Summary
TheFar Crygames have a reputation for offering players large open worlds filled with immersive sandbox gameplay that allows fans to pull off impressive kills and do crazy stunts. SomeFar Crygames also have great stories. These elements all mean it’s pretty easy to sink many hours into aFar Crygame without realizing it.
MostFar Crygames are fun on the first playthrough, but which entries hold up through multiple runs? TheFar Crygames tend to be pretty long and are usually stuffed with optional content. That’s great the first time, but it can make playing through a second time a drag. We’ve ranked all the mainFar Crygames on how fun they are to play more than once, considering things like bloat, story quality, and how well the gameplay holds up on multiple playthroughs.
Unfortunately for Ubisoft, they seem to have perfected theFar Cryformula withFar Cry 3, and for some fans, every entry since has been a step in the wrong direction.Far Cry 6has many flaws, but one of its worst is that the game continues the modern trend ofopen-world games being too long. Ubisoft stripped out many of the features from other recent entries that fans liked and stuffedFar Cry 6full of meaningless copy/paste filler that gets old fast.
If nothing else, this killsFar Cry 6’s replay appeal. Getting through the game the first time is enough of a slog. A second? No thanks. Its story isn’t interesting enough to be worth experiencing and lacks the kind of iconic characters that makeFar Cry 3and4so special. The gameplay and mechanics were also dumbed down, meaning it’s less fun as a sandbox game than its predecessors. Ultimately, there’s very little reason to go back toFar Cry 6after finishing it, if one ever finishes it at all.
The originalFar Crywas nothing short of revolutionary when released in 2004. The visuals were stunning (for the time), the maps were huge, and it offered a level of player freedom gamers just weren’t used to. It’s a beloved entry in the franchise that fans often view with rose-tinted glasses. It’s a20-year-old game that’s still worth playing, but that doesn’t mean the cruel march of time has been kind to it.
By modern standards, the AI is painfully bad, enemy accuracy is almost superhuman, the mechanics feel ancient, the story is barebones, and its maps seem a lot less open and full of choice than they used to. The originalFar Cryis still worth playing, but nostalgia can only go so far. These days, for many fans, one playthrough is more than enough.
Far Cry 2was really where modernFar Crybegan. It’s arguably one ofthe best open-world FPS gamesever made and introduced many of the franchise’s hallmark mechanics. It was also well ahead of its time and still features the best fire mechanics ever seen in a game.Far Cry 2’s main story is morally ambiguous and is entertaining enough to survive multiple playthroughs. The game also had plenty to do and was full of side content, like buddy missions, weapon convoys, assassinations, and collectibles to find.
Back in 2008, it felt likeFar Cry 2’s sandbox gave the player a lot of options, but it pales in comparison to some later entries. The stealth was basic, enemy AI was limited, and, in reality, there weren’t that many ways to take on each task. This might limit its replay value to a degree, but the sheer amount of mayhem the player can wreak means it’s still a fun entry to go back to once in a while.
Far Cryisn’t exactly a franchise known for taking risks anymore, but boy wasFar Cry Primala brave move. It turned the formula established byFar Cry 3and4on its head by putting the player in control of a hunter-gatherer during the Mesolithic period. That meant no fancy explosions, no modern hardware, and a much bigger emphasis on melee combat and hunting.
The game is all too often overlooked these days, but it was a great entry and a breath of fresh air. It was a more difficult, simpler experience that focused much more on survival while still incorporating some of the franchise’s sandbox craziness. Unfortunately, the game’s limited scope means it’s not that fun to replay. It’s quite a long game, and eventually, players are likely to tire of the game’s limited weapons and crafting options. After all,Far Cry Primal’sbest weaponsare still just a pointy stick and a bow at the end of the day. It can all get a bit repetitive, which isn’t great for replay value.
Far Cry New Dawncomes across as DLC that got spun into a standalone game. It’s a direct sequel toFar Cry 5(a franchise first) set in a post-apocalyptic version of that game’s map. However, it’s much smaller in scale, only using a third of the original map, and features a lot less side content. The main story is about the same length, but there’s much less side content on offer.
Despite experiencing a mixed reception, it’s still one ofthe best apunkalypse games around. It made some changes to the formula that fans weren’t keen on (enemy levels and weapon tiers), but the experience is relatively short and sweet. That short runtime makesFar Cry New Dawnone of the easier entries to replay for anyone looking for a quickFar Cryfix.
Far Cry 5received a fair bit of criticism at launch for being too similar to the entries that came before it. While it’s true the game didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, it did get a lot of things right. It has an excellent story with one ofUbisoft’s darkest endings, an awesome sandbox, and an upgraded melee weapon system that’s very fun to experiment with.
Far Cry 5is fun to go back and replay because of how well its sandbox and combat systems work together. With practice, the player can stalk through enemy bases and missions like John Wick or mow enemies down like a supersoldier. It also has one of the franchise’s most real-feeling settings, which makes causing mayhem more fun. The only thing hurting the game’s replay value is all the Ubisoft open-world bloat. While not as bad asFar Cry 6orAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, it can make multiple runs ofFar Cry 5start to feel like a repetitive chore. Rather than start a new game, many players will just load up an old save instead if they want to play around in its brilliant sandbox.
After the massive success ofFar Cry 3,Far Cry 4was basically more of the same. That might sound like a criticism, but it’s not.Far Cry 4took what made3so good, smoothed down the rough edges, and is in many ways theFar Cryfranchise’s peak. It’s a fairly long game with lots of optional content, but outside the infamous radio towers, it never gets repetitive or starts to feel like bloat.
That meansFar Cry 4is a very replayable game. The story is excellent, especially the villain, Pagan Min, meaning it doesn’t get boring when repeated. More importantly, the enemy bases and mission structure don’t get old and are as fun to play the third or fourth time as they were the first. The game balanced quality and quantity well compared to later entries, making it a game that’s fun to go back and replay all these years later.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragonwas an expansion forFar Cry 3that acted as a standalone game. A crazy spoof of 80s sci-fi and action film tropes, it’s what happens when a studio lets its developers do whatever they want. HowBlood Dragonever saw the light of day is a mystery, but players are thankful it did.
Blood Dragonis a short and sweet experience. The main story is just four and a half hours long, while a completionist run takes about nine hours. That’s very short by today’s standards but makes it perfect for replaying. Every second spent inBlood Dragonis full of crazy quips and references and frantic encounters like battling giant cybernetic reptiles.Blood Dragonnever gets old and is a ton of fun to play through multiple times.
Some games are so beloved and so iconic that it becomes a habit to go back and replay them once in a while. For fans of theFar Cryfranchise,Far Cry 3is one of those games. It revolutionized open-world stealth games and video game storytelling and has barely aged a day despite being over ten years old.
Far Cry 3remains one of the most immersive sandbox games ever made. There are numerous ways to take on each encounter and enemy base, and its progression systems are still top-notch. This gives it a ton of replay value, and the simple fact is thatFar Cry 3never seems to get old. When people are looking for aFar Cryfix in between new entries,Far Cry 3is the one they tend to gravitate to, and for good reason.
