Far Cry 6, despite mostly receiving positive reviews when it released, also proves that it's time for the series to finally evolve. As fun as running around the world of Far Cry 6 can be at times, it should have innovated more than it did. New additions have helped to refine the series' gameplay, but there was ultimately fairly little that separated it from Far Cry 5, or some of the numerous other spin-offs that Ubisoft has published in recent years.
Unfortunately, as much as a series evolution is needed, it seems increasingly likely that Ubisoft's idea of a Far Cry overhaul might just be turning the next game into a live service. Ubisoft is seemingly keen on the idea of converting its larger IPs into games as a service titles, with recent news indicating that Far Cry 7 will also be live-service. This is hardly a surprise, as the Far Cry games has always seemed like they would be fairly easy converts to a live service model, but unfortunately, something like that would not address any of Far Cry's real issues.
The Far Cry series is in need of a real, total overhaul, and one that isn't in keeping with the other titles Ubisoft has developed. As fun as Far Cry 6 can be at times, its recycled mechanics and relatively unenthusiastic response from fans prove that the series needs real change. It's very unlikely that this change would come from a live service transition, and the series should instead focus on overhauling its core mechanics.
Far Cry Games Have Failed To Innovate Over the Years
The consensus from many of Far Cry 6's reviews was that it delivered a polished but disappointingly familiar experience. The Far Cry series has seen little change since Far Cry 3, which released almost 10 years ago. Far Cry 3 propelled the series to mainstream success, but each title has felt as if it is trying to recapture what made it so so successful in the first place, whisking players away to various hostile locales, each with their own charismatic and unhinged villain.
Far Cry 4, 5, 6, and even the multiple spinoff games have all followed the same basic formula, changing up little else than the setting each time. Each Far Cry focuses on a rebel protagonist and tasks the player with taking down some sort of dictator or person in power. Along the way they climb towers to uncover the map, invade enemy bases to wipe out the big bad's forces, and unlock an assortment of weapons and vehicles to use in their quest. It's a fun formula that obviously works, but it may have grown stale at this point, and Far Cry 6 didn't deliver the changes necessary to reinvigorate it.
Every game in the series has tried to make slight changes to the formula while keeping the core mechanics intact, but the changes Far Cry 6 makes are some of the worst the series has attempted to this point. For example, the skill tree that many fans have grown accustomed to over the course of the series was removed, and instead replaced with buffs and upgrades Far Cry 6 players gain from different outfits and cosmetics. This is a strange decision for a couple reasons - firstly, because it wipes out the continuous sense of progression that players were able to enjoy in previous games, and second, because it also seems odd to place that much emphasis on an outfit system in a game that is primarily first-person, where the player can rarely see their character's outfits anyway.
Far Cry 6's New Features Weren't Compelling
Unfortunately, placing so much emphasis on outfits in Far Cry 6 could be laying the groundwork for the series' live-service transition, as giving players different outfits to strive toward is a key feature of most live-service games. Again though, going further in this direction will not solve Far Cry's issues - it will only make them even more prevalent. One of the primary complaints being lodged at the series is the tedium that players experience while repeating its primary tasks over and over again. Climbing a radio tower to uncover Far Cry 6's massive island of Yara or wiping out an enemy base without being seen can be fun the first or second time the player does it, but having to repeat the same tasks over and over again eventually gets old. If Far Cry becomes a live-service-style game, it will probably lean into these features even more, as it will need to ensure the player has plenty of repeatable, daily tasks to complete. That is the last thing Far Cry needs, as once again that's just a lot more of the same product.
Despite solid reviews, Far Cry 6 seemed to have less buzz surrounding compared to previous entries in the series. In fact, after release, it seemed like the game's DLC featuring previous Far Cry villains like Vaas was what the fanbase was most excited about. The excitement and buzz around the unique DLC shows that Far Cry fans are looking for innovation and change, and if Ubisoft delivered that in a core game, rather than just an additional add-on, it would probably be well-received.
A future Far Cry game needs to drastically change up the Far Cry formula, while still making new games feel like part of the series. Ubisoft has already proven it can do this, as it basically did the exact same thing with its Assassin's Creed series. The Assassin's Creed games reached their breaking point around Assassin's Creed Unity, and Ubisoft responded by changing the series after Assassin's Creed Syndicate, adding much deeper RPG elements starting in Assassin's Creed Origins. It's unclear if adding deeper RPG elements would help reignite the Far Cry brand in the same way, but at the very least it shows fans are receptive to change, and want to see evolution in their games, instead of repetitive releases.
Despite being a solid game, it's possible that Far Cry 6's lasting legacy could be as the game that forced the series to reboot. Previous Ubisoft franchises have faced similar reboots in the past, and the success of Assassin's Creed following Origins illustrates that Far Cry can do the same. Hopefully, Ubisoft decides this means overhauling the game's core issues rather than just rolling the same problems over into a live-service model instead.