38.1 hours played
Written 21 days ago
Far Cry New Dawn seems to be a controvertial entry to the series and frankly I do not know why. Given the plot, it recycling the far cry 5 map is an advantage and, besides, the fauna and flora is revamped and the game looks f***ing fabulous! I love the abundance of color, especially the pink, I'm a sucker for games that have specific pallets attached to them.
About the gameplay:
> Crafting - Crafting is honestly really well made, given you have [b]three[/b] ways to gather materials: Hunting (my personal favorite), expeditions (second fav) and resource areas (my least fav, I only resorted to this when I needed almost no materials left. Extra easy if you have the dog with you!). I especially like the fact that some crafts have particular components that force you to do some other activities, like even if you are not farming any resource and are just getting them naturally, when you get to tier 3 and tier 4 weapons, you'll need to start going out of your way, be it by expeditions or by killing monstrous animals. Aditionally, I like the fact that you can make medkits on the go, however, I feel like you get so many fucking resources that you will seldom run out of them. Finally, the fact that this game isn't money based and therefore you have to pick out specific ingredients and materials for what you want is also really cool.
> Monstrous animals - Although I like them as resource farming and I think their designs are poggers, their encounters and fights are underwhelming and I'm still not sure whether I like the fact that you can encounter more than 1 of each or not, I would've loved the idea of a single super animal.
> Prosperity aka base - An interesting way to give you reasons to do outposts other than just for clearing the map or just for fast travel points (as well as the fucking cool costumes). I especially love the fact that some upgrades require specialists, in which you'll have to do outside mini quests in order to progress further. Oh, also, the fact that there are many visual changes and resources added as you upgrade propserity is cool as hell.
> Soundtrack - I think the soundtrack in this game is extremely good. Maybe not as good as Far Cry 3 but still really nice. It fits the moments and the vibe of the post-apocaliptic place you're in. The menu music is also so good in fact that I added it to my playlist, what a banger!
> Story - The story is pretty good. My main nitpick is the protagonist as she is not only silent but also a god damn retard. I mean seriously, how the fuck is it that on 4 seperate occasions she just gave up her guns??? Aside from that, I love the voice acting and the emotion attached to each character. The twins didn't have as much screen time as I had hoped and I wish to have seen a bit more depth, but given the clear goal to make a small game, I think that's easily overlooked as they are still fine villains overall, with understandable motives, their upbringing and how human they feel (mostly towards the end, not so much before then). The interaction between characters is especially cool and the side quests also have interesting or funny plot points.
> Companions - I can't talk much on this department cause i only used the dog for scouting/resource gathering, nana in the early game and Horatio for everything else (he's a fucking beast, I love him so much). Horatio seems completely fucking overtuned while other characters seem like more of a hinderance (I'm looking at you Nana!). I mean, fine, they have some moments where they shine but especially in later levels they just keep getting fucking spotted.
> Perks - I think the perk system is fine. I like the stuff you unlock and the addition of perks that you can repeatedly buy is really cool. there isn't much to say here other than the fact that it's stupid that every level needs a perk for you to take them down. Them just adding an extra for specifically elites would have been fine, but for levels 2 and 3? Cmon, that's just unnecessary. Speaking of, the takedown animations are a HUGE step up from 5, but nowhere near 3. This time, they feel more tactical and more satisfying, but not as brutal and satisfying as Far Cry 3's. Anyways, back to perks: Obtaining perk points is super fast but not to the point where it's free. Expect that by the end of the game you'll have every perk and even some repeatable perks leveled up a bit.
> Difficulty and level system - This is potentially the worse category for this game. I hate the level system due to how deterministic it is, especially on later levels. What I mean is: A level 1 gun can kind of take out a level 2 enemy, while a level 2 gun will struggle a ton to take out a level 3. Don't even think about taking on elites if you don't have an elite gun, it isn't even worth it to try. I played the game on max difficulty so maybe this isn't as prominent in lower difficulties but still, I don't like such dumb and deterministic mechanics. Aside frm the levels, the outposts feel fair yet complex in the ways you can approach them and that increases its replayability, which is a big factor since a mechanic in this game is that you can repeat an outpost at any time for any reward, each time increasing the difficulty a bit (which maxes out after the 2nd replay but still). The missions themselves also feel fair and sometimes challenging, though they are generally a pushover. Oh, also, the boat mission fucking sucks.
> Visuals - This game is beautiful in my opinion. Even if the faces are, well, Ubisoft faces, I still think they are very well made. The clothes look great, everything fits into the vibe of the game like a glove and nothing seems too out of place. Where the visuals shine though is the backgrounds and overall look of nature: PLEASE do a round of the map with a heli or car or any Vehicle so you can just enjoy the views, I really REALLY love the colors and especially the sky and the flowers in this game. The animals are also well made. Finally, the guns are awesome! Their designs also fit the game and they are really fun to look at.
TL;DR: 8/10