So I finally finished New Dawn and here's my overall thoughts and feelings on the matter.
The World
You know when people had that issue with Fallout 4 (which?) the one where they wanted to know more about the modern world before the bombs dropped? This is basically what people wanted. We had a whole game to explore Hope County and here we come back again to see its new face after the facelifting nuclear apocalypse. And believe me, don't listen to those people who say "Oh, it's just copy and pasted crap!" It's not. The landscape's really changed, to the point I have to double-triple check to see it's a familiar sight. It's both new and nostalgic all at the same time.
During New Dawn's production many were criticizing why the world is bright and colorful instead of radioactive and wasteland-like. The answer, that hardly anybody listened to, is the fictional phenomenon called "Super Bloom." Seriously people, pay attention, this was mentioned even in the beginning Devs. Super Bloom is when mother nature herself lets plants overgrow everywhere to recover great amount of damage. With almost two decades of no human interaction plants and fauna were allowed to flourish. That's not to say the world wasn't a wasteland before the bloom. From what I understand the world was a desolate black desert, then a freezing ice age, before finally settling in the current world we have now. If you're looking for that desert wasteland, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed to find out that it surrounds Hope County as a border for the game. I'm not complaining, I'll take lush and colorful lands over the drab gray deserts of Fallout.
The new Expeditions feature is pretty interesting, but I can't say it's all that. While it is cool to go to somewhere different and see how the world has changed as well, it doesn't add much of anything of substance. Except for one Expedition where you can find a cool secret, the rest are just repetitive retrieval missions. Don't get me wrong, expeditions are super helpful, they give you a shit ton of resources, especially circuit boards, they give out more of those, but with the number of ways to get resources it's not something you're super eager to jump in to.
Gameplay
I had zero concerns for this game until I heard that the enemies would be given a health bar and that they would be basically bullet sponges. A bullet is a bullet, if it hits someone's head, they are dead. I was surprised to see that this change didn't bother me for the majority of the game. In fact, it was actually a welcomed challenge.
You play as the Captain of Security. The second in command(?) of Thomas Rush the leader of a group that travel around helping settlements and making them safe and livable. You can be male or female and you're absolutely silent, just like the Deputy form 5. Other then that, you get no other information, the rest is up to your imagination. For me, this time I played as a male. If you're curious about more of my character feel free to ask.
Bladed takedowns are back. (If someone could tell me what kind of knife we use for takedowns I would appreciate it.) Takedowns with blunt weapons are taken down, a little bit of a downer, but since we got a lot of other ways to kill people, I'm good. Like, some weapons come with makeshift bayonets and the animations of those takedowns are awesome!
You can earn perk points in a lot more ways then five. Thankfully the game got rid of 5's system where you accumulated points and then were forced to face the boss. I could save people from capture without worry of being forced into a confrontation and I even earned points for it! You can get points by completing challenges. Trust me, that's the fastest way to make yourself powerful early in the game.
Animals
Animals have always been my favorite part about Far Cry, ever since 3. It's not a survival game until you're competing with the biggest and baddest predators around. And these are the apocalypse version of these predators. First off I'd like to say that I love the new designs for the animals. They are so colorful and unique and make me wonder why evolution took this turn for them. If you go plant hunting you see that humming birds have gotten a lot bigger.
Unlike 5 though I didn't do much hunting. There really isn't much of a need for it, especially fishing. You seek skins for resources and you can pretty much get those in a lot more, less time consuming, way. Anytime that I hunted, it was because the animals came at me.
I said fishing is pretty much pointless. In 5 they at least give you a challenge that motivates you to fish, but with all the other stuff you can do, why bother—except to have fun. They also seemed to have taken out a couple of fish, namely the sturgeon.
And the fish they added is—WHY ARE THERE DEMON FISH IN THIS GAME?! Seriously Ubisoft, are these like your favorite animal? Not every place needs something deadly in the water. If you wanted a dangerous man-eating fish, then fucking mutate the ones you have already! Please, anyone reading this, if you find any lore on why these fish are in this game, tell me! A part of me blames it on Hurk, but I have no evidence to back this up. I NEED a reason for why this is.
