Far Cry New Dawn

What it is

Far Cry New Dawn returns to Hope County, Montana, seventeen years after the nuclear exchange that ended Far Cry 5, now transformed into a colorful, overgrown post-apocalyptic wilderness contested by survivors and a new pair of twin antagonists, Mickey and Lou, leading a raider faction called the Highwaymen. Developed and published by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft, it reuses the prior game's map as its foundation while introducing a tiered enemy and weapon level system, expedition missions, and a settlement-upgrading home base. It released on 15 February 2019 at NZD 74.99.

Its review corpus, 14,396 in English, sits at a genuinely divided Mostly Positive 74.5% (10,721 to 3,675), and reading through it in depth reveals a corpus whose core disagreement centers less on whether the moment-to-moment shooting is fun — most reviewers agree it is — and more on a specific, repeated complaint about what this game actually is relative to its immediate predecessor.

A colorful, energetic take on a familiar map

A real contingent of reviewers genuinely enjoys the post-apocalyptic reimagining on its own terms. "Far Cry New Dawn takes the established Far Cry formula and reinvigorates it with vibrant visuals, exciting combat, engaging progression, and a surprising amount of heart," writes one detailed reviewer, praising the "colorful, chaotic aftermath of Far Cry 5's conclusion" as "a refreshing take on open-world shooting with a distinctive personality." A separate reviewer, delivering an overall mixed verdict, still credits the moment-to-moment feel specifically: "except the dumb AI, the gameplay is quite arcade, and this is a good thing," alongside praise for the game's graphics and audio design. Another reviewer who completed the game fully still found real value in the experience despite reservations about scope: "I have 100% completed this game, challenges and all... I recommend it b/c it is fun, it just missed the mark in a few areas."

A dominant complaint: reskinned Far Cry 5 at full sequel price

This corpus's single most consistent, detailed complaint concerns the game's relationship to its immediate predecessor. "New Dawn is literally a 1/3 piece of Far Cry 5's map with some new objects and retextured locations, guns are 'DIY' style reskins and overall the game is the same," writes one detailed, highly-upvoted reviewer, adding a specific regional price comparison: "if you don't own Far Cry 5, you really should buy that instead because it has a much better price-to-content ratio even at full price." A separate reviewer frames the same complaint in even starker terms: "for a fully priced game advertised as a sequel to Far Cry 5, New Dawn feels like a bait and switch, it's absolutely more appropriate as an expansion. After the disastrous DLC packages for Far Cry 5 it's also kind of insulting for the price." A third reviewer states the recommendation plainly: "first Far Cry game I do not recommend. (Unless you can grab it at actual DLC prices $20 or less)... this is literally the definition of selling DLC/Mod content as a stand alone game." That's an unusually consistent, specific piece of consumer guidance recurring across many independent, highly-upvoted reviews rather than an isolated complaint.

A tiered progression system many call out of place

A separate, related complaint concerns the game's new enemy and weapon tier system specifically. "This is a game that was engineered for micro-transactions and literally every aspect of this game suffers from this decision. It feels like a game that was more inspired by Candy Crush and badly-done Borderlands than Far Cry," writes one detailed reviewer, describing enemies and weapons split into tiers of strength layered awkwardly onto the open-world structure the series is known for. This complaint recurs specifically among longtime series fans who describe the tiering as clashing with Far Cry's traditional emphasis on player skill and creative approach over gear-checking, a design philosophy several reviewers explicitly trace to free-to-play mobile conventions rather than the series' own history.

Antagonists and story unfavorably compared to Far Cry 5

Beyond the structural complaints, a specific narrative critique recurs regarding the new villains. "I feel like this game has me hating the antagonists for the wrong reasons. You see, FC5 had goals. It had characters who had goals that conflicted with other characters. Even Joseph could barely control his siblings at times. These twins, Mickey and Lou? I feel like someone spent ages coming up with backstory for them... then some[thing went wrong]," writes one of the most-upvoted reviews in the corpus, describing underdeveloped follow-through on otherwise promising antagonist writing. A separate, more measured reviewer captures a similar frustration: "I enjoy playing this game overall, and I want to recommend it. However, I'm honestly disappointed by some really major elements, and can't give this a positive rating in good faith... the story, while perhaps a bit predictable, was honestly quite enjoyable" — a review that ultimately lands negative despite genuine affection for individual pieces of the game.

A specific, long-unfixed mission-blocking bug

At least one detailed, more recent reviewer reports a specific technical failure persisting years after launch: "I can't finish the game for a bug which [the developer] didn't fix for 7 years... (mission 'Prophecy'), so I must give a negative review" — despite otherwise praising the game's optimization, citing 130-200 fps at 4K Ultra settings on modern hardware. That's a specific, checkable claim about long-term post-launch support rather than a general complaint about launch-day polish.

What the achievement data confirms

Far Cry New Dawn's achievement curve shows a notably low ceiling even at the very top — the single most-earned achievement sits at just 21.5%, descending through the high-teens for other early-campaign milestones, and collapsing to under 2% for the hardest, most demanding achievements. That's a lower completion ceiling than many single-player-focused open-world titles this lane has documented, consistent with the corpus's repeated framing of this game as a lower-investment, more skippable entry that a smaller share of buyers push through to full completion compared to mainline series entries.

Verdict

Far Cry New Dawn delivers a colorful, faster-paced spin on a familiar formula that wins over a real contingent of players on its own terms, and its shooting and traversal remain broadly competent even by critics' own admission. But this review corpus is remarkably consistent on a specific, practical point: a large share of buyers feel the game reuses too much of Far Cry 5 at too high a price, layered with a tiered progression system several reviewers specifically trace to mobile free-to-play design rather than the series' own traditions. Worth a look for Far Cry 5 owners at a steep discount; everyone else should play Far Cry 5 first.