Far Cry 6 just got unveiled at the Ubisoft Forward event. It'll be set on the fictional tropical island of Yara, a place stuck in time and led by a dictator, Anton Costillo, played by none other than acclaimed actor Giancarlo Esposito.
Given this brief description of the setting, it is perhaps no wonder that the developers at Ubisoft have looked directly at Cuba for inspiration. In fact, according to Narrative Director Navid Khavari, the team actually went to Cuba and stayed there for a month as part of the research efforts for Far Cry 6.
[...] we wanted to tell a story about revolution, and when you tell a story about revolution, you’re talking about guerrilla warfare. When you’re talking about guerrilla warfare, you go to Cuba. We were very, very lucky to be able to fly down to Cuba. I spent about a month down there with the team, circumnavigating the island. We got to meet so many amazing people and experience the music and the culture, and we also met actual former guerrillas. And that really was the jumping-off point, because for our island of Yara, not only did we want to tell a story of a modern guerrilla revolution, but also we want to tell a story about an island that is almost frozen in time, like a living postcard from the ‘60s that players can experience and walk through.
Then we wanted to contrast that with a new sort of leader who’s been elected with this promise to rebuild paradise, you know, to take the island back to being rich, like it was 50 years ago. And with Antón, really what he’s saying is, “I’m going to build paradise, but paradise isn’t for everyone.” For him, it’s this idea that paradise comes at a cost, and he will enslave those who are against him to work as forced labor to get what he wants.
So the dynamic of having this beautiful, idyllic sort of “living postcard,” with the vintage cars, the picturesque landscapes, the mountains, the water, the capital city – contrast that with the overwhelming oppression that is Antón Castillo, and that feeling of oppression when you walk into the capital city.
Far Cry 6 is out on February 18th, 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Google Stadia.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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