance dips here and there, but that’s…

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