Summary
- Far Cry Primal offered a unique Stone Age setting different from usual ones in the franchise.
- The game implemented animal taming mechanics that could be expanded upon in a potential sequel.
- A Far Cry Primal 2 could combine elements from the first title with FC: Blood Dragon to provide a fun new experience by venturing into a dinosaur-filled world.
Ubisoft's 2016 entry in its flagship FPS franchise, Far Cry Primal, marked a notable break from some of its long-established elements. While its gameplay and other designs still drew closely from prior titles, Far Cry Primal's story and setting shifted to the height of the Stone Age rather than contemporary exotic locales. Primal offered a nice change of pace in a number of ways, and displayed that the developer was willing to take some significant risks to shake up the familiar formula.
While Ubisoft hasn't given much official word since 2021's Far Cry 6 about what it might be planning next for the series, Far Cry Primal is still generally well-liked, and there remains much untapped potential in the ideas and mechanics introduced in it. And if the studio ever does consider a sequel, it could lean on some of the other more outlandish elements seen throughout the series to create another Far Cry Primal that goes even further with its unique use of animals.
Far Cry Primal Could Be the Right Blueprint for a Far Cry New Dawn Sequel
Far Cry Primal was a bigger switch for the series, and can provide a good template for a possible New Dawn sequel.
A Potential Far Cry Primal 2 Could One-Up its Predecessor's Use of Animals by Taking Fans Further Into the Past
Far Cry Primal Was a Great Experiment with More to Give
Even before Primal, Far Cry's worlds were full of wildlife and its in-game ecosystems were highly immersive and reactive. The fourth mainline entry featured for the first time the ability for players to have elephants as mounts during Ajay Ghale's campaign against Kyrat's dictator Pagan Min. A few years later , Far Cry Primal greatly expanded on this idea.
While it was more or less grounded in reality, albeit with a few liberties taken here and there, Far Cry Primal featured prehistoric animals that would have historically existed alongside protagonist Takkar and the Wenja tribe he belonged to. Primal gave players the ability to tame and ride a variety of these beasts, which included the likes of saber-tooth tigers, bears, and wooly mammoths. It was one of the more satisfying and fun parts of Primal, and showed that the series still had the chops to iterate on solid mechanics. With this in mind, there's one big way a possible sequel could take this a step beyond and present a new twist.
How a Hypothetical Far Cry Primal 2 Could Take Place During the Age of Dinosaurs
Far Cry is also no stranger to including sci-fi and other fantastical elements. For example, fans might recall Far Cry 5's Lost on Mars DLC. Perhaps the most enduring of these, though, is the popular spin-off, Far Cry: Blood Dragon, that took players on an 80s-inspired futuristic action adventure. The demand for a Blood Dragon sequel has persisted even though it seems less likely as time passed. Still, by taking cues from both it and Far Cry Primal, Ubisoft could produce another entry that combines the best of both into a fresh experience.
Far Cry Primal contained an Easter egg referencing Blood Dragon, suggesting they are part of the same wider world.
The titular blood dragons were basically genetically engineered cybernetically-enhanced dinosaurs, and they were its apex predators. To tie this aspect together with Far Cry Primal, a sequel to the latter could use the premise of time-travel to bring another tribal human, or even a modern protagonist, far into the past when the reptiles ruled the Earth, and set them on a journey where they must survive in such a setting.
This direction could have players encountering and fighting iconic dinosaurs like T-Rexes and Triceratops, and having to craft weapons capable of tackling them. Relatedly, it could also then bring back animal taming, letting fans fulfill the fantasy of riding velociraptors or similar ones into battle against other species. It would be a great path to a Far Cry Primal sequel that captures the most recognizable and liked parts of both games while evolving them in cool and enjoyable ways.
Far Cry Primal
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 77 /100 Critics Rec: 60%
- Released
- February 23, 2016
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montreal
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- Dunia 2
- Franchise
- Far Cry
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action
