Far Cry New Dawn: Official World Premiere Gameplay Trailer | Ubisoft [NA]
Who it Caters to
Sometimes you just want to play a game where freedom is the key, but you also need a story to follow. Well, the Far Cry franchise is perfect for that, and Far Cry New Dawn demonstrates that the same old formula is still current and compelling enough. 17 years after the nuclear explosion we saw at the end of Far Cry 5, we go back to Hope County just to be a part of the cruel battle between two factions: the Scavengers, led by Kim Rye, and the Highwaymen, led by the twins Mickey and Lou.
Playing as the Security Captain, we're a part of Thomas Rush's group, and so our mission is to join forces with the Scavengers and put an end to the twins' tyranny. However, before going all out war against these ladies we need to help rebuild the Scavenger's base, Prosperity, and gather enough resources and allies to carry out our plan. In the end, Far Cry New Dawn is a game with a pretty straightforward plot that serves as an excuse to raid enemy camps and kill a fair number of rebels, but you can lose yourself to exploration too!
What to Expect
Far Cry games are known for 2 things: having interesting plots (though not always are that well implemented), and being fun FPS games. Far Cry New Dawn is not an exception, plus this is a direct sequel to Far Cry 5, so it’s safe to say that if you enjoyed the previous entry, this is a game you must play just to see how the story ends. While other FPS games focus on WWII or sci-fi scenarios, Far Cry New Dawn is a post-apocalyptic sandbox that gives you enough things to keep you around in its open world, so you can go straight to the story missions or just spend your time doing side quests, fishing, hunting, or just killing everyone on sight. To be honest, Far Cry New Dawn is not a game with the potential to become a classic, but it will definitely give you dozens of hours of fun and violence.
Visuals
Far Cry New Dawn looks really good, but you can tell that it's not a game that aims for realistic graphics. Sure, you can go for the HD textures if you want to, but there's really no point at all when they don't make such a difference. The colorful graphics play great and really bring Hope County to life, but at the same time, this makes it easy to forget that a nuclear bombing took place not long ago. Is it just us, or do the greenery and abundant pink flowers seem contradictory when you also have mutated animals and radioactive zones? Weird, but unique enough to visually differentiate itself from other post-apocalyptic games, especially the Fallout saga.
Since we're back to Hope County you can expect the same impressive landscapes we saw in Far Cry 5, with a lot of Mad Max elements and buildings thrown into the mix. As for the NPC models, some animations feel clunky while others are on point. The only problem is that you'll get tired of seeing the same assets over and over again, which is nothing new to sandbox games or first-person shooters.
Sound, Music
New Dawn's soundtrack is easily one of the best in the franchise, and it perfectly reflects the game's vibe. The OST goes from some country and folk guitars to remember you this is Montana, to creepy industrial riffs, for example. This comes as no surprise when you know Tyler Bates (you may not know him, but you definitely know the Halloween movie theme, which he composed) is one of the 2 men behind the games' music, the other being John Swihart. Just like in other sandbox games involving car radios, you can also hear some licensed music while driving, with The Antwoord and Run The Jewels as the most popular bands in the tracklist.
The voice acting may feel too forced at times, but this is nothing new to Far Cry games, and one could even say it's made on purpose. The cheesy dialogues are a trademark at this point, it doesn't matter if you're a redneck or a pretentious preacher.
Story
We said this is a direct sequel to Far Cry 5, so in order to explain the plot, we need to go back to the pre-bombing Hope County. There we had Joseph Seed (a.k.a. The Father) and his brothers and adoptive sister, a group of people who created a religious cult that was actually a terrorist organization, with tons of guns and hallucinogenic drugs involved. After defeating Jacob, John, and Faith, we as the Junior Deputy go face to face with The Father, and that's when we discover his true intentions: fulfilling his own prophecy, bringing the end of the world through nuclear bombing.
It's obvious that when civilization falls, there's always a tyrant trying to gain enough power to oppress the survivors, so Michelle ("Mickey") and Louise ("Lou") are just that, two girls that will do anything to be at the top of the food chain. On the other end of the rope, some groups of survivors are trying to join forces against Mickey and Lou, and that's how the Security Captain (the player) and Nick Rush are recruited by Carmina Rye. Remember that mission in Far Cry 5 where we attended the birth of Nick Rye's daughter? Well, Carmina is all grown up now, and her mother is the leader of the Scavengers. Nice tie-in you did there, Ubisoft!
Before fighting the primary antagonists, and in true Far Cry fashion, we need to help some people (and animals) so they can help us back. Far Cry New Dawn gives us 9 optional companions, with Timber the dog and Horatio the boar as the only ones you'll care about. Sorry Boomer and Cheeseburger, we found new replacements, but you'll always be in our hearts! Near the end of the story, we also find The Father, and that's when things get more interesting. We won't spoil the game for you, but be prepared for a few surprises!
