Far Cry 6 ups the ante with new weapons, new gear systems, and yes, more murderous animal companions

Far Cry 6 wants to give you more bang for your buck. Not just more chaos, more weapons, and more gear, but a whole country to play with. Far Cry 6's setting of Yara promises to be a brand new playground for the series' trademark mix of mayhem and maniacal characters. And yes, awesome animal companions are back. 

In past games, you've been a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, an unlucky tourist, a junior deputy, but this time around you're a Yara local and rookie revolutionary called Dani Rojas. A military dropout born in Yara's capital, they – you can choose the gender of your Dani – are inspired to join the resistance. It's the perfect storyline to make the most of Far Cry's classic mechanics, a mix of sabotage, stealth, hostile wildlife, and plenty of enemies to take on with an increasingly bizarre mix of weapons.

Hey Macarena

Thanks to the oppression of Yara – put in place by the big bad, "El Presidente" Antón Castillo – the country has been cut off from the rest of the world, meaning the vehicles you'll race around in have a retro feel and the weapons all have a distinct homebrew flavor. As well as your classic shotguns and sniper rifles – the game boasts 49 fully-customizable military-grade weapons – Far Cry 6 introduces a new class of Resolver weapons, which are pieced together from the scrap you find around the world. Think of a gun made with a CD player, that turns its discs into flying circles of death, all while playing the classic 90s pop hit Macarena. 

Another addition are the Supremo backpacks you'll see Dani wearing in the trailers. These essentially give Dani a special power. For instance, the Exterminador Supremo acts like an uber rocket launcher strapped to your spine. Along with the makeshift weapons and dangerous luggage, you can also customize your loadout with gear, as perks like better stealth skills or more accurate knife throws are now tied to the clothes you wear. While it might mean you have to make some uncomfortable fashion choices, it also means you can prepare for different missions with different combinations of goggles, gloves, vests, pants, and shoes to give you the edge. 

All these toys are yours to play with in what Ubisoft is promising is the biggest Far Cry world yet. Yara is pure fiction, but the developers were inspired by the history of Cuba when building it.

"We knew we wanted to build an island in the Caribbean, that was important to us, and so we looked at those elements," explains world director Ben Hall. "But then also, when we were researching the history of revolutions throughout the world, from past to present, Cuba always came up as a strong reference that we wanted to be able to tap into."

City living

You can expect all the lush, wild biomes you'd expect to see on a Caribbean island, but Yara also has dilapidated urban areas too. "Not only have we got the staples from Far Cry, the DNA of the luscious biomes," promises Hall. "We've also got these urban environments that are crumbling and decaying due to the years of economic sanctions that the island has been placed under."

The capital city of Esperanza looks particularly different from anything we've explored in the series before too. "It's space in the world that contrasts so heavily to the rest of the island – in terms of it's controlled by the military, it's got these elite troops patrolling the streets. Anyone seen in the city is pretty much shot on site. It's locked down with concrete barriers and Anton is really protecting his 'Lion's Den' and the capital city, but it really creates a different sensation," says Hall.

Perhaps because of this intense military presence, one of your new skills as the hero is holstering your weapon so you can move through the population without immediately being attacked by Anton's forces. It sounds like a small change, but it'll be a huge relief to anyone who has played more than a few hours of the series. 

This military presence extends to the roads, which have checkpoints you'll need to destroy if you want to travel through areas safely, and to the airspace. Far Cry 6 will let you take to the skies, but you'll need to deal with the deadly flak cannons that police it first. Luckily, your brothers and sisters in the resistance have their own way of getting around Yara. 

Children of the revolution

You can avoid the local military with a series of Guerrilla Paths that allow you to move around the world and bypass dangerous situations. Leftover from the 1967 revolution that marked Yara's history, they're also where you'll find special gear, intel, and vantage points. 

"There's going to be surprises along the way, as you travel up these paths; there's going to be an element of traversal, and we put more of that concept of being able to find interesting things on these paths," says Hall.

 "And the more you search and the more that you explore, the more the guerrilla paths are going to give you in terms of the things that you're going to find."

Guerrilla Hubs are the places you'll pick up missions and restock essentials, and meet the cast of characters who will help you become the best revolutionary you can be. There's Clara Garcia, a modern revolutionary leader who can drive over me with a tank anytime she wants, and Juan Cortez, her mentor and a guerrilla spymaster who can instruct you on the finer arts of taking down an oppressive regime. Even better than the human NPCs though? The animal "Amigos" you can have by your side as you roam the world. We'd already met Chorizo, the darling dog who can distract enemies with his cuteness and savage their ankles, and now you can add a crocodile called Guapo to your list of new best friends. 

Outgunning the outposts

One of my favorite elements of the games has always been the satisfaction of clearing the enemy outposts, either through sneaky stealth or just tanking it and running in like a berserker on bath salts. In Far Cry 6, these are now FND Outposts, and you'll see farms, schools, TV stations that have been appropriated by the military. Hall is confident that the new toys we'll get as Dani will make conquering these camps even more fun than before. 

"Agency is the key," he says. "You can attack an outpost with a different Amigo, with a different backpack, with a different Resolver weapon, different gear pieces, and it's going to change the experience that you have. So being able to play around with those parts and play around with these new ingredients, both mixed together, are going to be the elements that create this different sensation from outposts."

It's hard to pick an element from the bomb drop of this latest reveal to be most excited about – Chorizo obviously gets top billing every time – but that just shows how much is being squeezed into this latest adventure. Tanks, sneaking into restricted areas posing as a Christmas tree delivery (I can't wait to see how that mission comes about), guerrilla warfare, new wildlife to get absolutely savaged by, horses to ride, and cars that can be customized to match your style. I'm intrigued, too, to see what the series does with the characters of Anton and his son Diego; previous Far Cry games have toyed with big consequences for the decisions you make, and I wonder if your actions as a revolutionary will ultimately affect whether or not Diego decides to follow in his father's tyrannical footsteps, or lead Yara to freedom.

We still haven't had a chance to actually play as Dani, but Far Cry 6 looks like it's ticked off everything the series' usual list of requirements for a chaotic good time. Adding star power in the form of Breaking Bad actor Giancarlo Esposito as the villain is a nice touch too, and the addition of new systems and urban areas should make the classic formula of causing chaos for a cause feel fresh. 

Far Cry 6 will be released on PC, Stadia, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on October 7. We might see more of it at E3 2021