Far Cry Primal: Review

Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor

Sticks and Stones will Break their Bones…

This is Far Cry Primal, so don’t expect any rocket launchers or mini guns. In fact, you’ll need to rethink your strategy for combat entirely. It is one of the high points of the game, in my opinion. By the end of Far Cry 4, I no longer worried about stealth. The piddling bonus XP meant nothing since I’d already collected my favorite Legendary guns. I could wade into an outpost and dispatch everyone in minutes, reinforcements or not. This is simply not the case in Primal. 

You are a caveman, and as such you only have access to the very origins of weaponry: Clubs, Spears, Knives, and a bow and arrow (whether that is factually accurate or not, you simple don’t make a game without a bow and arrow these days). There are “grenade” weapons later in the game, and a few final act surprises, but for the majority of the 20 hour ride you are living old school.

Clubs are slow and brutal, crushing skulls and breaking bones. Throwing knives are…pretty typical. Spears can be used at close range or be devastating at a distance. And the bow is practical and silent. Taking down a few enemy tribesmen is a simple matter of closing distance and picking targets. 

Except it is never that easy. Enemies live in the environment, and they are just as adept at survival as Takkar. Enemies use foliage to disappear, attack in packs, and hunt as well as they are hunted. They can also absorb a healthy amount of damage if you don’t place your shots. On more than a few occasions, I found myself clubbed down before making much of a dent because I rushed into battle. Make no mistake, success in the early game–and often later on–relies on careful planning and deliberate attacks.  

This type of combat starts off fresh, and only improves when you add the wide variety of tamed beasties to the mix. But, toward the latter few hours of the game, it is wildly repetitive. You’ve seen the basic set up of one outpost, you’ve seen them all. Even the assaults on rival tribes gets stale once you master the basics. 

There is also the fact that, after a few hours with your weapons, you’ve seen almost everything the game has to offer. The story isn’t much to write home about, and we’ve come too far as a gaming culture to be that wowed by graphics. Primal loses a lot of steam after that initial interest fades.