Far Cry New Dawn review

Reviewed on: PC

New Dawn, the spin-off DLC sequel

   The new chapter of the Far Cry series cannot be immediately categorized, since although its events are presented directly after those of Far Cry 5, it does not have enough production value or content to be considered a numbered sequel in the franchise. However, neither can it be considered a mere DLC, since besides having a campaign that stands on its own, it holds, even if in compact form, all the elements present in the series.

For better or worse, Far Cry’s DNA is present and predominates in New Dawn. Good news for the franchise’s die-hard fans and perhaps not so good for those who expect a renewal of the series.

A new dawn, but not for everyone

As said, New Dawn takes place after the events of Far Cry 5, which makes it a big spoiler right off the bat, since the game’s main motif is its post-apocalyptic setting, the result of the devastation caused by the nuclear explosion that happened 17 years ago in Hope County.

The recovery after the hecatomb was far more generous to the environment than to humanity. Vegetation has taken over practically the entire scenery with its green (and believe it, a lot of pink) while animals roam freely, some with mutant versions of themselves, not seeming to mind having become more refined predators. In fact, a vision of the post-apocalypse quite distinct from those commonly seen in games where gray predominates and nature gets the worst of it. The rest of humanity set about doing what it knows best: it split into oppressors and oppressed, both killing each other for resources.

I have no name or voice, but I need to plunder

    You are the security captain, a mute protagonist with no predefined personality or appearance, who is one of the survivors of the group sent to help the small but growing community of apocalypse survivors, called Prosperity. After an attack by the Highwaymen gang, led by the twins Mickey and Lou, the main antagonists this time, you find yourself obliged to help (as we know, “help” in video game terms means “do practically everything on your own”) build and fortify Prosperity while becoming the ultimate killing machine.

    In New Dawn, Ubisoft’s new trend of incorporating RPG aspects into its main franchises is also present. Here, the better the rank of your weaponry, the bigger the damage numbers that will pop off enemies when you hit them. In fact, just like weapons, enemies are also divided into ranks, and facing them head-on without having weaponry of at least equal rank will result in more difficulty or even, of course, death.

This rank-matching system as an obstacle to progress is more constant when it comes to opening up the map than to the character’s own development. There is no XP or levels, and apart from a few exceptions, any skill can be acquired as soon as you have the necessary number of perk points, making the famous skill tree more of a skill “buffet”. The higher the outposts’ levels, the harder it will be to conquer them if the rank of your weapons and equipment doesn’t match. And to raise them it’s necessary to upgrade the different infrastructures of your base, through the use of resources made up of leftover items from the pre-apocalypse world (what would games with this theme be without them). Along with ethanol, resources will be your main currency, as well as the basis for building weaponry, equipment, vehicles, etc. Thanks to good implementation, the scavenging system doesn’t become tedious or a barrier to progress, since the need for grind of any kind is rare. Collect what you see ahead and you’ll have no problems. In fact, the game courteously marks with a check the places where all the resources have already been looted, and only compulsive collectors like me can agree on how satisfying that is. Thanks Ubisoft!

Ethanol, responsible for Prosperity’s evolution, is obtained mainly by conquering outposts, and after finishing them, you can keep them to use as fast travel points or choose to loot them. In the latter case, you get a small and immediate amount of ethanol and in return the outpost will be retaken by enemies and go up one difficulty rank, and can be retaken as many times as you like (although the maximum difficulty level is three stars).

What to do after the end of the world?

    New Dawn is a Far Cry, so obviously conquering outposts is only one of the activities available. However, the map-unlocking mechanic through capturing towers, a trademark of Ubisoft games, is not present. Here, points of interest are obtained more organically. When you spot any NPC in the world with an exclamation mark over their head and talk to them, they will tell you about a side mission, a nearby treasure hunt or even the location of outposts, and then the corresponding icon will be automatically added to your map.

Through upgrading your base’s cartography infrastructure, you can acquire different maps that will position you regarding other points of interest such as hunting, fishing and scavenging spots.

Speaking of hunting, one of Far Cry’s main activities, here it doesn’t differ much from previous titles, except that the pelts acquired no longer serve to give direct upgrades to the character’s carrying capacity but rather to be traded for crafting materials. A shame, since that diluted the importance of the activity, because at no point did I need to trade a pelt for spoils.

