33) Far Cry New Dawn (2019)

Rounding out the set of Far Cry spinoff titles, New Dawn re-imagines the setting of Far Cry 5, reusing many of the same assets, characters, and locations. The team at Ubisoft had been wanting to use a post apocalyptic setting for years, though they wanted to eschew conventions, making it as bright and vibrant as possible. New Dawn takes place in the year 2035, and acts as an alternate timeline sequel to Far Cry 5. Unlike the previous games in the franchise that I've experienced, New Dawn allows us to make a custom character, finding various cosmetic options as we proceed. A fictionalized version of America with heavy use of pinks, and animals that have been mutated to be deadlier thanks to human arrogance? Hmm... If only they had certain cosmetics... Oh wait!

The game gives us a lot of fun cosmetic options, including a full set of Blood Dragon themed clothes, vehicles, and weapons. Thus, I decided to have a little fun and roleplay, creating Roxy "Nova" Colt, daughter of Rex "Power" Colt from Blood Dragon. Does it actually matter or affect anything? No, but it did enhance my enjoyment of the game. For those curious, yes, the cybernetics are hereditary. Otherwise, why would she have them?

The story begins with the survivors of Hope County, Montana coming together to form a settlement known as Prosperity. Everything is going well until a group known as the Highwaymen, led by twin sisters Mickey and Lou, come into the picture. Desperate for help, they send Carmina Rye to find and recruit a man named Thomas Rush, who's been rebuilding communities across America. He and our character, referred to as the Captain, agree to help, but are ambushed by the Highwaymen. Our character and Carmina narrowly escape, making it back to the settlement with the dire news, but determined to make things work regardless. It's here that the world opens up, allowing us to pursue the main story, recruit allies, or reclaim settlements at our discretion.

The familiar gameplay loop of open-world exploration, resource gathering, and gaining allies or territory is the same as before, though it's further augmented with a revamped leveling system and a more active base building element. Recruiting new allies opens up facilities in Prosperity that give you access to various benefits and can be upgraded by acquiring resources, primarily ethanol. Ethanol is acquired primarily from claiming enemy bases, with a bonus for doing so without being seen. The leveling system does away with the need to recruit specific characters to unlock certain abilities, and even allows some skills to be purchased as many times as you like.

The base building aspect, which unlocks some very useful perks, is hindered in one major way. The sheer lack of enemy bases to conquer leads to the most baffling gameplay decision I've yet seen in the series, which is the necessity to relinquish control of bases you conquer in order to retake them. When you do so, the base becomes harder to reclaim, as more enemies, including more powerful ones, are added, along with additional sirens the enemies can use to call for reinforcements. The increased difficulty comes with a greater reward of ethanol. It absolutely destroys the narrative illusion, as it further gameifies the experience while also making both sides of the conflict seem dumb. I could see this tactic working once, maybe twice, but eventually the Highwaymen would catch on. And it's not just an option, it's all but required to fully upgrade your settlement, and the game actively encourages it. At best, it comes off as a bad attempt to pad out the game, and at worst it's just lazy.

Thankfully, the game excels in other areas. Exploration and combat are fun, the skills you can take when leveling open new options to you and allow you to play how you wish, and the voice acting and music are great. I especially love the licensed music which is a fun selection of songs from the 60's and 70's. One of the many collectibles in the game include finding music players that will add new songs to the in-game radio, which was such a treat that I went out of my way to find them. The choice of music, aside from being fun, really helps the game have its own identity.

The story is fine, with a lot of ties to the events of Far Cry 5 that, having not played it, lacked the meaning or impact for me. On its own, the story is serviceable, though I admit that I wasn't especially fond of the primary antagonists. The idea of having them be twin sisters is really neat, and you do get a sense of their different personalities, but most of their menace is relayed through scripted scenes that, honestly, didn't make them feel that dangerous. We do get to learn a little bit about them and what it is that made them the way they are, but if the goal was to make them sympathetic, it fails miserably. This, of course, leads to yet another example of poorly designed boss battles, as they become damage sponges until such time that they stop being such. It's almost cliche at this point for me to bemoan the lackluster boss fights in the series, yet here were are.

While I enjoyed my time with the game, I must admit that New Dawn has been my least favorite entry in the franchise thus far. It has a lot of charm, but is bogged down by being artificially inflated with repetitive tasks. I appreciate a lot of what's presented here, from the colorful landscapes, the music selection, and the cosmetic options that you can earn in game without microtransactions, but it's missing the unique charm that Primal and Blood Dragon had. And while I can get behind reusing assets from the main series to craft a new experience, reusing the cast of characters makes the game oddly less appealing to new players as well as veterans, as it relies on knowing them from the main game to fully work, but comes off as bastardizing them in some ways. It's an enjoyable, though overall baffling experience that, while fun, fails to leave a lasting impression.