Far Cry Primal is receiving a free update that includes a survival mode. This new difficulty setting adds many new challenges, and will be available to download in a patch released on April 12.
The new game mode will feature many changes, but the biggest one is the inclusion of permadeath. This means players will only get one life, and must make it through the entire game without dying. This condition doesn’t include the vision missions, as those aren’t considered “real.”
Permadeath also extends to animal companions. It will still be possible to save a downed animal, but once they fully die, they are gone. While this might not sound like much for a wolf or sabertooth tiger, this means legendary animals that die cannot be replaced. Animals will also be harder to tame, with the tougher animals requiring you to reduce their health in half before being able to bait them.
Speaking of animals, the owl companion can now only be used for scouting in the new Survival mode. Players will no longer be able to take out all the enemies in an area while behind cover anymore.
If that sounds too hardcore for you, there’s the new second-chance permadeath mode. Players will get one spare life to use, which gets replenished after certain major checkpoints.
Other changes include the addition of a stamina bar. This will make you much slower and weaker when the bar has run out, and can be replenished by sleeping. The mini-map has also been turned off by default, making the game feel more immersive. The map’s “fog of war” will also be heavier and reduce more slowly, making exploration trickier.
Fast traveling will consume food and stamina now, making it a much less attractive option. There will be fewer humans and animals encountered, so hunting and gathering items will be trickier as well. Takkar will also be more susceptible to cold, so crafting winter gear is a much higher priority.
“The idea of doing this mode actually started from the team, saying they wanted to create this mode based on feedback they got from the community,” says Thomas Simon, Far Cry Primal’s game director, in a blog post. “The keystone of that survival mode is the change in the exploration, crafting, and difficulty of the game to make it even more realistic. After that, there are options the player can activate to go further.”
There are some upsides to playing in this mode, however. Hunter Vision now lasts longer, making it easier to spot things in the world. There are also new Ubisoft Club challenges to complete. It was mentioned that new PS4 trophies and Xbox One achievements could not be added. There is also a special reward for players who complete the ultimate challenge: permadeath on, survival mode on, and playing on expert difficulty.
Far Cry Primal’s survival mode update will be coming out on April 12 to Xbox One, PS4 and PC. This patch also brings 4K textures to the PC version.
So what do you think? Are you excited to go back to Far Cry Primal and play on the new difficulty setting? Will this update get you to play the game for the first time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