Speaking of mutants. There are these even more mutated creatures called "Monstrous Animals." They're the Elite of the animal kingdom. Basically bears, boars, cougars, and bison that have some kind of moss-fungus-rock-scab shit all over them that acts as some kind of "natural" armor, with some glowing weak spot somewhere on the body. As tough as they come, you need armor-piercing rounds to take these guys on, otherwise it's constant healing yourself strategy. Out of all the animals, I'm most curious about them. The reason the animals mutated was because of a mix between the Bliss and radiation. I REALLY want to know what made these guys into the armored behemoths that they are.
Weapons
When I heard that Far Cry was going to get the RPG treatment, I was expecting a lot more customization out of New Dawn's weapons. Not to say the weapons aren't unique looking, but you buy them as is. You can't switch out bayonets, skins, you can't even add scopes or silencers. You have to buy a weapon that has a scope or a silencer. A real step down in my opinion.
But like I said, the weapons look very unique and they have some funny descriptions. And I do like that they are ranked, and you have to earn those ranks. In 5 you could get a powerful weapon at any time so long as you had the money and level and that always annoyed me a little. But here you have to earn the weapons through resources and levels, which I really like.
The saw launcher is th weapon that was promoted the most in the trailers and IS one of the most unique things to come out of the franchise. Once used enough to master it, it becomes a hell of a weapon. Just remember it is not used for stealth. Learned that the hard way. When you level it up to the Elite version, it's a real power house.
For those of you curious, my main weapons were the saw launcher, submachine gun, and SVD sniper rifle, with the fourth being whatever I fancied at the time.
The Guns for Hire
The Guns for Hire are my favorite mechanic from FC5. Since its introduction I've just been giddy about what it could do for future games. Just imagine what would have happened if we got that in FC4. I like to think some of my OCs from my One True King story are GFH (Nadia, Boris, and Sivudu). Unfortunately, in New Dawn there are some issues. At first I was upset that there were a few less then last game, but since this is a spinoff game (just like Primal) it was understandable. So I let it slide. HOWEVER, once I started playing I discovered something after getting my second GFH. YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ONE GFH! What the hell Ubisoft?! Why ONE?! I can understand not having a whole squad, but what's wrong with having two? The enemies are tougher, so wouldn't it be more useful to have two? I'm sorry, I just can't let this go. I want to say they should update this, but I know they won't because if they couldn't add stabbing weapons in 5, they sure as hell won't let you have two GFH in the field.
Those are my feelings for the mechanics of GFH, but what about my feelings for the characters? I love them! They're just as unique as the others from 5.
Carmina is your first companion and I'll be honest I thought she'd be the weakest. She's just armed with an assault rifle and can throw sticks of dynamite. So just a typical grunt? The girl, by the time I had gotten to the second part of the game, had the highest body count of 70. And out of all my companions she kept the record of highest body count. By the end of the game she had somewhere around 100. She is so incredibly useful, it's hilarious. I saw that number in the roster and my jaw just dropped. I was eating crow at that moment. Carmina is very likable, she's strong, emotional, did I mention she's a magnificent fighter? As nice as she is, she also has a dark side. She's just bloodthirsty when she's fighting. The shouts and declarations she makes when she goes up against the H-Men is almost disconcerting. She's not as profound as Jess, but it's close.
Timber . . . is a good boy. I miss Boomer, but I welcome this Akita Inu. He seems to be more intelligent then the other dogs, maybe even Boomer. I like to think he's the equivalent of Dogmeat from Fallout 4: oddly intelligent for an animal living in the apocalypse. Unfortunately, because you can only have one GFH, I didn't use him as much as I expected I would. He would work well with Carmina or Nana, but alas. Unlike Boomer, he lacks a background. When it came to Boomer we knew enough about him to develop sympathy for him. With Timber, I don't know anything about him other then he's smart and a stray. I still love him and sometimes I'd just drive around on my bike with him by my side!
Jerome was probably my most underused GFH. I had him a few times, but then just forgot about him. I think the concept of an old preacher who survived a war, a holy war, and an apocalypse and is now going around protecting the innocent like some kind of legendary Clint Eastwood character is awesome. Unfortunately, that's where the awesomeness ends. He's just an old guy with a shotgun, a bottle full of fire, and the good Word in his heart. Out of all my companions he had the lowest body count. Sad.
