Far Cry 6’s interesting season pass, which allows players to play past franchise villains, is keeping fans coming back for now, but eventually, Ubisoft will move on to the next entry. Fans can reasonably expect it soon, as the franchise has only skipped 3 years out of the past 10. If it were following the same pattern, then it would be an unnumbered entry similar toBlood Dragon, Primal, andNew Dawn.
That said, many are expecting Ubisoft to takeFar Cry 7in the same direction asAssassin’s Creed Infinity—that is, crudely, a hub of sorts that houses all future content within a live service model.Far Cry 6’s base game shows how some of this could work, like special operations, but largely it’s a question mark if it even happens. However, beyond that, the Villains DLC forFar Cry 6is doing a lot of legwork to bring a cohesive universe to a potential live-service Far Cry game (which would be beneficial if it were telling a bigger story).
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The Far Cry Timeline
The thing is,Far Cry’s timelineis convoluted if someone tries to piece it together. There are key months and events known to the franchise, but there are also “alternative universes” to consider too. For the most part, it’s been best to considerFar Cryas an anthology—thematically connected but overall independent games. A good example of this, which has never been clear, is The Collapse inFar Cry 5.
Specifically, The Collapse sees the world and particularly the United States fall to nuclear war.New Dawnbuilds on this idea directly, butFar Cry 6is dated AFTER The Collapse supposedly happened. Yet, in analternate ending toFar Cry 6, Dani can travel to the U.S. and it’s all okay. One could argue that The Collapse is also set on another timeline or thatFar Cry 6actually happens before, but the best idea thus far has been to just think of them, again, as unconnected games. Except Ubisoft clearly doesn’t want fans doing that anymore.
Far Cry 6’s Base Game and Vaas DLC Begin Connecting the Universe
At first, theFar Cry 6Villains DLCseemed like it could have been a gimmick—playing as these villains with no real consequential DLC would have been inviting enough. However, the base games and DLCs have been slowly and surely drawing lines for what may become some “master” timeline forFar Cry. After beatingFar Cry 6’s base game, for example, players can hear Vaas talking to Juan about smuggling Viviro. At first, it’s really hard to justify how this happens and could seemingly implyFar Cry 6happens earlier thanFC3.
However, Vaas’ DLC reveals that Vaas escaped alive inFar Cry 3.Jason Brody didn’t kill him, something many fans have believed for years. Vaas has clearly spent some time dealing with his demons, which results inVaas actually beating Citra and Jason Brodyin the end. It appears now that, in connecting these dots, Vaas survives, eventually returns to smuggling, and begins smuggling Viviro for Juan at some point.
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Far Cry 6’s Pagan Min DLC Connects FC4 and FC5
The main timeline details how Anton Castillo’s election to Yaran president takes place in the same year as the events ofFar Cry 4. That’s not a real connection, but the aforementioned Vaas-Juan relationship is a big enough connection betweenFar Cry 3andFar Cry 6. Then,Pagan Min’s DLCcomes in with another major reveal. Pagan Min, whether on vacation or dead, leaves a message for Ajay Ghale. It turns out that, due to American’s interference in Kyrat, Pagan Min has a nuclear missile pointed out Montana underneath the palace.
Thus, at some point between the events ofFar Cry 4andFar Cry 5(4 years on the main timeline), something happens in Kyrat and a nuclear missile is launched at Montana. Now, other countries pile on the superpower, sending their own nukes, butPagan Min has some responsibility now in the events ofFar Cry 5.
Far Cry 5 Spells The End, of Sorts, of a New Connected Far Cry 6 Universe
And, following this pattern, Joseph Seed’s DLC will no doubt have a secret ending for beating it on the hardest difficulty, and it may somehow draw a connection between itself andFC3, FC4, and/orFC6. It might even explain if The Collapse is in the same universe and/or somehow justify The Collapse with other events. While it remains to be seen,Far Cry 6’s Joseph Seed DLCwill somehow connect new dots for the franchise.
This could be done just to have a unified timeline, or timelines maybe, but a solid series of events could be established, canonized, and used inFar Cry 7to create a connected, compelling live-service gameutilizing these events and new ones. This is likely the main reason Ubisoft is now connecting theFar CryUniverse, and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it. No doubt, many are not wanting more live-service games and that’s totally understandable, but it makes more sense forFar Crythan it doesAssassin’s Creed.
Far Cry 6is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
