Far Cry 6: Why We're Headed Back to a Tropical Island Setting

Far Cry is a series that radiates a tropical vibe - it's always been pitched as something like a morally grey adventure holiday (some cases more literally than others). So much so, in fact, that it's easy to forget how long it's been since the game's actually had us fight across a picture-postcard paradise, after trips to the Himalayas and Montana in recent years. With Far Cry 6, it seems we're heading back to the series' roots, with the Cuban-inspired, fictional Caribbean island of Yara providing a blue-skied backdrop for Far Cry's usual mixture of violence, surreal interludes and magnetic villainy. I spoke to the game's narrative director Navid Khavari, and asked what it was that drew lead developer Ubisoft Toronto back to a classic Far Cry location. "I think it was two things," he explained. "There was a feeling among fans of being excited to go to a tropical setting once again. But also, I think for us, [there was] this idea of looking at revolution. And the moment you start looking at revolution, you think guerrilla warfare. And the moment you start thinking guerrilla warfare, you think Cuba." Khavari explains that the team visited Cuba for a month, spoke to real-life Cuban revolutionaries, and became fascinated with the idea of an island that became frozen in time because of forces outside of its control. "So when we were looking at making our fictional Yara, we loved this idea of the dynamic of "here's an island that's been under a blockade – that has these old vintage cars, and is almost a livign postcard. And then you bring in a modern guerrilla revolution aspect - which is so Far Cry - inflicting chaos on this monolithic power structure. It felt like a perfect fit." That sense of frozen time will affect the gameplay too, it seems. Screenshots for the game show weaponry being seemingly upgraded with home-made elements - a rifle using a laser pointer as a sight, for example. "One of the interesting things we took from visiting Cuba was this idea of making do with what you have," says Khavari, when I ask him about if those are player-crafted upgrades. "It's such an intersting concept. It goes from the vintage cars, I saw bicycles with chainsaw motors that were turned into motorcycles. "What we wanted to do in this game was bring that into the weaponry. The types of weapons and toys you're going to get to play with definitely have that sense of ingenuity and creativity that you kind of expect from a guerrilla movement - but it feels very fresh in terms of Far Cry." Far Cry 6 was officially revealed earlier today, after a major leak during the week. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

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