FAR CRY PRIMAL
The road forward takes us far, far back
Go back in time to reinvent a modern series
Developer Ubisoft Montreal publisher Ubisoft price $ 60.95 available At Steam, Uplay, retail ubisoft.com/en-Au/game/far-cry-primal
HOLLINGWORTH: Far Cry 4, for all its fun moments and whacky badguy lines, really did seem to be pushing the formula too far into formulaic. The car chases were getting old, climbing towers to open territory was getting old, even the hunting was getting old. I can remember thinking to myself that I really would not be interested in Far Cry 5 if it kept finding new and exotic locations to have the same old firefights in.
Thankfully, Ubisoft seemed to be listening, and this… Far Cry: Primal, which is basically the same construction - a wandering hero must unite his people against a range of badguys, while claiming territory and generally killing his way to victory. And with the occasional drug-fuelled trip, because what’s Far Cry without getting catastrophically high on natural hallucinogens?
But what changes are the tools you get to interact with. Primal strips away the guns, the cars, and radios, and lands you square in 10,000BC, where the bow and arrow is the king of ballistics, and cave paints and drums the height of telecommunication. It’s a pretty classic elevator pitch - “It’s Far Cry, but with grunting and spears!” - but Ubisoft has managed to create quite a compelling first person spectacle that plays unlike any game before it.
WILKS: I have to say right off the bat that aside from perhaps Far Cry 2, Primal is my favourite game in the series so far. It does what a sequel should - take what is good about the series and stretch/tweak it in a way to extend the formula while still keeping the action fresh. The change of timeline does more than just switch up locations. It fundamentally changes the way you have to approach the game.
Weapons are limited to a few selections. Gone are the ranges of pistols, assault rifles, shotguns and the like from previous Far Cry games. Now the only weapons available are a bow, a spear, a club and some throwing knives (rather oddly called “shards”). While each of these weapons can be upgraded via the skill trees and crafting, their function remains the same. Bows are long range and fast but don’t hit that hard. Spears can be thrown for serious damage or used as a defensive melee weapon to keep enemies at arm’s length. The club is devastating in melee combat. The nature of the weapons means that you have to approach each combat carefully. Limited numbers of arrows and spears make ranges engagements tense. Melee combat is chaotic and brutal.
HOLLINGWORTH: And on top of that, a lot the weapons can now be lit, turning them into tools capable of not only causing more damage as you set enemies on fire, but on torching the environment itself. In fact, the fire mechanic feels almost as dangerous as Far Cry 2’s - more than once I’ve been wandering along at night with a lit torch, only to get in a fight and flail around with the thing, and then needing to dodge the ensuing conflagration. FIRE BAD! The new and limited weapon sets also place a premium on ammunition conservation, and recovery. You’ll want to track down every
animal you kill not just for its allimportant guts and meat, but also to recover arrows and spears. In fact, you can recover spears mid-fight from large animals like Mammoths, which makes for some pretty spectacular fights.
And yes, hunting and crafting are once again inextricably linked, but at least that makes a lot more sense in this setting. Not only do you need to hunt and gather to improve your weapons and carrying capacity, but this also feeds into another new aspect of Primal - building up your tribal base. As you build a new home for your tribe, the Wenja, you recruit new leaders, such as the crazy witch-doctor who’ll be leading you on the aforementioned mystical journeys; upgrading the dwellings of these NPCs in turn opens up new quests and skill options. This home base even comes under attack, and defending it is quite an intense encounter, as you see not just your allies of convenience, as in many other Far Cry games, attacked and killed, but rather your own people, your tribe.
And the witch-doctor is your gateway to possibly the game’s most entertaining new trick - animal control.
WILKS: Some people might be put off by the mystical elements of Primal, but I think they work great. Every type of animal in the game (aside from fish and chickens, though I haven’t actually tried to befriend them) can be tamed and used as a companion. Each has it own unique set of skills and combat parameters when used as a companion. Wolves are ferocious combat pets. Dhole (small wild dogs) are scavengers who can salvage meat and hides from animals, bears are goddamn giant bears. The taming mechanics are simple - craft the right bait and then do some mojo, but they add an extra level of collection to the game that is welcome. Hunting for rare or unique creatures and making friends with them is a lot of fun and often leads not only to discovery but to new gameplay avenues or options, like riding some beasts into combat, or using them for stealthy murder.
Even if you don’t go around petting every animal like me you’ll still have one near constant companion. One of the early story quests sees the player taming an owl. This own can be used to scout locations, dive bomb enemies and even carry the rather anachronistic bombs that can be crafted, dropping them from a great height on enemies.
HOLLINGWORTH: I really want to tame a mighty war-chicken now.
For all the changes, though there are a lot of classic elements to the game that are distinctly Far Cry. The hunting and gathering at least has more purpose now, and a rejigged inventory system makes it far less onerous to manage your various skins, bits of meat, and other special ingredients. But outpost attacks are also still in play, and while the new, stone-age combat mechanics freshen these encounters, they still play out largely the same.
If you like these aspects of the game, that’s a plus, but they do seem a little shoehorned in.
The environment is also full of the usual random encounters and sidemissions, from finding and collecting various hand-prints, to rescuing hapless Wenja from either of two main antagonist groups. And the wildlife seems a lot more aggressive, too - it was always more of a nuisance in previous games, as high-powered assault rifles are quite an antidote to pretty much anything, but in Primal your spears and
hunting and crafting are once again inextricably linked, but at least that makes a lot more sense
arrows can seem rather paltry against even simple wolves. It makes travel a lot more perilous.
The story, however, seems to be the most hackneyed part of the game. Once again, you’re the only one who can save your people; once again, you’ve got journey from A to B to get X and Y. The NPCs seem to be pretty much cookiecut from previous games - the plucky heroine, the mad doctor, and so on. Some scenes even play out almost shot for shot; maybe these are intended as homages, but often do we need to hide under a bridge to witness just how bad the badguys are?
It really doesn’t seem that Ubisoft’s storytelling is getting any better - but I may be missing the point.
WILKS: I don’t think you’re wrong. Primal does follow a very formulaic path when it comes to the story. You’re the chosen one with special powers who can save his people from the insane bad guy with an agenda. Ultimately I don’t think that matters too much. The world is what makes Far Cry: Primal great. The world itself feels fleshed out and, from the carefully constructed fake language to how aggressively the wildlife defends its territory. By keeping the open world and combat but limiting the tools with which players can approach it, Ubisoft has breathed new life into a series that was steadily in the process of becoming a parody of itself.
HOLLINGWORTH: I really can’t argue that, given the effort Ubisoft has gone to change up the franchise. On the one hand, I could be quite cynical and wonder if some Ubi exec sat back and saw the rise of games like Arc: Survival Evolved and the buzz about Horizons: Zero Dawn (admittedly on PS4 only), and thought now was the time for some stone-age fun. But even if that were the case, Far Cry: Primal does remain a compelling entry in the franchise, one that brings new challenges, refreshes old thrills, and still makes being elbow-deep in every animal you can catch-and-kill kinda fun. DAVID HOLLINGWORTH and DANIEL WILKS