Overthrowing the government of the fictional island nation known as Yara in Far Cry 6 will be no simple task. Under the oppressive rule of the dictator Anton Castillo, who is already in the process of educating his son Diego to follow in his brutal footsteps, the people need a hero to free them from his grasp. Dani Rojas, who can be either male or female depending on your choice, decides to lend their skills to the rebels in an attempt to free the people of Yara and overthrow the government that treats them so poorly.
You will be given free rein of the entire world of Yara, after a short introduction, which can quickly be overwhelming. Like with previous Far Cry games and other traditional Ubisoft titles, Far Cry 6’s world is jam-packed with missions, side quests, activities, bases, animals, random encounters, and more to pull your attention. While it doesn’t do much to change the core gameplay the series has been known for since Far Cry 3, there are a few key new systems that you will need to learn in order to be an effective rebel soldier. To help you become the hero the people of Yara so desperately need, check out the tips and tricks in this beginner’s guide to Far Cry 6.
Further reading
Dress to impress
In every past Far Cry game since 3, part of the experience of the game was, well, earning experience to level up. Each game had different skill trees with different perks and abilities you could unlock as you leveled up. Far Cry 6 ditches that entire system. Now, rather than earning skills by investing points into yourself, upgrading your character will all come down to what gear you have equipped. You will still get XP and level up, don’t be confused, but that is mainly used to tell you what missions you should be doing and which to avoid until later and trickle in new Supremo and Resolver weapons to craft.
Unlike many other games, specifically single-player shooters, what you wear in Far Cry 6 does more than just change how you look. You have five slots to equip different types of gear, such as headgear, chest, waist, leg, and footwear. Gear can come in sets that give similar bonuses, like sets that focus on giving you scavenger bonuses, but you should feel free to mix and match depending on your play style and the mission at hand. These bonuses range from increasing your stamina, ammo capacity, and defense while sprinting, to more situational perks like automatically collecting items while driving vehicles.
While it might seem like a strange choice for a first-person game to have so many types of gear with different looks and stats, you do actually see your character in specific areas and cut scenes. Also, who doesn’t like dressing up your character? The fact that you can change the appearance of any piece of gear to any other that you’ve found should be a relief to all you fashion-focused players out there who want to look good but still get the benefits you want.
Don’t worry about being stealthy
Far Cry games have light stealth elements, but they’ve never been quite as light as they are in Far Cry 6. Outside of specific missions where stealth is mandatory for some portions, you are never required to do anything without being detected. The stealth features of the game — like the awareness meter that builds as you are noticed, silenced weapons, and distraction tools — may make you want to play it like a first-person stealth game. While you certainly can do this, it isn’t exactly the ideal way to play.
By all means, start off with a silent approach. Take out a few key targets, maybe disable some alarms, but when things inevitably kick off, embrace the chaos of going loud. Far Cry 6 is at its most interesting, and unpredictable, when you just let things go off the rails. There are way more systems and potential for explosive excitement by tossing your plans out the window and just unleashing destruction however you can. You’ll be dead quick if you are reckless, don’t get us wrong, but that shouldn’t stop you from at least trying to embrace the sandbox the game is built on.
Scout out bases
To help keep you alive, whether you take our advice to get loud every now and then or not, always take the time to scout out any base you’re planning on raiding. By whipping out your trusty camera, you can identify and mark all the enemies inside, plus where alarms are, to better plan out where and how you should attack. The data you can get on what enemies are around, what armor they’re wearing, any vehicles they may have access to, if there’s medics around, and general positions will play a major part in how you plan your attack and prioritize targets depending on the situation and what you have equipped in your current loadout.
You do get an idea of where enemies are without spotting them with your camera via the minimap, but only as a general zone rather than a precise location. You also won’t know how many enemies are in that red zone, only that the darker red the circle, the more enemies are there. If you still see red splotches on your minimap in an area, spend a little extra time scoping the place out to get as much info as you can.
Finally, you will also learn how tough the enemies you’re about to face off with actually are. If enemies are high above your current level, they will have red health bars and won’t even go down from a single headshot. If they’re way above your level, then they will also be indicated with a skull icon. Now, you can absolutely brute force your way through fights like this, but it will not be easy.
Design your loadout
While not at the level of a looter-shooter, there are still quite a lot of weapon choices in Far Cry 6 to experiment with. There are normal weapons, which you can mod and upgrade, unique weapons that can’t be modded but have special properties, resolver weapons, and more. Play around with what weapon types you like early and make a build that is versatile.
Modding weapons can change how a gun functions in many different ways, and you should mix up what types of mods you give different weapons you take out into battle. You can change a gun’s ammo type to be armor-piercing, explosive, incendiary, and more. Generally, you will want to prioritize having something armor-piercing and another explosive for taking down the tougher enemies and vehicles that can really soak up your ammo if you’re using the wrong kind.
