Far Cry is one of the most popular open-world franchises in gaming, but the upcoming Far Cry 5 has a chance to blow everyone's minds.
Ever since the success of Far Cry 3 in 2012, the series exploded in popularity. Far Cry 4 built upon 3's reputation by adding more content, while Far Cry Primal took the series to a new, ancient setting. This March, Ubisoft is releasing its latest game in the franchise, Far Cry 5, and expectations are higher than ever. Here are five things that would help game truly shine.
More stealth options
In the Far Cry games, there are many ways to engage enemy combatants. One of the most effective is through the use of stealth. However, aside from bow and arrow, knife, and silenced firearm, the series has felt somewhat lacking in regards to the variety of stealthy options.
One way that Far Cry 5 could fix this problem is by bringing the spears and clubs of Far Cry Primal into a modern setting, and you could use these melee weapons to kill enemies much more silently than with an unsilenced firearm. It wouldn't be as silent as the knife, but it would give you an option to take out multiple foes quickly before they alert their allies.
Bring back multiplayer
Both Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 boasted player-versus-player (PvP) multiplayer modes that allowed players to battle to the death in the lush environments of the franchise's locations. However, multiplayer was noticeably absent from Far Cry Primal.
While Far Cry's multiplayer was hardly considered amazing, it was still a fun and interesting way to bring the series's singleplayer RPG experience to an online setting. If it has good balancing, dedicated servers, and a variety of modes to play, there's a big chance that Far Cry 5 can bring back the PvP experience in a satisfying way.
Focus on story
The stories of the Far Cry games have received mixed reception. A common trend in the series is a strong, compelling antagonist (such as Vaas Montenegro) but a bland, shallow protagonist main character. In addition, the plot and side characters are overall average.
Far Cry 5, with its strange militant religious faction being the main antagonistic force in the narrative, can hopefully deviate from the franchise's typical storytelling and deliver something impressive. While story isn't always important in open-world games, titles like The Witcher 3 stand as proof that a great story does nothing but help.
Better AI enemies
In any singleplayer-oriented combat game, it's important that the enemy artificial intelligence (AI) is solid and provides a good challenge to the player. Sadly, this is an area in which Far Cry has underachieved in consistently.
When the shooting starts, Far Cry's foes usually stay in one place, rarely moving and turning the experience into nothing more than a shooting gallery. With Far Cry 5, it would be awesome to see Ubisoft take a page out of The Division's book, another game of theirs, for good AI design. In that game, the enemies are aggressive and attempt to flank you constantly, making you think on your feet.
Better performance
As much as the above ideas would improve the Far Cry series, none of it really matters if the games don't run well. Far Cry 3, 4, and Primal all launched in poor states, and while Ubisoft was eventually able to get all three games working within a decent timeframe, it's still harmful to a game's reputation when it's borderline unplayable on release.
Your thoughts
What would you like to see Far Cry 5 improve upon? What else could Ubisoft do to ensure that it's a success? Let us know in the comments.
Far Cry 5 is available for preorder for $59.99.