The island seemed familiar. My Ubisoft handler suggested I check out the spot before our hands-on session wrapped up, and with 30 minutes left on the clock I figured why not. I had just acquired the Saw Launcher and probably had enough ammo for whatever awaited me, so I sped over from the train...

Buy Far Cry New Dawn It's been a little less than a year since Far Cry 5 debuted, and the follow-up is already here. If that seems like a quick turnaround for a major franchise, it is.

Far Cry: New Dawn is something of a paradox. On the one hand it's exactly what the series needed, a significant mechanical shakeup that's breathed life into ideas that grew stale two or three entries back. There's complexity, here. Friction , you might say.

Since its debut in 2004, the Far Cry series has hopped all around the globe and time itself from the Nepal-inspired Kryat to the prehistoric Stone Ages . However, FAR CRY NEW DAWN marks the first time the franchise has returned to a location.

Late game skills are a solid addition; Building a base gives you something to work toward

Story comes up short and character moments fall flat; RPG systems give the game an odd; jarring difficulty curve; Tags

Hope County has got thoroughly shafted by life, if you ask me. First in Far Cry 5 its inhabitants survive a psychopathic cult leader an...

Having a base to upgrade gives a sense of achievement; Loads to do; Genuinely inventive missions; Timber the dog rides in your sidecar

Expeditions don't wow you; Villains have unrealised potential

Far Cry fans are no strangers to visiting exotic locales, but New Dawn's vibrant post-apocalyptic setting promised to introduce some drastic changes to the aging series. While the neon-hued flora and mutated fauna successfully shake up the landscape, the superficial progression changes and formulaic...

Far Cry 5 was a satisfying adventure, from its vast open-world journey across the rural landscape of Hope County, Montana to its central conflict against maniacal cult leader Joseph Seed. However, its conclusion left the game open with dangling plot threads.

I want to get this out of the way immediately. Far Cry New Dawn is a damn fun game. Judged by its own merits, not comparing it to other titles in the franchise or its immediate predecessor, Far Cry New Dawn is a rollicking good time in an impressive and dynamic open world.

Seed of all evil

Expeditions are good; Outposts provide new challenges; New weapons are great

Story is weak; Some bugs that caused issues; Character progression is non-existent

While many may have first mistaken Far Cry: New Dawn for a Blood Dragon-like spin-off, with many of the series' more serious overtones being replaced by psychedelic self-awareness and 80s humour, it soon became clear that Ubisoft Montreal allowed itself to be a little more ambitious this time...