Far Cry New Dawn’s “Light RPG” Approach Explained

It’s a little hard to believe that we’re receiving a new Far Cry game so soon, especially since Far Cry 5 released in March 2017. However, Ubisoft’s Far Cry New Dawn is a little different. It’s a post-nuclear apocalyptic setting, but set several years after Far Cry 5. Players will be scrounging up a living and attempting to rebuild amidst Mad Max-style roaming gangs.

Creative director Jean-Sebastien Decant recently reveal that the development team is thinking a bit differently about the overall gameplay. While car customization and vehicular warfare will be important, there will also be gun crafting.

In a recent Twitter video, Decant said, “We pushed what we call the ‘light RPG’ approach in the game to create more depth. So you’ll be able to craft guns that have ranks, and these ranks, they will be useful to fight against enemies that also have ranks. We have the brand-new Prosperity home base in which you will be able to rally your characters and invest in order to get better upgrades.”

There’s also an “escalation” system for outposts. Instead of your allies simply moving into a liberated outpost, you can now also choose to “squeeze it”. Decant reveals, “If you squeeze it, you’re going to abandon it. And now that it’s vacant, the enemy is going to come back, put more resources in it, and also more defense, and create a new challenge.” This means there’s some benefit to squeezing outposts and then going back for more rewards.

Will the end-game simply boil down to squeezing outposts for more resources and crafting better weapons? Will there be other high-level challenges and progression a la Assassin’s Creed Odyssey? It won’t be long before we find out. Far Cry New Dawn is out on February 15th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Today's Developer Q&A features #FarCryNewDawn creative director Jean-Sebastien Decant! @Battlesand from Twitter asked us "What game mechanics changed over Far Cry 5?" pic.twitter.com/TqhogYJhvf

— Far Cry (@FarCrygame) January 21, 2019