


I was a little concerned about the size of Far Cry Primal when I saw that the entire game was only a 12 GB file, which is downright paltry compared to most other titles these days ( The Division’s beta was a 27 GB download this past weekend). Perhaps the game’s most impressive storytelling achievement is inventing an entire ancient language for all the characters to speak, as it would have really wrecked the tone of the game if everyone was sitting around speaking English.

And I always enjoy hearing the raspy tones of Deus Ex’s Elias Toufexis, who voices Takkar himself. I will say that the various members of my tribal council grew on me over time, even if they fall into different familiar archetypes (the crazy one, the hot-blooded warrior, the solemn hunter). The enemy leaders are only glimpsed in a few select cutscenes, so there’s no Vaas or Pagan Min to get attached to. Unfortunately, while Far Cry 3 and 4 both had charming, charismatic villains as their centerpiece, Far Cry Primal has no characters quite as memorable. The story itself is pretty barebones, as you might expect. The game even ends with two separate final battles, one against each tribe, which can be done in whatever order you see fit. There are a few missions which further your specific fights against the Izila and the Udam, but there is no direct “story path” that’s immediately apparent. Essentially you find a bunch of elite recruits for your tribe (a hunter, a trapper, etc) and end up doing missions for them all over the map. I was a little confused about the structure of the game, until I realized Ubisoft was purposefully going for a “non-linear” mission path.
