Developed by: Ubisoft Montreal
Published by: Ubisoft
Platforms: PlayStation 3, 4 & 5; Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC

Released in November 2014, two years after its predecessor, Far Cry 4 trades in the tropical jungles of the Rook Islands for the Himalayan-inspired peaks of Kyrat. The game follows Ajay Ghale, a young Kyrati-American who returns to his birthplace to spread his mother’s ashes, but soon becomes embroiled in a civil war between Kyrat’s Royal Army and the rebel movement known as the Golden Path. On one side lies the charismatic, yet deadly tyrant Pagan Min and on the other side, are the two conflicting co-leaders of the Golden Path – Amita and Sabal. Players are given the opportunity to interact with each of these three main leaders in different ways with dramatic shifts to the storyline and some of the missions as a result. This freedom of choice creates a multi-faceted narrative and a world that actually reacts to the decisions that you make in the game – specifically whether you value tradition, or focus on progress.

With a vast map that is split into two distinct halves, players are once again encouraged to explore the expansive open-world that Ubisoft has created and discover points of interest that will act as “fast travel” spots as well as hubs to buy weapons and undertake optional side-missions. As players dismantle radio towers and capture enemy outposts, it becomes much easier to traverse across the gigantic map to reach specific key spots. This gradual unveiling of the world map and its various locations has been an integral part to the Far Cry franchise since Far Cry 2, and the method of scaling these perilous radio towers is almost identical to that in Far Cry 3. In fact, a lot of the same gameplay mechanics from Far Cry 3 are present, almost untouched, in Far Cry 4 – such as the method of crafting upgrades through hunting, or the dual skill trees that allow players to upgrade offensive or defensive abilities. Players earn experience points through completing missions, killing enemies or finding some of the many different collectables scattered across the world map.

Following in the footsteps of Far Cry 3’s breakout antagonist, Vaas Montenegro, Far Cry 4 introduces players to the oddly charismatic Kyrati dictator, Pagan Min. The relationship between Ajay and Min is nothing like I originally expected, with Min frequently calling the player to politely berate them for their rebellious actions as if they were committing a vaguely awkward social faux-pas, and not blowing up opium factories and killing key members of his Royal Army. The reason for this odd frenemy relationship is due to Pagan Min’s relationship with Ajay’s mother and how this translates into an odd father-son dynamic between the two of you. This makes the game more morally ambiguous as Min’s regime is no worse than the proposed actions of the Golden Path leaders, Sabal and Amita. In my playthrough, I sided with the progressive Amita, who begun with speeches of progress and using the opium dens to build infrastructure for the poor of Kyrat – but soon devolved into forcing children to enlist in the Golden Path and killing her political rivals. It got to the stage where I actually killed all three potential leaders – Pagan Min, Sabal and Amita – leaving both the Royal Army and the Golden Path without any strong figurehead. I’m sure that my version of Kyrat continued to have civil wars and conflict for decades after I headed back to America. This fluid narrative is a highlight of the game, allowing players to truly shape a future for this fictional country.

The main distinction between Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 is the introduction of a grappling hook, which becomes an extremely useful tool in traversing through the mountain areas. This adds a slight variety when it comes to exploring your surroundings, although it is mainly used in the radio tower side-quests or random trips into the mountains. Players can also ride on the backs of elephants, which not only act as methods of transportation, but also give the players the ability to ram into enemies or their vehicles. It is great fun to run riot on an elephant (especially since there is an achievement tied to killing enemies whilst riding one) and I must admit to getting sad whenever one of my elephants ended up on the wrong side of a flamethrower.

The game has a variety of different side-quests that run in parallel with the main campaign storyline – these are as varied as hunting down rare predators, defending villagers from waves of animals, vehicle races, assassination missions or rescuing hostages. Completing a number of these different mission types unlocks either experience points, achievements or new weapons. Players can also unlock an Arena midway through the game where they can take on waves of enemies and animals in a battle royale – again, earning experience points or weaponry for surviving. There’s also a couple of quirky side-characters who offer you some missions outside of the main storyline; Longinus the drug runner with a penchant for quoting religious verse, or Yogi and Reggie, two drug-users who trick Ajay into sampling their wares – often with unexpected results.

Far Cry 4 is packed with plenty of gameplay options beyond its core single-player campaign, which itself is overstuffed with missions, collectables and exploration. For a start, players can undertake a co-operative mode within the game – separate from the campaign, but set in the same world map. There is also a more traditional multiplayer experience called “Battles of Kyrat”, which allows players to either play as a Rakshasa or a Golden Path member across three different online game modes. Unfortunately, the community for this game is pretty thin on the ground so I was unable to fully engage with this portion of the game – a common issue with some of these old Ubisoft games. The game also features two major DLC expansions, “Escape from Durgesh Prison” and “Valley of the Yetis”, which offer alternative takes on the gameplay seen in the main campaign. “Escape from Durgesh Prison” is a self-contained game mode that adds a ‘permadeath’ feature and survival aspect – encouraging players to unlock upgrades and build up character stats within a thirty-minute window before reaching a helicopter extraction point. This is a more challenging version of the main game, offering players upgrades for completing side-quests within a time limit – this ‘hardcore’ mode of the game adds a different tone to the gameplay with players needing to be more cautious and economical with their weapons and ammo.

“Valley of the Yetis” is another self-contained game mode, this time set within the snowy mountains. As players explore the titular valley – they unlock upgrades for their relay station base, which comes under siege from waves of enemies every night in-game. This “horde mode” again adds a different type of strategy to the game as players must defend their bases and make use of upgradable functions, such as minefields, ammo caches and explosive barrels to prevent their base from being overrun. The game also introduces overpowered Yeti enemies for Ajay to defeat – often a simple case of weaking the creatures and moving in close for a quick-time event to finish the job. This short 5–6 hour experience is a fun epilogue to the main campaign, and is further proof of just how much content is available in Far Cry 4.

While the leap between Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3 felt significant, Far Cry 4 borrows so much of its game mechanics and structure from Far Cry 3 that it sometimes feels more than an expansion than a true sequel. The Himalayan setting offers a fresh and immersive environment for players to explore, following on from the equally impressive African and Indonesian settings of the previous two games. Pagan Min is an intriguing choice of antagonist with a flamboyant ambiguity that makes him difficult to read at times, and he might not be as iconic as Vaas Montenegro, I found him to be a worthy nemesis and charismatic foil. There is no limit to the number of things that players can get involved with – in fact, the game felt a little too big at times and although I managed to complete all of the single-players achievements, there were still plenty of optional side-quests that I didn’t even take part in.

Beautiful to look at, fun to play and explore, Far Cry 4 lacks the innovation of its immediate predecessors and fails to break new ground. It’s a solid sequel, but a safe one, and that safety keeps it from ever becoming truly memorable.

Far Cry 4 is available on PlayStation 3, 4 & 5; Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC. It is available in physical media on Amazon UK.