All in all, the conclusion to the Hope County arc is OK, although it could be waaaaay better if it had more depth. Unless you're a completionist, there's no need to uncover every secret in Far Cry New Dawn in order to beat the game, but even if you do you won't be able to get that "meh, I couldn't care less for these people" taste out of your mouth. Some characters feel flat and generic while others don't have enough time to conquer us... but who cares about the story when you're too busy exploding things and head-shooting people?
Gameplay
The central objective is to accumulate ethanol, and by doing that you can later upgrade the Scavenger's headquarters, therefore improving your character's health, damage, etc. There are 10 enemy outposts you can raid and conquer, but once you have them you can "scrap" them to raise the difficulty. This means once you have one of those outposts, it's better to let the bad guys retake it and call reinforcements, so you can do some more killing and earn better rewards. Other than that, the story will take you through a lot of different missions, from escaping from prison to surviving a demolition derby, or maybe just sailing from checkpoint to checkpoint through a gas-filled swamp. Another thing you'll need to do is expeditions, a set of stand-alone missions outside the main map, consisting of finding a bag of resources and then running to the extraction point while dodging bullets. As you see, most of Far Cry New Dawn's content are replayable missions that give you enough resources to craft and upgrade Prosperity, but let us tell you that unless you really need that extra help, you'll be good with just the minimal upgrades.
Just like in other Far Cry games, you'll find yourself using the same weapons over and over again, so once you get a suppressed sniper rifle, the bow, and maybe a suppressed pistol, every weapon change or upgrade you do will be just for the sake of cosmetics. With the new color-coded levels system, the enemies fill harder to kill this time around, but there's nothing a few shots to their weak point can't do. Normal enemy's health bar is white, but you can also find blue, purple, and gold enemies. In addition to that, your weapons also come in different tiers, so that's something to take into account before engaging for no reason. It will be almost impossible to kill a gold enemy with your low-level weapons, but a regular foe won't stand a chance against your bling-bling. Interestingly enough, you need to earn enough perk points before being able to stealth kill higher tier enemies, which brings us to the need to complete some achievements just so you can unlock some useful abilities. Do you need them all? No, and to be honest, some of the most tempting are equally useless; you won't need more than 3 weapons, you won't need to repair stuff, you won't need to sabotage... unless you want to go for specific gameplay mechanics, which is totally fine.
Far Cry New Dawn's inconsistency also reflects on the story, the missions, and even the final boss battles: fighting Lou and Mickey is hard enough so you won't make it unless you really know what you're doing; the other boss battle, one that you'll have to play the game to discover, is so repetitive it's boring. After completing the game, which took us around 20 hours, we can positively say Far Cry New Dawn was quite the journey, and that it's as fun as we needed it to be. However, it's kinda off-putting that there's no encouragement to explore more or try new things, with a big part of New Dawn's content feeling kind of unnecessary.
Honey's Gameplay Consensus:
If you like this kind of games where you just go around shooting stuff and doing the most random missions, then Far Cry New Dawn is meant for you. You can go fishing, you can go hunting, you can jump into your helicopter and enjoy the view... or you can wreak havoc in the nearest road until you run out of bullets. In terms of quests, some of them are rather boring while some others are just awesome, and there's an obvious correlation between the best missions in the game and the most relatable or interesting characters. Sure, not every game has to be a masterpiece as long as it's fun to play, and so Far Cry New Dawn excels in what it does best: not taking itself too seriously or being too pretentious.
Honey's Pros:
It’s great to see what happened to Hope County after the bombs, and to find some familiar faces 17 years later.
The gameplay is fun and pretty straightforward, with great gunplay.
We have some new mechanics, but the Far Cry essence is palpable.
There’s no need to spend real money unless you really, really want a skin.
Honey's Cons:
Not enough reasons to fully explore the content.
The premise is good, but it plays out poorly.
We can’t blame you if you say this feels more like a glorified DLC than a sequel.
Honey's Final Verdict:
Longtime Far Cry fans will say this could be the best game so far, while regular gamers may feel a bit disappointed. Playing by the same rules the last game did is risky at best, because this will not bring new people to the franchise, but maybe it’s not even attractive enough for those fans who came looking for something fresh. Be it as it may, Far Cry New Dawn is good enough to keep you hooked for a few sessions, and we truly enjoyed playing it. With that said, perhaps the whole Hope County story could work better in a TV series or a novel?
If you played Far Cry New Dawn, you can leave your opinion down below! Remember Honey’s Anime will bring you the best gaming content, so stay tuned for more reviews, and check our Twitch channel to catch us playing!
Editor/Writer
Author: Rod Locksley
Hey! I'm Rod, and when I'm not watching anime or playing video games I'm probably writing about them, but I'm also a graphic and web designer, and I even published a comic book and worked like 4 years for a well-known MMORPG. Curiously, my favorite series are quite different from each other, so I'm still trying to understand what I really like in an anime...
