Far Cry 6

It's a reskinned Far Cry 3, so the diminishing returns are ever so felt here. BUT it's an improvement over 4 and 5 for the most part, for being the biggest Far Cry map to date, and the prettiest, with a nice ecosystem and FINALLY the return of rain. The character models look their best, particularly Giancarlo Esposito (clearly where all the budget went lol) and there's a dizzying amount and variety of weapons (granted once you explore and do lots of the side stuff). And being able to play on a system that allows the game to run at 60fps is definitely welcome. Still a couple of gamestopping hiccups here and there and the NPC are as dumb as always.

It also does something a little more fresh with the story; rather than playing a mostly abroad character arriving at the wrong place at the wrong time and then taking on a villain you barely know, you play a character who lives on the land you play in (a Cuban-inspired island called Yara) and is gradually thrown out by a known fascist dictator, while deciding to take back the land as a guerilla fighter. Mostly straightforward stuff and without a twist ending as big as 5, but also more consistently ambitious and triumphant.

Plus the game has the 2nd best personality in all of Far Cry (number 1 being Blood Dragon), the Cuban beach vibes, music, better acknowledgement of the 21st century with characters finally having smartphones, and the best protag who finally has a voice again and can be played as male or female. Playing as female Dani was great (and a true first for Far Cry since in 5 you could be female but it was a silent protag), as her fun personality stands out. Loved her singing to some of the songs on the car radio.

It's just a shame that the reskin formula is what Ubisoft is sticking with here. I get the "don't fix what isn't broken" mentality and that they do what works for their business, but as a player when you're playing a new game that plays almost exactly like the old game from roughly 10 years ago, with virtually the same assets, painting over it so many times won't hide the rather dated mechanics, despite the bits of quality of life updates thrown in. Far Cry (along with the Assassin's Creed series I suspect when I get around to it) will always be a bargain bin game to me unless they can finally revamp their models. But here I am still buying them, so maybe that's precisely their intention, for long time players who know what they are getting into.

Good game, great villain. Also good lead character and side characters. Liked the city and idea of dictatorship being succeeded.

Very fun but wanted it finished near the end.

The gameplay is the same as Far Cry 3-4-5, just better paced and filled with over-the-top gadgets. There might be nothing really new, but I had fun throughout also thanks to the three-and-a-half-year gap since my last Far Cry experience (I skipped "New Dawn" as it smelled bad). I particularly liked the treasure hunts, which provide a few different things to do, like solving simple puzzles or exploring hidden areas. There are some RPG elements, but they hardly influence the gameplay. It's all about finding the right piece of equipment and keeping your weapons upgraded.

The plot is as lazy as you would expect from a Far Cry game, but this might be the first time we have an actual protagonist and full-fledged cutscenes. Castillo is not as present as you would expect, but his appearances were usually alright, weird facial animations aside. I expected them to take the Diego storyline somewhere at the end, but unfortunately, nothing worth mentioning happens. Both characters felt kind of wasted.