Far Cry Primal is a hard game to really put my feelings towards. One one hand it takes place in a time relatively untouched by video games, its hard to make a fun stone age game, but Ubisoft did manage to make it work. On the other hand, this is a Ubisoft game made after 2014. It refuses to let go of a formula that holds it back and cheapens the experience overall.

To talk about Primal, I must talk first about the amazing art direction. It blew me out of the water both times I booted this game up (it only took me 2 sittings to get through). The soundscapes are out of this world, and the artistic interpretation of Central Europe is just mindblowing. You see the most beautiful flora, the darkest nights, and so much more. Hell this game shocked me, it has some of the most decadent scenes of violence and body horror of the likes no other game has reached (you literally drink eyeball soup c'mon). UbiMontreal really blew it out of the park on this one. Not only is the art great, but the attention to detail about this old world is unmatched. I don't think I see many game studios take on the task of making their own language for their game. Now, it is comprised of a lot of dead languages, but by god is it still wholly impressive.

Yet while it's presentation is top class, there are two major problems I have with the game. I'll get my briefest complaint out right now: the narrative isn't good. While well acted and presented, with great side characters to match, this story never reaches the highs it can. It sidelines most of the really interesting characters for sidestories and you get left with the blandest side character in the game and a character who's whole gimmick goes up in smoke after the second time you interact with it. It's also no secret: the villians are underwhelming. They show up to beat you up once, you get an artifact or plant to help you infiltrate their base and you kill them. I get there is so little you can do with a game like this, but the moments in the side content where everyone was just being their unga bunga selves were the best part, not the boring war storyline.

As for the gameplay, well its par for the course... and THAT'S the problem. Ubisoft really really likes to put their "burn red thing rinse repeat" formula in games that it shouldn't belong in and it's gotten to the point where I'm scared they're going to manage to find a way to put it in their MP games eventually. It isn't a bad formula, but it doesn't belong in the caveman game, it just comes off as tacky. It's recycled activitiesfrom 4 but with no narrative importance whatsoever. I did play the game on Survivor too, but even without a minimap or a good fast travel, the game felt tacky at worst, yet still fun enough. It is like FC4, even for its betterment too. It's fine I just wanted more.

This isn't also to mention that the game is just REALLY buggy, especially the new mechanics. I can't begin to say how many times my animals have ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up my plans by clipping into floors or spawning right in front of enemies. The new mechanics (taming and melee) are great additions WHEN THEY WORK.

All in all, Far Cry Primal is a good enough game. It doesn't feel like the titan everyone hyped it up to be, but it is still a good Far Cry experience nonetheless. It can be stale sometimes, but the unique quality absolutely carries it from a "meh Ubi-♥♥♥♥♥" experience to "ah yeah this is pretty good."

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you can't exit the window to do other stuff which is a big downside, its basically Ubisoft saying "you WILL play far cry primal."