8. Far Cry 4
I spoke at length about the Far Cry series back in this post, so I'm not going to rehash all that here. I'll be talking about what sets this particular entry apart.
The setting of Far Cry 4 is, in a word, immersive. You feel the bones of this world and its inhabitants.
It takes place in the fictional Himalayan-adjacent nation of Kyrat. You play as a young man named Ajay, whose mother fled Kyrat some years ago. Her dying wish was for her remains to be returned to Kyrat after her death, so you set out to do this, but everything goes to shit very quickly after your arrival.
You and your traveling companions are quickly kidnapped by the brutal and unstable dictator Pagan Min, a brash, chaotic, yet winsome man who has recently assumed absolute power in Kyrat.
All the best parts of the series' previous two entries are present here and expanded upon. There is, of course, a storyline with missions that you must complete in order to unravel. There are an incredible number of sidequests and objectives to complete and unlock. The tower-climbing mechanic of map revelation returns, but this time they're gorgeous propaganda machines which you must climb and disable the equipment of.
And yes, the outposts are back! And they were my favorite part of this entry, too.
The outposts are even more varied and challenging this time around, and after you complete each one, you unlock an Outpost Master mode that lets you replay it as many times as you want from scratch to try to get a better score. Fantastic fun!
Shortly into the game, you'll also uncover the Battle Arena, a brutal, bloody, loud, colorful coliseum where you can slaughter waves of enemies and wildlife in order to earn weapon upgrades and XP.
There are also some gorgeous sequences throughout the story missions where you must play through a hallucination. The artwork in these sections is stunning.
The story mode has branching paths, and there are multiple endings to the game, giving this one a lot of replay value.
A lot of fun packed into a beautiful package.
