In 2023, Insider Gaming had several reports on the Far Cry series throughout the year. Notably, the Far Cry series currently has two games in development, which were both originally under the same game and codenamed Talisker. Its next mainline title is now under the codename Blackbird, and an extraction-based shooter is under the codename Maverick. Both games are still in development at the time of writing, but their release dates have been pushed back internally from 2025 to 2026 due to complexities in development.
Moving from Dunia to Snowdrop and under development at Ubisoft Montreal, both games are set to move away from the ‘Far Cry formula’. Maverick, which takes place in the Alaskan wilderness, will see players fight one another, animals, and the harsh weather to survive. On the flip side, Blackbird will now see the player have to rescue his family (NOT played by Cillian Murphy), who have been kidnapped by a conspiracy cult who have been performing hallucinogenic experiments on animals and children. It’s said that the player has 24 real-life hours (72 hours in-game) to rescue their family, and the timer is reflected in-game by the player wearing a watch on his wrist.
But it isn’t just the gameplay loop of both games changing. It’s understood that both games have had a significant overhaul to their movement systems, too, including the addition of tactical spriting, sliding, vaulting, and more. Seemingly, this is due to both projects originating from the same game and sharing similar movement mechanics, with the similarities of both games bleeding into one another. Other aspects, including the inventory system and looting, also appear to bleed from the extraction-based shooter into Blackbird, too, with sources outlining that it doesn’t affect the mainline entry. “I’d argue it makes a lot of sense given your desperation to rescue your family,” said one source when asked.
Internally, Ubisoft Montreal and its supporting studios on Blackbird are optimistic, but some concerns over Maverick and its future loom given recent events at the publisher. Ubisoft has been attempting to do a Far Cry multiplayer for the best part of a decade, and while an extraction shooter could make a lot of sense for the Far Cry universe, it was ultimately greenlit to chase trends, and the genre doesn’t seem to have attracted the player’s numbers that the industry thought it would.
Defiant’s recent cancellation and subsequent layoffs felt like the beginning of a downward spiral, said some staff, with Yves’ internal memo following the announcement of its cancellation not inspiring much confidence in those already unsure about their project’s future.
For now, though, Ubisoft is seemingly trying to break its own trend of chasing trends, and Far Cry 7 (or whatever it’s called) and Maverick seems to be a step in the right direction, albeit a considerable risk.
What do you think of Far Cry 7 and Maverick? Let us know in the comments and join the discussion on our forum!
This is a step in the right direction. FarCry gas felt quite stale for a while now so mixing it up and completely changing the forumla is a great idea.
This 24 hours of real life is a little concerning because people have jobs and no one wants to feel forced to play something but its certainly something we don’t see very often. Innovative.
Either way, I’ll be checking it out as I’ve been a fan of the franchise since the iconic Far Cry 3. I just hope that the they knock the most important part out of the ballpark… The villain.
How is Ubisoft going to survive?
Ubisoft won’t make it
That won’t help.
Jesus christ, an extraction shooter? It’s an already oversaturated market, literally nobody wants Ubisoft to make an extraction shooter. Just give us a good far cry game.
Such a shame. Neither Blackbird or Maverick sound like games I would play. I prefer to have a choice of which path to take with each mission. They both sound like we need to constantly hurry. Taking my time is what I enjoyed most about Far Cry 3, 4 & 6, not the shoot-outs. Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon have been abandoned, I miss Sam Fisher. Hopefully they don’t turn Assassins Creed into a battlefield next… although Shadows does look amazing and hopeful.
If the movement is good, that’s a very good sign but that’s not what the players have a problem with. Is it going to be filled with question marks on the map and pointless and endless mini-events/capture points that don’t add much to make the game more fun? What are the characters like, will they have in-depth stories or just barebones? And finally the elephant in the room, will the developers push their politics, directly and indirectly, in our face?
If they genuinely care, they can absolutely take risks with the story and the characters and liven up the formula to make a fresh experience that will stand out from the other Far Cry games. If not, it’ll be just another numbered entry that’s just okay and not impress anyone which is probably not what they need right now.
Do whatever you want Ubi, it’s a dead franchise after FC4 for me regardless. Just go out of business already.
I want Far Cry to innovate, but I have no interest in multiplayer and I flat out won’t buy a game that runs on a timer.
People are weird. So far, going through them one at a time, Far Cry 4 is the only one I really like and consider to be a good game.
I’m a huge Far Cry fan (replaying New Dawn right now) and while some are better than others they’re all a lot of fun. That said, I’m 100% out on multiplier and anything with a time limit. I get enough deadlines at work, I don’t need more when I’m trying to have fun. You have a winning formula already, why screw it up? I guess we’ve learned nothing from the Fallout 76 disaster.
Escape from Durgesh in FC4 was so much fun, especially with a friend. Played FC3 thru to finish like 4 times. I liked the hardcore mod for FC3. That should have been there from the start.
I’ve been playing FC since the beginning. Love the franchise. FC5 was… ok. Never finished FC6 unfortunately. It got really tedious collecting supplies to make weird sh*t. City locales that don’t have people in them was strange. Oh the possibilities.
I will buy FC7 when it comes out. Please make it good.
This change 8n the Far Cry formula is a huge mistake. FCs most recent less than desired performances comes not from the formula remaining the same but from Ubisofts making the gameplay necessarily complex and from the publishers IP wide problem of refusing to give its customers what they want.
FC6 introduced a number of necessary additions and changes like multiple ammunition types, weapon upgrades and the most absurd of all, limited ammo. FC 6 was the 1st title to disallow purchasing of ammo. Yes you could refill from the car, albeit with a hefty cool down period, and enemies dropped ammo sometimes but they turned FC into too.much of a survival/respurce mgt game and that’s NOT what FC is. It is supposed to be over the tip action
FC5 is Ubisofts #2 or #3 ( cant recall which) best selling game in its catalog of all IPs because it got just about everything right. FC5s failure was with its god awful DLCs. Despite the highly successful FC Blood Dragon Expansions success and fans continually asking for more, Ubisoft decided as it does often these days, that it knew better what it’s customers needed. FC5s DLCs were the biggest flop in FC DLC history. So what did they do in FC6? Did they learn any lessons? Absolutely not so the screwed up the core campaign along with most of the DLCs.
FC needs to return to its FC3/4 roots. A small selection of weapons all with a singular ammunition, an interesting and immersive story with unlimited ammo options and the ability to upgrade what and how much you can carry. Everything else added to FC6 helped make it less. FC6 is the only FC game I opted to not bother completing due to the frustrations of unnecessary changes and additions.
Changing FC7 so it’s a time limited survival game is incredibly foolish. I can see that as a DLC but as the core fame it will do more harm than the changes they made in FC6 did to that games success.
“Escape from Durgesh in FC4 was so much fun”
That’s b/c it was a DLC/Expansion. No imagine if the core FC4 campaign was time limited like Escape. It would have not seen near the success or sales it did b/c that’s not a FC game.
FC6 failed to be the success that FC5 was b/c of horrendous changes and overly complex mechanics that don’t have any place in a FC game.