Ubisoft is going through a bit of a rough patch right now. With Ubisoft's 2022 slate not quite living up to the company's high sales expectations, the publisher has decided to undergo some internal shake-ups, with the biggest news being the cancelation of three unannounced games and yet another delay for Skull and Bones, which seems doomed by now. But while the company can continue to wash its slate clean, its biggest properties are where the money is, and Far Cry is in desperate need of reinvention.

Debuting in 2004, Far Cry has been one of Ubisoft's best-selling franchises for almost two decades now, rivaled only by the juggernaut that is the Assassin's Creed franchise. But while Assassin's Creed has changed and adapted over the years, with one major shift occurring with the release of Assassin's Creed Origins in 2017, the Far Cry series has stayed largely the same for about a decade, and it's about time Ubisoft changed that.

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Why Ubisoft Should Reinvent Far Cry Grames

vaas and team in Far Cry 3

The first Far Cry game may not have been the biggest seller of the franchise, but it was a solid starting point, with players being encouraged to explore the game's island in a non-linear fashion. Far Cry 2 took this to the next level, introducing a slew of side activities that could be tackled at any stage. But Far Cry 3 is where the franchise really cemented its grip on the open-world FPS genre. Giving players a whole island to explore, with outposts to take down, weapons to unlock, items to craft, and side quests galore, Far Cry 3 revolutionized the open-world FPS in 2012, but the franchise has barely moved forward since.

It's been almost 11 years since one of the best Far Cry games was released in the form of Far Cry 3, and despite three mainline entries launching since then, and several spinoffs, the Far Cry formula has remained pretty much unchanged. Players are still dropped into an open world and given free rein over the map, with outposts that require taking down, items that need crafting, and tons of NPCs with plenty of side quests that need completing. The only things that really changed are each open world's setting and the size of the map. For a while, this formula was Ubisoft's signature mark on the industry, and quickly became the reason why fans picked up its open-world titles. But over the last few years, the general perception of these games has shifted, and fans are desperate for something new.

Almost the exact same thing happened with the Assassin's Creed franchise. The first 2007 game was a pretty big hit for Ubisoft, and the 2009 sequel improved on its predecessor in some pretty major ways, creating a formula that would be largely unchanged for years. Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, Assassin's Creed 3, and Black Flag all share the same essential DNA, and though each entry brought its own unique setting, protagonist, and some new features to the table, they were all largely the same game just repeated for five years straight.

In 2015, however, Ubisoft took the Assassin's Creed franchise back to the drawing board in an attempt to reinvent the franchise. The end product was Assassin's Creed Origins, a game that still retained the essence and core narrative of the original series, but flipped its gameplay on its head. Instead of an emphasis on stealth and counter-attack combat, Assassin's Creed Origins emphasized hack-and-slash gameplay while also introducing a deep loot system. This formula has then carried over to every Assassin's Creed released since. While this reinvention has been pretty divisive, it has kept the franchise fresh and relevant, and there's no real alternative for Far Cry at this point. If Ubisoft wants to keep the Far Cry franchise alive, then it needs to do something drastic with it.

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