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Tech

'Far Cry Primal' Is Too Much of a Good Game

Ubisoft announces a new "Far Cry" set in the Stone Age, but I'm already up to my eyeballs in "Far Cry."
Image: Ubisoft

I love the Far Cry games, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Today, Ubisoft officially announced that the first-person shooter series, which is known for giving players a great degree of freedom in how they want to take on enemies in exotic locales, is getting another game set in the Stone Age.

Whereas previous games took players to locations based the Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Himalayas, Far Cry Primal will take players to 10,000 BC, where they'll be part of a hunter-gatherer group, taking on wooly mammoths and other tribes.

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To Ubisoft's credit, this is an original idea, though not as bold as some of the ideas the company suggested in survey earlier this year, which included a Far Cry set in a Jurassic Park-style location, a Spaghetti Western theme, and more.

Still, there aren't many games set in the Stone Age, and the notion of removing the guns and vehicles that were at the center of the series this whole time, could lead to some interesting, new experiences. On the other hand, like many other Far Cry fans, I'm still satiated from putting over 40 hours into Far Cry 4 (2014), which itself was not all that different from Far Cry 3 (2012).

Image: Ubisoft

Of course, another reason Far Cry Primal is a good idea is that Ubisoft spent a lot of money creating the technology for Far Cry 3 and 4, and it can use it to create another game that fills in the gap between those games and the inevitable Far Cry 5, that Ubisoft is probably building right now from scratch with a new game engine.

Basically, Far Cry Primal sounds like a stopgap game. Under the right conditions, that works out really well. One of the best things to come out of Far Cry 3 was Blood Dragon, a short, $15 game that reimagined Far Cry 3 as a cheesy '80s action movie. Far Cry Primal sounds like it's doing the same thing by reimagining Far Cry 4 as a prehistoric adventure, and while Ubisoft hasn't announced a price at the time of writing, it looks like it's being billed as a full, $60 game.

That sounds like too much for another twist on the same thing, especially since I'm already up to my eyeballs in Far Cry.