The End Is The Beginning Is The End: Far Cry: New Dawn Review

*spoilers for Far Cry 5*

When we last left Hope County, Montana it was set ablaze by the nuclear holocaust that Joseph Seed somehow orchestrated. Our character was trapped in the same bunker that was our salvation at the beginning of the game bringing the story full circle. The only problem was that we were trapped in it with Joseph and handcuffed to a bed. So we get to guess what kind of fun that would be listening to a raving, religious lunatic for years with no escape. I imagine it being like you were locked in a room with Franklin Graham and you couldn't shove a towel down his throat or kneecap him with a crowbar.

Far Cry: New Dawn does what Far Cry: Primal did with Far Cry 4. It takes the existing map and gives it a makeover for a quicker release. This has not proved to be a bad thing since Far Cry: Primal was superior to 4 and New Dawn is a smaller, fun entry that wraps up the tales of Joseph Seed and the population of Hope County.

Did you play Far Cry 3? Far Cry 4? Far Cry 5? Then you know the basic rundown of what to expect with New Dawn. You are Player 1 and you have showed up with a man named Rush and his band of do gooders to help out Hope County from the evil that has come on them. It has been 17 years since Joseph Seed let God cleanse the land and start the world anew. The only problem is that, like most of human history, a new start means a new group of people show up to shit on everything. The baddies in New Dawn are twin sisters Mel and Lou who are basically Negan with pigtails and a bigger group of followers. They are not as memorable as Vaas (obviously) or Joseph Seed, but they serve their purpose in this smaller story.

Since the plot is more streamlined there is less to do on the map than with Far Cry 5. This is fine with me especially if you are a gamer with time issues or have other games to catch up with. The map is the same as Far Cry 5, but there is a lot less to do. This is a good thing. Yes, I want my open world games to have plenty of things. What I don't want is a map that looks like developers dropped rabbit pellets of busy work all over the place.

I am looking at you Assassin's Creed: Unity and Syndicate.

There are a few side things to do and you need to do missions to unlock your Guns for Hire but beyond that you can finish the main story and side missions in around 15 hours. Sometimes it is nice to have a game be that long and not some 80 hour adventure. Also Ubisoft is not charging full price for this. At $40 it is priced right for Far Cry fans to jump back in to complete the story that 5 started.

Where does Far Cry go now? They have hit a lot of locales and time periods. I personally would like to have a game in the 80's. Blood Dragon played on that action movie nostalgia, but I want something in the actual "real world" that Far Cry occupies. Make me Crockett or Tubbs. Have Jan Hammer do the soundtrack. Micro Machines fast talking commercials. New Coke. Max Headroom.

Oh yeah, I need to score this.


7.5 Shiny And Chromes out of 10