Still on activities, a new addition is expeditions, which are unlocked according to the level of the Expeditions infrastructure in your base. When you agree to go on one, you will be transported by helicopter to some isolated and entirely new area off the main map with the aim of raiding a guarded enemy base, collecting a loot package and getting out. Whether you do it stealthily or not is up to you alone. But in the end, after a minute in possession of the package, a GPS tracker will go off and you will have to flee and survive waves of enemies looking for you until the rescue helicopter arrives. It’s a fun activity that can be played with a friend in multiplayer mode. There are seven expeditions with locations ranging from a nuclear plant to the wreckage of a crashed plane. Like the outposts, once completed, they can be replayed at a higher level.

Also fun are the treasure hunts, where a hint on a note is given to you at a location and you must work out how to get to where the treasure (usually rare crafting materials and perk points) is. Now and then solving some environmental puzzle will be needed to reach the treasure, but they are simplistic and need no more than a few seconds to solve.

Fight as you like. Protect yourself as you can

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for the Far Cry franchise’s success is how it approaches combat. Since it is, roughly speaking, an open-world FPS, you are allowed more freedom to decide how to approach your objective. In this case, eliminating everyone in a given area.

Want to act stealthily in the shadows while trying to eliminate all the enemies of an outpost without any of them knowing what the hell happened? Equip your silenced sniper rifle, your bow and arrow and good aim! Feeling a bit Rambo today? Put the biggest thing in your arsenal and as many healing items as you can in your backpack and good luck! And even if something doesn’t go as planned, make a strategic retreat, hide and come back when everything cools down. Your limit is the game over screen. It’s one of the series’ high points and it’s no different in New Dawn.

You can take along a gun for hire, an NPC teammate with their own abilities, to help you in the endeavor. There are eight of them, acquired by completing side missions, and if you know how to choose them according to your intent, they will be of great value.

The world ended, and with it the weapons factories. So the survivors had to be a bit more creative in order to improve their offensive and defensive gear.

Rubber bands and clips will serve as stabilizers for machine guns, spray paint cans will act as silencers for sniper rifles, and even a motorcycle handlebar will serve as a support for a saw launcher (yes, there is a saw launcher here and it’s excellent).

By unlocking new weapon tiers at the workbench, you will have access to better weapons and will use materials to craft them. When facing Elite-level soldiers, make sure you have weaponry at the same level, otherwise your mission may be far harder and more frustrating.

In search of identity

    Lastly, the certainly weakest aspect of New Dawn is its story.

The protagonists of Far Cry 3 and 4, for example, were far from being wells of personality, but at least they communicated and expressed themselves according to events. With that they inserted themselves into the world and were part of it. Here, you are just an avatar with a gender and appearance chosen by you, nothing more than arms holding weapons that witnesses events. Silent protagonists have their inclusion justified in games where there is a choice of dialogue lines and actions that affect the world, since it is expected that you project onto them the personality you wish through those choices.

In New Dawn, your journey is that of the hero, savior and chosen one and… that is the most that can be said about your character. There is nothing else that compels you to move forward and unfortunately the rest of the characters lack enough personality and motivation to balance the lack of importance to the plot that the protagonist represents.

There is an attempt to recreate an iconic antagonist like Far Cry 3’s Vaas Montenegro, as is customary in the series. Here, with Mickey and Lou, the twin leaders of the raider gang Highwaymen who are said to be calculating and impulsive respectively, however, for lack of development, they arouse no feeling in the player toward them, whether fear, admiration or even compassion.

Their appearances are restricted to cutscenes where they try to stand out with threatening dialogue and serpentine movements, but the certainty that they will only reappear in the next cutscene and repeat the same intimidation process wears away any kind of interest in them or their story (I ended up giving up trying to care the third time in the plot that they had the protagonist subdued and simply didn’t kill him).      There is even an attempt to present their past through very short intermissions between chapters, but they are nothing more than almost static images where the characters’ silhouettes talk to each other. They are too short and shallow to create empathy and justify any motivation. The same is done for other characters in the game and the result is unfortunately similar.

Come for the fun

I would be lying if I said I didn’t have fun with Far Cry New Dawn. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel at any point, especially compared to its bigger and older siblings. But a large part of what it kept from the series is the fun part responsible for the franchise’s success. It may seem like a premature sequel if you just came from Far Cry 5, and in fact it is. But for you who hadn’t been in touch with the series for a while like me, or have even never touched anything related to the franchise, there will certainly be some fun for you as there was for me.