Adding silencers, extended mags, and other bonuses should be a priority for your favorite guns. Those unique guns mentioned are fun to play around with, and if they fit a role in your ideal loadout, great, but they are by design way less versatile. Generally speaking, customizing your own guns will be more useful than using one set in stone.
Aside from your traditional firepower, you also have your Supremo. This backpack gives you a different special ability, kind of like an ultimate, depending on the one you have equipped. These are all balanced pretty well, so while you should spend time gathering materials to get new ones, don’t feel bad about sticking with the early ones. They’re all good from start to finish, so just pick the one you like best.
Finally, don’t spend money on buying a new gun unless you’re desperate. Guns are quite expensive and you can always find them somewhere on the map for free. Cash takes a while to build up and is better saved to use on other things if you have the choice.
Bring an Amigo along
The wild animals in whatever region a specific Far Cry game takes place in have been a major gameplay element for just about the entire series. Predators will attack you as you explore, and can be used against enemies, and in Far Cry: Primal, you were able to tame certain beasts. Far Cry 6 takes things a step further with your animal Amigos. There are five unique animal buddies you can lead into battle, plus two more as DLC. While you may not feel the need to bring help along, these buddies can really make a difference.
Each Amigo has its own uses, strengths, and weakness, but can also be upgraded in a sense. If you check them in your menu, you can see specific objectives tied to that buddy that, if completed, will further power them up. Guapo the crocodile, for example, normally regenerates health and can revive himself if he goes down. If you power him up, he will also restore health on kills, have more defense on low HP, and regain more HP after using his self-revive.
Just bringing them along is fine, but to make the most of them you should give them orders in battle. Unlock them all and call upon the right animal for the right job. Chorizo is a great stealth buddy, helping scout and tag enemies, while Guapo is better suited for assaults.
Talk to the locals
After liberating a camp, don’t just check the box off your list and carry on so quickly. Once the rebel forces move in, there will almost always be someone there with a new quest or bit of useful intel to give you. Aside from side missions, they can point out things like supply drop locations. If you’re short on crafting materials in particular, these quick diversions are well worth pinging on your map.
Side quests are also not too long, but can have payouts that you’ll want to spend some time getting. Gear is the most valuable reward these tend to give, and you never know when you might get that new piece of equipment that completely changes your experience for the better. If nothing else, you might just like the style of it and want to glamor your current perks onto it.
Upgrade your camp
There are multiple bases you will establish in Far Cry 6, and they can all be upgraded via the Construction Desk by talking to the foreman at that location. This is a new system to the Far Cry series, and while it may seem like busywork you won’t want to engage with much, the benefits you get from it can make your running and gunning far more enjoyable. There are six options for upgrades at your bases:
Hideout Network: This should be one of your first priorities to upgrade. This will give you the use of the extremely fun wingsuit, but also let you buy more hideouts around the map that serve as fast travel points. Yara is a massive place, so having faster ways to get around the map, especially if you’re hunting collectibles or cleaning up side quests, will cut down on your downtime by a substantial amount. Each new addition can also be upgraded after you build them to be even more effective.
Guerilla Garrison: This upgrade places special Recon Laptops around the map to point out the best locations to get a view on enemy bases, and makes any rebel fighters around the map a bit stronger and more capable. This isn’t too essential, but is nice to have if you want to know where you can go to easily mark basically everything at a base from one spot.
Fishing Hut: If you enjoy the fishing aspect of Far Cry 6, this hut will give you another spot to cast your line.
La Cantina: This is another great one to get early. This gives you a vendor at your camp to whom you can turn in any meat you hunt for temporary buffs to your character.
Bandidos Barracks: If you’re short on materials, building this barracks will let you hire some locals to gather various resources on your behalf while you do other, more important, things. It also sells some movement-related gear to speed up your character or increase stamina to run longer.
Hunter’s Lodge: For you hunters out there, this lodge opens up a shop that specifically caters to hunting equipment, as well as shows you new hunting locations on your map to make tracking down specific game easier.
Scan vehicles you like
Aside from traveling on foot, via wingsuit, and on horseback, vehicles are probably going to be your go-to option for covering long distances quickly. Cars can be found, or taken, around the map, but you also can request ones you’ve collected to be brought to you. There are two ways to add a vehicle to your list of available rides. First is to find said vehicle and drive it back to a specific vehicle pickup area, which can be a pain, take you out of the way, and even get you killed in a bad situation. Instead, with the exception of military vehicles, you can simply scan any car you like with your phone to effectively “capture” it and make it available to request.
It’s worth collecting military vehicles too, especially flying ones like helicopters. Horses, for whatever reason, also fall into this category and need to be manually dropped off. Considering how strong these are, especially tanks, they’re worth being able to pull out when you need some serious firepower.
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