FAR CRY NEW DAWN
Far Cry 5’s standalone sequel goes beyond the end of the world
Don’t you just hate it when the bad guy was right all along? We’ll throw up a spoiler warning now in case you’ve yet to finish Far Cry 5, but cult leader Joseph Seed has been teased as making a return in its standalone sequel Far Cry New Dawn. No, really, if you still haven’t seen that ending, stop reading now.
We know now that rather than the ending being one last Blissfuelled manipulation by the Father of Eden’s Gate, Hope County really did become scorched earth. In fact, all across America, bombs fell.
While Ubisoft keeps its cards close to its chest when it comes to the extent of Joseph Seed’s role in this followup, nearly two decades on from the ending of the previous game more than a few familiar faces re-emerge in a very different world.
Between colourful plumes of superbloom, two diametrically opposed factions take shape. Your Survivors, residents of the former Hope County and migrants from other parts of the US, have built a home base called Prosperity. Farming veggies for food and fuel in the form of ethanol, their respect for the land is not matched by the opposing Highwaymen.
Led by twins Mickey and Lou, the Highwaymen squeeze all they can from the land before upping sticks and doing it all over again somewhere else. They have chapters across all of what remains of America, and you’ll find plenty of their outposts scattered throughout Hope County. You have to liberate these, as you expect, but what you might not expect is that they don’t stay liberated if you leave them unattended. If the Highwaymen do muscle their way back into an outpost, it’ll be that much more difficult to retake.
OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY
The new expedition missions feature similar levels of escalating difficulty. Taking you to locales outside Hope County, they let you glimpse the state of the wider world. While they’re designed with co-op in mind, you can play them solo with help from a selection of Guns and Fangs For Hire. On our visit to Ubisoft we see a stealthy trip to an abandoned theme park on the lowest difficulty setting quickly go awry, but are assured that it is a far more intense story at the third and highest level.
And while we’d love to tell you all about Nick and Kim Rye’s grown-up daughter, or Nana the sharpshooting granny, you’ll have to wait. Truthfully, we wish we could tell you more about Timber the akita. Luckily for you, Far Cry New Dawn isn’t far off – it launches on the 15 February. Read our full preview of Far Cry New Dawn next issue, on sale 15 Jan.
NEARLY TWO DECADES ON, FAMILIAR FACES RE-EMERGE.