Nana is AWESOME! Even the villains think she's a cool grandma and even wanted to hang out with her. Combine Hurk's dumb-silliness, with Grace's sharpshooting skills, and just a bit of a tone downed Adelaide's personality, then you got Nana. Having her around is super useful. First off, she already better then Grace because she uses a fucking Silencer! Seriously Grace, if you weren't so loud I wouldn't hold you back so much. Second, she's got some funny one-liners that always makes me laugh or smile. She's just a hoot! (My favorite line is "I will die in extreme comfort or I'm never gonna die!") Nana is witty, crazy, maybe slightly perverted(?) and sadly might have Alzheimers. She is just one of those people you can't ever see dying . . . and it breaks your heart when they do.
Horatio, for some reason, was one Fang that I was really looking forward to. When I first learned about him, I was a bit disappointed. A boar? We had a dog, a bear, and a mountain lion last time, and we get a big ass pig? Why not a wolverine, or an eagle, or one of those mutant animals? But then I saw something special. I don't know why or how, but I just suddenly felt like Horatio was going to be one of my go-to's. I used him more then Timber! This big lumbering mass of bacon is tough and awesome. I would send him ahead to run amok in camps, while I stayed back and watched. When you get him upgraded to his third ability and upgrade him to Elite status, he is unstoppable! He can clear out a whole outpost by himself without me rarely even lifting a finger. I had a feeling that he would be a better tank then Cheeseburger and by God I was right! He's my big lovable, self-healing, indestructible tank!
Hurk is always a blast (literally in this sense). He never ceases to make me laugh, smile or just feel giddy. Though I think he's getting sick and tired of getting into these skirmishes and fighting alongside protagonists. Kind of like Jerome though I didn't use him a whole lot. That was mostly because of his weapon. I just didn't have many uses for a rocket launcher (Very Surprisingly) and he would just get in the way. He had more of a body count then Jerome, but not by a whole lot. I was mostly interested in his backstory in the apocalypse. When I heard he had a kid I did so many doubletakes I got whiplash. The idea of Hurk having a kid is almost scary, but the idea of ANY woman letting him touch her . . . is almost borderline mythical. I don't think Hurk would be a terrible dad, considering he didn't get along well with his own pops I think he would try to be the best he could, but I do worry for that kid. Thankfully that kid also has Sharky and believe me that man is a great parent from what I've seen. Also, he treats the woman right and their relationship is both funny, sweet, unique and . . . kinda strange. Speaking of.
Gina Guerra was the one companion I didn't know anything about until a month ago or so. She's a former Highwayman and is the first GFH that uses an LMG. She's also the woman that allowed Hurk to have sex with her, knock her up and have his baby. And THIS is where her character gets interesting. First off she was already in a rocky position with her group, but after she had Blade (she and Hurk's kid) she didn't want her kid to become like her or the Highwaymen. Very admirable for a raider. She doesn't even agree that much with the views of the good people of Prosperity, but she knows her child will have a better life with them then that of the hedonistic raider lifestyle. That right there is enough to make her a very interesting and complex character. There are some other unique things about her, but you all should play with her to discover them yourselves. Trust me, she's one of the most fascinating characters in the game. Used her moderately in battle, not a whole lot, but definitely more then Hurk or Jerome.
The Judge is last. In my opinion one of the more unique characters in the game. Not because they're the only stealthy hunter companion, but because they are originally your main character from FC5. The Deputy. Not really that shocking as people figured it out a month or so before the game's release, but still cool overall. The Judge gives me vibes of Darth Vader, mixed with Predator, silent but lethal. His design helps that it looks ambiguous so you can't tell if they are male or female and their mask, obviously, hides the features. You can never tell what they're thinking and that's the intent. Depending on what you thought of your Deputy and how they thought or acted, it's up to your imagination to guess their feelings. Me? I felt the Deputy was truly brainwashed, but wanted to be released from their hold by Joseph. The Deputy just wants to help people, but until Joseph says otherwise or he dies, they are bound to serve him and God's plan.
