FarCry Primal takes everything you may have learned throughout the series and tosses it out the window, well almost everything. Set in 10,000 BCE you take on the role of Takkar, a member of the Wenja tribe who during a routine hunt gets ambushed and separated. The game at this point has you beginning your journey in the land of Oros unarmed and with little direction. Its at this point you get a good idea of how the world feels and your role in it. Oros is dangerous, animals view you as simply a way to pass time until the next meal, and other tribesman will not think twice to try and end your journey early. Its this sense of danger that previous FarCry titles never really seemed to have as you upgraded your character to Rambo status. But this really made me appreciate certain aspects of the game more and where certain mechanics aren't necessarily new to the series they fit really well within this setting and made sense.
The story in FarCry Primal wont leave you speechless and in awe of sheer writing skill or Hollywood style moments. Not every game needs to have me questioning every decision I made like the Last of Us or playing multiple times for various endings like the Witcher 3. The story isn't by any means bad but in respect to the time and what Ubisoft had to work with they created a very grounded and easy to follow story that makes sense. I always had enough motivation to continue on and fight the next fight until the games final climax. The language spoken for all tribes involved was actually created by Ubisoft themselves and the work done here is nothing to frown upon. Its all voiced exceptionally well and never once did it feel awkward or out of place. I can say that by the time the credits rolled I just didn't really care too much about any of the characters involved though and that could tie into the fact that there never is really any large impending doom setup throughout. Sure other tribes want to kill your tribe but that's really about it. The characters involved give you just enough push to keep you on track and actually serve more of a purpose in regards to game mechanics I feel rather than playing a role in the bigger picture.
One of those mechanics is the community system. As you encounter and add certain key characters to your village this will allow you access to certain upgrades. Sayla who you encounter early on is a gatherer and as such her upgrade tree focuses on making materials easier to spot in Oros and as you explore revealing more of the land on the world map. Tensay is a Shaman and communicates with spirits so through his upgrade tree you'll be able to learn the animal taming ability and become more adept at crafting medicine. This type of skill progression in relation to specific characters is a nice touch and changes how you go about spending those precious skill points. Instead of simply dumping them in one overall tree you now can pick and choose entirely different skills as you see fit that work best with how your playing.
Another mechanic that gets fleshed out is the crafting system. Previous FarCry games had you hunt animals and collect skins to upgrade various gear options for your character. That system remains here but it goes a step beyond. Any weaponry you possibly need is all crafted using materials found in the game world. If you need more arrows for your bow you will need to gather wood, rock for your clubs, and animal hide for your spears. There are no vendors that you can purchase materials from so the gathering aspect is consistently in play from beginning to end. Again this isn't a new feature that's never been seen before but it fits the setting so well that I never minded having to go and gather these materials to ensure I was stocked and ready for the challenge ahead. The invaluable aspect of materials extends to the random events you will encounter while exploring. Most of these will end with you rescuing a Wenja tribe member from their captor or an animal attack or some other form of danger. By doing so this will add to your overall village population. As this grows you will begin earning a material resupply package every so often. Since materials are so crucial to your survival it makes these random events and ensuring you complete them successfully that much more meaningful.
Speaking of the weapons, you get three main types of weaponry. This includes Bows, Clubs, and Spears. You'll also acquire certain throwables such as Bee Bombs, Berserk Shards, and traps you can lay down for an instant kill. Of course all three main weapons can be upgraded through the leveling system and will even change appearance as you do so. The Bow and Clubs actually have the benefit of having multiple variants. You can acquire the normal bow early on but through progression you can eventually get a Long Bow and also a Double Bow which shoots two arrows at the same time. The club gets a one handed option as well as a meatier two handed option that feels a lot more satisfactory as you send enemies flying. Overall I spent most of my time favoring the Bow and Spear combo as the Club tends to feel a little weak. It does have a weak and strong attack but its all tied to the same button so you end up just mashing it over and over until your enemy finally dies which isn't very engaging. The Bow and Spear though are infinitely satisfying for all the right reasons. Throwing a Spear and watching the enemy get pinned to a nearby wall always left a smile on my face. Landing a long distance head shot while on the move with the Bow makes you feel like you truly rule the land of Oros and everyone else is just visitor.
Another very important part of your arsenal are the animals. Your first friendly pet is the Owl. It acts essentially like a drone that you can send to scout over outposts or campfires to setup a plan of attack. It can be leveled to instant kill one enemy and also drop any bombs you have in your inventory. But most of the fun will come from the animals you find out in the wild. You can tame animals from the lowly Dhole, all the way up to the Bloodfang Sabretooth, or if you wish to troll everyone in Oros, a Honey Badger. Each animal has certain skills and perks that might work better in certain situations over others. I never found it completely necessary to switch out animals constantly but I played as aggressive as possible. If you plan to play more on the stealthy side you'll want to ditch the Sabretooth and summon the Jaguar as they are the stealthiest choice in the entire lineup. Again I never found it necessary to dive in too deep with the differences but having that extra layer of depth is nice.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with FarCry Primal. It was a big enough venture off the traditional formula of previous entries that I never had a case of deja vu. With that said this is still very much a FarCry game so a lot of aspects will seem familiar but are expanded upon and really shine in this particular entry. The land of Oros is beautiful and feels alive and begs to be explored and rewards you for doing so. If you can manage to lay down the rocket launcher and jet packs in favor of a spear and bow I don't think you'll regret it.
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