Far Cry Primal

Far Cry Primal is a first-person shooter game set in an open world environment. As the game is set in prehistoric times, the traditional gunplay and vehicle gameplay featured in the Far Cry series were removed, and the player can only get access to melee weapons such as spears, clubs and ranged weapons such as bows and slings. The player cannot purchase weapons and must craft them using the materials scavenged in the world such as wood and stone. As the player progresses, they can craft more lethal weapons with a larger variety of resources.

Besides facing natural dangers, the player must also compete with other hostile tribes occupying the area. By attacking and seizing bonfires and camps, the Wenja tribe will move in and begin patrolling the nearby region, and the player will gain fast travel points as well as camps to rest in. Non-player characters will also task the player to rescue tribe-mates and perform other tasks which improve the village, as well as provide free crafting materials. The game also features a dynamic weather system and day-night cycle, which affects the gameplay.

The game is set in 10,000 BC during the end of the Upper Paleolithic and beginning of the Mesolithic period in Europe, today’s Slovakia. It takes place in the fictional Oros valley in the Carpathian Mountains of Central and Eastern Europe (although some in-game mountains can be easily recognized as the Tre Cime di Lavaredo located in north-east Italy), an open world filled with different types of flora and fauna. A large portion of the game's map consists of modified regions from Kyrat, the fictional Himalayan country featured in Far Cry 4, specifically South Kyrat and a small part of north-western North Kyrat. Unlike previous games, there is prehistoric wildlife such as woolly mammoths, dire wolves, cave bears, cave lions, woolly rhinos, brontotherium, Irish elk and saber-toothed cats along with forms of modern creatures like brown bears, badgers, and deer. Survival is a daily challenge as tribes come into conflict with one another and nature.

Players take on the role of a Wenja tribesman named Takkar (Elias Toufexis), who is stranded in Oros with no weapons after his hunting party is ambushed by a saber-tooth tiger. Takkar, using his newfound skill of taming animals, will eventually rise to power and lead the Wenja to dominate all of Oros.

The development of Far Cry Primal was led by Ubisoft Montreal, with assistance provided by Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Kyiv and Ubisoft Shanghai. When asked about whether Far Cry 4 would feature standalone content like Far Cry 3 with Blood Dragon, creative director Alex Hutchinson declared that a sequel to the game would not be happening, but that they were planning something that could "surprise" players. On January 5, 2015, Ubisoft released a survey and asked players about potential future Far Cry settings. The survey includes themes like vampires, zombies, dinosaurs, a post-apocalyptic world, historical warfare and modern days locations like Peru and Alaska.

It was first added to the Steam database under its codename Far Cry Sigma on October 2, 2015, causing confusion for both fans and press. However, on October 6, 2015, Ubisoft held a stream revealing their next project. It was announced a day later, though it was leaked by IGN Turkey several hours before the official announcement. The game's creative director is Jean-Christophe Guyot, who has worked on several Prince of Persia games.

According to the review aggregator website Metacritic, the Windows version of Far Cry Primal received "mixed or average" reviews from critics upon release, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions received "generally favorable" reviews.

Destructoid's Kyle MacGregor spoke positively about how the game depicts violence towards animals and the survival aspects in general, saying that they were designed with realism in mind. He also felt that the animal companion mechanic was one of the game's strongest elements, saying that it has "limitless potential". In regard to the choice of setting, he felt it was a welcome and natural evolution in the Far Cry series. However, he described the story as being familiar and predictable and said that, even with the drastic change of setting, the Far Cry formula isn't as innovative as it once was.