Ubisoft’s open-world games have followed a very similar formula over the past few years. It doesn’t matter if the game is Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry or otherwise, if it’s an open-world game, it will have things like towers, collectibles and a mini-map showing everything nearby. It looks like this trend will come to an end with Far Cry 5.
In an interview with GamingBolt, Far Cry 5 lead writer Drew Holmes explained why these changes are coming now. “I think it’s because it helps increase exploration,” Holmes said. “I think in Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 you got into a rhythm of, ‘the only way that I can find out what to do in this area is to go climb a tower, hit a button and all of these things pop up.’ We really wanted to focus on exploration with a sense of, ‘I’m not sure what to do or where to go’.”
Removing the radio towers not only facilitates exploration, it encourages players to interact with other characters more. Holmes tried putting himself in the world of Far Cry 5, and had to think of what would be the natural way to learn about his surroundings.
“I’d have to go and try and meet some locals, see if they’d do anything. Or go to a town and see if there’s anything to do around there,” he said. “So the goal really was to get rid of the towers as a way of forcing me to interact with the people, pay attention to my surroundings. And sort of intuitively figure out, ‘well, if there’s a town here, there’s a gas station down the road,’ so everything sort of feels like a believable world.”
This sense of a natural world also led to the removal of a mini map. “The removal of the mini map was so you’re not staring at a little corner of your screen saying, ‘what’s new in the world?'” said Holmes. “You’ve got to actually pay attention to the world and making sure that the art side is doing a good job of making sure there are good landmarks to orient yourself. That it becomes more of less the game guiding you on where to go, and more of you saying, ‘where do I want to go, what do I want to do today?'”
It seems this philosophy will carry over to other Ubisoft games as well, with Assassin’s Creed Origins also removing a mini map.
Far Cry 5 will be releasing for PS4, Xbox One and PC on Feb. 27, 2018.
So what do you think? Are you excited to hear that Far Cry 5 isn’t going to be the same Far Cry as before? What else do you want to know about the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
