2014 was the year of sandboxes for Ubisoft. Look for yourself – Watch Dogs, a couple of Assassin’s Creed, even in the racing arcade The Crew the French managed to add a sandbox. It was impossible to imagine the fourth part of Far Cry without a huge open world. Self-copying and conveyor belt? Or maybe the French simply decided to focus on what they do best?
Whatever the case, welcome to Kirat, a small state lost somewhere in the middle of the Himalayan ranges. For Ajay Gale, the protagonist of Far Cry 4, Kirat is as much Terra Nova as it is for the player. When he was very young, his mother took Ajay to the distant America, trying to protect him from the horrors of the armed confrontation in the country. On one side of the barricades here was created by Ajay’s father rebel organization Golden Road, on the other – usurping power dictator Peigan Min.
The protagonist would never have returned home if not for his mother’s dying wish – she wanted her ashes to be scattered in her native land. However, Ishwari also had ulterior motives, which the boy learned about only when he was on the spot. The return of Mohan Gale, the son of the revered Mohan Gale, to Kirat had rekindled the flames of revolution, which Ajay had unwillingly been drawn into.
And it would be all right if all the troubles consisted in constant firefights with Min’s army, but no, the poor guy has to run through the mountains from overly aggressive representatives of local fauna, fight for life in the arena of improvised Coliseum and periodically choose between two leaders of the Golden Path, and this choice is not easy. Like most of the “first persons” of Kirat, Amita and Sabal are, to put it mildly, ambiguous personalities, and it is not possible to consider them positive characters even with a big stretch.
The cute young lady suddenly turns out to be a rather cruel and cold-blooded person who values human lives too low and is ready to turn Kirat into a drug empire without the slightest thought. Progressive, at first glance, Sabal protects cultural heritage and strives to build a democratic society in the country. Except that his “democracy” involves the leveling of certain individual rights and freedoms in favor of tradition.
And these are the “good guys”. The negative characters in the game are deliberately, cartoonishly bloodthirsty. Peigan is what Vaas from Far Cry 3 would have turned into if he had a little more power. It’s easier for a dictator to kill a man than it is to swat a fly. A poser, sadist and outright madman, Min nevertheless shows a warm, kindred feeling for the younger Gale. Right after once again trying to kill him, of course. Paul Harmon, one of Peigan’s cronies, chatting sweetly with his daughter on the phone, while concurrently torturing some unfortunate man in the dark basement of his own fortress. “Hostage of Circumstances” Nut is very worried about the fate of her family being held captive, which, however, does not prevent her from sending another poor man to be fed to the tigers.
Ajay, faced with these not quite adequate people, gets a bit lost, and it seems that he helps the rebels through force. On the other hand, it is not surprising – if Jason Brody in the third part had an understandable incentive to resist Vaas, Gale has no such incentive. The first time for Ajay, it’s a foreign country and a foreign war.
Kirat itself is just like its inhabitants – it is a harsh and deadly, but very beautiful land. Palm trees and sun-drenched beaches of Ruk Island have been replaced by pine forests and endless serpentine mountain roads. Really endless, because Kirat is huge and the way to the destination often takes about ten minutes. By car. There are, of course, faster ways of traveling – hang-glider or wingsuit from the third part come in handy here. And if you stumbled upon a single-seat helicopter, then consider yourself lucky. There’s nothing more fun than hovering over an enemy base and killing your enemies with a couple of accurate bursts.