Far Cry Primal review, PS4, Xbox One: Just like the others

On the surface Far Cry Primal looks pretty different to the previous Far Cry games; it's set in 10,000bc and you're a caveman, you mostly use melee weapons, you can tame animals to fight for you etc. But this is so very much still a Far Cry game at its core.

You unlock sections of the map by lighting bonfires (very similar to the towers of previous games), you undertake missions from NPCs that can mostly be done in the order you choose, you are mostly going on missions to murder someone/something etc.

Luckily this format remains quite fun and engaging and despite my concern prior to starting the game that I might be burned out on more of the same; it is just different enough to draw me in again.

First things first, this is a really pretty game. The world feels more alive and has more variety than previous installments. The lighting effects can be spectacular and the game manages to handle all this while maintaining a decent framerate. It may be due to my impaired colour vision but I did find following the red blood on green landscape quite difficult and I really found it hard to tell the tribes apart from a distance.

open image in gallery

I have always found this series to be a bit hit and miss when it comes to story and characters. Far Cry 4 for example had a story that really caught my attention and characters that I really cared about which lead to some very difficult decisions. Primal, however, has you take the role of a person isolated from their tribe trying to re-unite the remaining member and the story never grabbed me and the characters felt a bit by the numbers. The motivation for the story felt a bit cliched and it didn’t really test any new ground.

There are some new mechanics added that weren’t in previous games. Building your village by rescuing your tribe members scattered across the world really appealed to me; especially when you can gather crafting material to upgrade buildings. Also, unlike Fallout, upgrading your village gives you benefits in game so it is actually worth the time you spend on it. When not upgrading your village you can also find animals to tame that can then help you in battle. I probably didn’t use this feature as much as I should have but it’s a neat touch.

Even without the new gameplay additions though the core Far Cry gameplay is still fun, and there is just enough new stuff here to not feel like retreading old ground. I spent a lot of time with Far Cry 4 and didn’t find myself getting bored with Primal. Most disappointingly though there is no co-op mode which was one of the most entertaining things about Far Cry 4.

If you enjoyed the previous games in the series you will probably enjoy this one, there are enough new additions in terms of gameplay and setting that you won’t feel like you’re doing the same things again. That said there is still limited scope to the game and the developers won’t be able to keep releasing games like this without making some more fundamental changes soon.