GAME · 2014
Far Cry 4
- Developer
- Ubisoft Kyiv, Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Shanghai
- Platforms
- PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
Far Cry 4 was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, which had taken over the Far Cry franchise following the 2005 release of Far Cry: Instincts. Four other in-house Ubisoft studios contributed: Ubisoft Toronto, Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Shanghai and Ubisoft Kyiv.
- #002
Work on Far Cry 4 was divided among the Ubisoft studios: Montreal handled the campaign, Toronto the Shangri-La segments, Red Storm the competitive multiplayer, Shanghai the hunting missions and Kyiv the PC version.
- #003
Development of Far Cry 4 started in late 2012, after Assassin's Creed III had shipped.
- #004
Alex Hutchinson served as creative director of Far Cry 4; he had previously worked on Maxis's Spore and on Assassin's Creed III. The game uses an upgraded version of the Dunia 2 engine from Far Cry 3.
- #005
Far Cry 4 was initially conceived by its development team as a direct sequel to Far Cry 3, set on the same tropical island and continuing the protagonist's story while bringing back characters such as Vaas Montenegro. After four days, the team abandoned this plan and chose instead to build a new game with a fresh setting and cast.
- #006
The Far Cry 4 team adopted a "we want it all" approach that encouraged experimentation with many ideas. Some members wanted players to be able to fly, which contributed to the game's verticality.
- #007
The director of Far Cry 4 wanted players to ride a rampaging elephant in a setting with "exotic mountainsides" and "unique culture". This desire shaped the game's mountainous setting and its inclusion of elephants.
- #008
The developers of Far Cry 4 wanted it to be seen as a standalone experience, so they avoided returning characters from Far Cry 3 except Willis and Hurk. The two were brought back to provide references to earlier games in the series, since all the games share a universe despite not being directly related.
- #009
Far Cry 4 kept several gameplay elements directly from Far Cry 3, including exotic locations, hunting, and the freedom for players to complete missions through different approaches.
- #010
The Far Cry 4 team intended to evolve the series by incorporating and expanding on ideas from Far Cry 3 while adding new features.
- #011
As part of this approach, Far Cry 4's outposts were made larger and players received more options for customizing their weapons.
- #012
Because players spent a lot of time interacting with Far Cry 3's open world, the Far Cry 4 team devoted more effort and resources to world design and added more quests.
- #013
The Far Cry 4 team introduced a branching storyline requiring player choices that lead to different outcomes and alter the game's ending, aiming to increase player agency and connect the story more closely to the game's world.
- #014
The Far Cry 4 team hoped that adding choices would bring additional depth and meaning to the game's campaign.
- #015
According to Thompson, the Far Cry 4 team twisted the story of Far Cry 3 and made outsiders the villains instead of the heroes, a choice the team considered a risk but wanted to try something different.
- #016
In hindsight, the Far Cry 4 team regarded the story of Far Cry 3 as "great" but felt it was separated from the game's world.
- #017
The Shangri-La missions in Far Cry 4 were conceived as a game within a game, with a structure similar to Far Cry 3's mushroom missions. Although these segments are unrelated to Kyrat, they play an important role in Far Cry 4's narrative.
- #018
Far Cry 4's Shangri-La segments were first planned as a small open world, but time constraints and major creative disagreements among the developers turned them into a linear experience. The team then simplified the concept and re-imagined it as an "ancient, natural world".
- #019
When building the Shangri-La missions for Far Cry 4, the team placed heavy emphasis on color, hoping the game's artistic vision would not resemble other typical shooters. The segments are built around five main colors.
- #020
Gold serves as the main color of Far Cry 4's Shangri-La, which the developers felt added "warmth" to the dreamland. Red was used heavily to create a sense of strangeness and to tie into the game's narrative, while orange signaled interaction, white added purity, and blue represented danger and honor.
- #021
Ubisoft stated that Far Cry 4 would include a considerably larger multiplayer component than Far Cry 3.
- #022
The cooperative mode known as "Guns for Hire" was carried over into Far Cry 4 after being cut from Far Cry 3 because of time constraints. Building a cooperative experience was a goal for the team from the start of Far Cry 4's development, and the feature was initially planned as a separate mode before being folded into the main campaign.
- #023
Female playable characters were planned for Far Cry 4 but the idea was dropped because of animation problems. Ubisoft also announced a "Keys to Kyrat" offer letting owners of the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 version send game keys to as many as ten people who did not own the game, with recipients able to join the sender in the cooperative mode for two hours.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Far Cry 4 — Wikipedia
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work