Yo, what's up gamers! As a hardcore Far Cry vet who's been liberating outposts since the days of the Rook Islands, I gotta say, hopping into Far Cry 6 in 2025 feels... weird. Don't get me wrong, there's fun to be had in Yara, but man, does it ever feel like Ubisoft took the soul of Far Cry and tried to put it in an RPG-shaped box. It's like they saw the success of their other titles and thought, 'Hey, let's make Far Cry more like that.' Spoiler alert: It doesn't really work.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room first: the combat. Remember the pure, unadulterated chaos of Far Cry? Grabbing any weapon you found, going loud with an LMG, or going silent with a bow? It was simple, it was freeing, and it was GLORIOUS. Far Cry 6 throws a wrench into that beautiful machine. Now, we're juggling ammo types like we're playing some hardcore survival sim. See an enemy with a helmet? Gotta switch to armor-piercing rounds. See another type? Better have the right bullet. It's not more strategic, it's just micromanagement hell. You're constantly pausing the action to fiddle in menus, which totally kills the flow. The health bars on tougher enemies just make it feel like a slog, not a challenge. It's a classic case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it,' but Ubisoft fixed it anyway... into something clunkier.

And speaking of clunky, can we talk about the weapon pickup system? Or should I say, the lack thereof. This one genuinely baffles me. In a game where you play as Dani Rojas, a guerrilla fighter with military training, you can't pick up a gun from a dead soldier? Come on! A guerrilla's whole thing is being resourceful and using whatever they can find. This isn't Jason Brody, a scared tourist in Far Cry 3, learning on the fly. Dani is a badass from the get-go, blowing up boats and taking down bases. Not letting me grab that sweet rifle off the ground for a few shots feels anti-immersive and honestly, just annoying. It forces you to stick with your starter gear for way too long unless you grind for pesos.

Oh yeah, the grind. Let's talk currencies, because apparently one isn't enough.

Having three different currencies doesn't make the economy deep; it makes it feel like a mobile game. It's artificial padding, plain and simple. Instead of feeling like a resourceful freedom fighter, I feel like an accountant trying to budget my three different wallets.

Now, about that beautiful Yaran map. It looks stunning, no cap. But is it truly open? Not really. Ubisoft slapped level-gating on it, a trick they learned from the newer Assassin's Creed games. See a cool mountain in the distance? You can't just go there. The game will have a 'Recommended Level' warning, and if you ignore it, you'll get melted by enemies with massive health pools. The ultimate insult? Anti-aircraft cannons. Try to fly your wingsuit or helicopter to a new area you haven't 'unlocked' yet, and BOOM – you get shot out of the sky. In a Far Cry game! The series that was built on freedom and emergent 'how did I even pull that off' moments is now actively punishing you for exploring. It's a major L for player agency.

So, what's the verdict in 2025? Far Cry 6 feels like an identity crisis. It's caught between wanting to be the chaotic, freeform sandbox we fell in love with and the systems-heavy, progression-focused RPGs that are popular now. The result is a game that often works against its own strengths.

With rumors about Far Cry 7 already swirling, the big question is: Where does Ubisoft go from here?

• Double down on the RPG stuff? 😐 If they do, they need to integrate it way more smoothly. This half-measure just doesn't cut it.

• Go back to the series' roots? 🙏 Please, for the love of all things chaotic, give us back that pure, un-systematized freedom. Let us pick up guns, remove level gates, and just let us play.

• Pull another Primal and do something totally wild? 🔥 Honestly, at this point, I'd welcome a bold new direction over this awkward middle ground.

Far Cry used to stand out in Ubisoft's lineup. Now, with Far Cry 6, it risks blending into a homogenous blob of open-world RPG-lite games. Here's hoping the next trip into chaos remembers what made the series special in the first place: giving us a playground and a ton of tools, then getting the hell out of our way. Peace out, guerrillas!

Recent trends are highlighted by Gamasutra (Game Developer), which frequently explores how evolving open-world design philosophies impact player agency and immersion. Their developer interviews and postmortems often discuss the tension between adding RPG systems for engagement and maintaining the core identity of established franchises, a debate that resonates strongly with the current state of Far Cry 6.