Unfortunately, the Judge is the most inept companion! They're a very downgraded version of Jess. They aren't a terrible shot, nor are they not stealthy, but the AI for the Judge can't think to go around something to get to the target I designated for him. I would choose a target from across the area and they would run back and forth, trying to find an angle to shoot the target and then just crouch in a random spot and NOT SHOOT. This happens . . . many times. And unlike Jess, he can't one-shot armored enemies, which can get very annoying when you sneak, because if he doesn't fire a second arrow after my whole operation is blown and I'm in a firefight! And just like Timber, I thought I would use them a lot, but I was sorely disappointed. He is ranked alongside Gina for most moderately used companion. Awesome character, needs better AI work.
The Villains
The Highwaymen are a very unique enemy compared to others from past games. I would rank them second under the peggies because of their personality, but for toughness, they get first place. I honestly think the Highwaymen are tougher then peggies.
Enemeies still have the same ranks, berserker, bruiser, pyro, but they have a unique, more powerful enemy among their ranks. Enforcers are strong and scary sons of bitches. They are completely decked out in armor and unless you're packing armor-piercing rounds they are going to be a challenge. When you see more then one and you can't stealth them, run and hide. Trust me, they are some of the toughest enemies I've faced in gaming.
But I'm sure you all want me to talk about the leaders of the Highwaymen. The Women of Power: Mickey and Lou. Well . . . they're alright. I'm afraid they're not as memorable as their predecessors (Vaas, Pagan, Joseph). They can be intimidating and I definitely consider them a threat equal to past villains, but they're just not as memorable. With past villains I could remember two or three lines that just resonate, but with the Twins, I don't think they said anything that memorable. Their "power" speech, their second appearance with the kids, and the end of the Second Part of the game where they are explaining how there is "no future" is pretty much it.
They have a good boss fight! I can say that for sure and unlike the last game you can decide their fate (well one of theirs). They do give off this air of intimidation and intelligence that makes me think that they can get away with a lot of shit and have, but I wouldn't say they're unpredictable. That's the difference. With Vaas or Pagan or Joseph, you had no idea what they would do. With these girls it's pretty by the numbers.
So that's it. They're unique villains, but not exactly fun villains.
Joseph Seed
Last, but certainly not least, Joseph Seed has returned and he's as fascinating as ever! Since his reveal in the trailers everyone has been wondering what the Father has been up to after all this time.
I won't reveal much because I feel like this is something people should find and see for themselves. But the gist of it is, Joseph has mellowed over the years. It's almost a complete 180 how different he acts in New Dawn. He's not as confident or calm as he was in 5. He seems more unsure, he has doubts. I think he thought the world would be a better place after the bombs fell. Like there would be no more people to sin and it would just be him and his family. But no, other people survived . . . including people that sin and that are evil. He even has come to terms that his siblings were pretty appalling people and that he should have reigned them in during the Reaping. It isn't until the end of the game that he realizes that he and his blood are just . . . sick. At the end you are given the choice you should have been given in 5. You can kill him or you can spare him (which in some eyes could be seen as more of a punishment, trust me). For me, I ended him. I was still sore about 5 and despite some pity I felt for him, I felt this just had to be done. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts about Joseph and his end.
My overall thoughts? This game is fun, I like it, but unfortunately, it's got quite a few problems. For Far Cry I come for the gameplay and the story, and both were . . . okay. That's just it, the game is okay and I was expecting something more. I don't regret buying the game, not at all, I even bought the Deluxe Edition, but unlike the last games I can't really argue with anyone that doesn't like it because I do see some problems with the game. It also doesn't help that this game came out the same time as Metro, another post-apocalypse game and Rage 2 is just a few months away. Though if I'm being honest, I've seen Metro and, well it looks cool, but I'm not interested. And I didn't even play Rage 1 so I'm not that hyped for the sequel, though the trailer looks fun.
New Dawn is just another chapter in the series and a spinoff at that. I wish there were things they could have done, added, fixed, but it's alright. Maybe the next one will be a bit more ground breaking and interesting. Because this is a spinoff like Primal I expect we'll get back to the modern world. At least I hope so, I really don't want Far Cry to be the next apocalypse videogame. We already have enough of those.