BY REBECCA STOW

IT’S NUCLEAR BLAST!

Far Cry New Dawn is set 17 years after “The Collapse”, the nuclear war which ended last year’s Far Cry 5.

Thankfully, New Dawn still operates as its own game complete with a vast open-world map and survivors in need of liberation.

Hostiles known as the Highwaymen prowl around, attacking anyone in their way.

You travel across Hope County, liberating the captured and chipping away at the Highwaymen’s resources, fortresses and power. But it’s the world itself which will delight you first and foremost.

It’s built on the foundation of the Far Cry 5 map, so there is a sense of familiarity to each winding road or overgrown dirt track.

Following The Collapse certain areas are now inaccessible, and new locations have been opened up.

The war has left its mark on Hope County – huge expanses of forest have been burned to ash and the scorched earth is the only clue to what used to exist there.

Thankfully, a bloom of colour has returned to the world and, in places, Hope County is flush with exotic plants and animals.

To claim their land The Highwaymen graffiti any structures left standing with their signature neon mark. A striking visual seldom seen in end of the world scenarios.

Overall, New Dawn is a well-thought-out and enjoyable first-person shooter – its only let down a fairly mundane story that leaves the game feeling like a decent extension to Far Cry 5 rather than its own post-apocalyptic adventure.