Far Cry 6 will take place in Yara, a fictional Caribbean nation caught in a fight between an iron-fisted dictator and a divided revolution. Anton Castillo rules Yara under an oppressive regime he inherited from his father, and is preparing his young son Diego to take over one day.
Diego could be the most important character in Far Cry 6. Not only does he have the future of Yara in his hands, but Diego could be Ubisoft's biggest opportunity to make Far Cry 6 stand out against the other games in the series. Diego may even be more important than both Anton and the upcoming game's playable character, Dani Rojas.
Far Cry 6 And The Franchise's Past
Far Cry 6 has a problem. Far Cry 5 and Far Cry New Dawn were received with more mixed reviews from fans and critics alike than many previous games in the series. The upcoming game needs to perform a tricky balancing act, delivering the Far Cry formula without feeling like it is clinging to the past. Far Cry 6 needs to have a charismatic villain, an expansive open world, and meaningful player choices within the story.
However, it also needs to avoid retreading old ground, which already seems to be a risk based on what has been revealed so far. Far Cry 6 already has some clear similarities with Far Cry games from the past. Like Far Cry and Far Cry 3, Far Cry 6 will be set on a tropical island. While Far Cry 6 will still be the first game in the series set in the Caribbean, this leaves less room for new visuals compared to the snowy peaks of Kyrat or the rolling plains of Hope County, Montana.
Far Cry 6's villain will be the leader of the nation in which the game is set, something already seen in Far Cry 4. Like Pagan Min, Anton Castillo does not believe that his people are capable of governing themselves, and also like Pagan Min, he is invested in preparing an heir to take his place. In Far Cry 4 the heir was player character Ajay Ghale, and in Far Cry 6 it will be Diego.
The revolution plot in Far Cry 6 also appears to have similarities with Far Cry 4. The upcoming game's website describes the revolution as "divided and without unified leadership." In Far Cry 4 players joined the revolutionary organization known as the Golden Path, choosing between two potential leaders with clashing politics.
Although Far Cry has already explored the idea of heirs and inheritance before, Diego is still the game's greatest opportunity to distinguish itself from Far Cry's past and tell a new story. The heir character may not be a first for Far Cry, but the fact that the villain's heir is not the player character could lead to a very interesting dynamic between Anton, player character Dani Rojas, and Diego where Diego is the greatest unknown factor.
The Diego Dynamic
If Far Cry 6 was going to be about the player taking on the role of a dictator's child who had joined the revolution, the relationship between the player character and Anton Castillo might resemble Ajay and Pagan Min's more closely. In Far Cry 6's marketing material so far, however, there has been a notable lack of focus on Dani Rojas. The main question of Far Cry 6's story seems to be whether or not Diego will become the man his father wants him to be, or whether he will break free of Anton's ambitions.
This presents opportunities for decisions that players have never had to make in a Far Cry game before. While Far Cry 4 had players choose between taking over Kyrat themselves or leaving it in the hands of the Golden Path's new leader, Far Cry 6 could see them choosing whether or not to let Diego live depending on how the story unfolds. Far Cry 4 explored the idea of a young heir through the character of Bhadra, a 14-year-old girl believed to be the reincarnation of Kyrat's goddess. However, it appears Diego will be far more central to the plot of Far Cry 6 than Bhadra ever was.
Diego could even end up being the true villain of Far Cry 6, or could raise questions about the lengths the player is willing to go to in order to ensure the future of their revolution. Far Cry 6 may sometimes look like it's made from disparate parts of other Far Cry games, but Diego adds the possibility for a totally new dynamic. There may have been tropical islands, a dictators, divided revolutions, and even a young child heir in the Far Cry games already. What there has not been, however, is a central non-player character who the main villain is more invested in than the player character themself.
Diego could considerably heighten the impact of Anton Castillo as Far Cry 6's villain. Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad fame will likely give a fantastic performance as Anton based on the cinematic trailer, but Diego gives Ubisoft the chance to explore a whole new kind of villainy. In one sense, it seems like Anton really does care about Diego. He sees him as his successor, and the Castillo family as the only ones who can "reconstruct paradise" in Yara.
However, it's also clear that he sees Diego as an extension of his own legacy, and is putting his son in immense danger by insisting that he take over as president. Anton Castillo may believe that he is teaching his child a valuable lesson in the cinematic trailer by making him drop a grenade from the presidential palace onto the revolutionaries below, but the trailer makes it clear that the greatest danger posed to Diego comes from his father. The real challenge will be fitting Dani Rojas into that dynamic. If Dani ends up being a compelling character, however, the dynamic between Anton, Diego, and Dani could be among the most unique seen in the series so far.
Far Cry 6 is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.