Only a few days ago, the latest installment of the popular “Far Cry” franchise, “Far Cry Primal”, was released to critical and commercial success. The game holds a 77/100 “positive” rating on review aggregator Metacritic, and while sales numbers still haven’t been released, it’s a safe bet that it has made UbiSoft just a tad bit richer. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today, as I’m fairly certain the overwhelming majority of you don’t really want to listen to sales figures and ratings and all that jazz. Oh, no, I’ve got something a lot more interesting in store for you, guys – the the UbiVerse!
Now, for those of you who don’t know, all modern (as in, featuring human characters in a somewhat realistic environment) games that Ubisoft has made in the last 10 years share the same universe. We’re talking more specifically about “Assassin’s Creed”, “Far Cry”, “Watch_Dogs” and maybe “Rainbow Six”. How does this connection work? Well, we know that all “Far Cry” games are connected despite being separate stories because characters keep showing up from one into the other (the main character of 1 is the main villain of 2, a character from 2 shows up in 4 and numerous characters from 4 show up in 3). At the same time, we know that “Far Cry” is connected to “Assassin’s Creed”, as an artifact from “Assassin’s Creed” and the logo of Abstergo (the villains of AC) show up in “Far Cry 3”. And best of all, “Watch_Dogs” and “Assassin’s Creed” have a literal crossover, with the CEO of “Abstergo Entertainment” (a subsidiary of Abstergo) showing up in “Watch_Dogs”, only to be assassinated by the main character.
But where does “Far Cry Primal” fit in? After all, the earliest that a ‘modern’ UbiSoft game has been set in is the 12th century, and “Primal” is set thousands of years before that! Well, as always, Game Theory has the answer. As it turns out, the main character of “Primal” is actually the ancestor of the Beastmaster-type enemy that appears in “Far Cry 4”, as they both have the same abilities. “So what”, you may be asking, “There’s plenty of people who can juggle, for instance, doesn’t mean they’re all related!” Ah, yes, but in the UbiVerse supernatural skills get transferred through genetic memory. That’s why all “Assassin’s Creed” protagonists have what’s known as the Eagle Vision – the ability to see everything more clearly and distinguish friend from foe. The overwhelming majority of all “Assassin’s Creed” characters belong to the same family tree, so if that can be true to them, why can’t the Beastmaster skill be transferred down the genetic lineage of the protagonist of “Primal”? I don’t know about you, but I find it really fascinating how UbiSoft have managed to make so many different games which still share the same world. It’s a feat that matches, or even surpasses, the Marvel Cinematic Universe!