Highlights
- Far Cry 7 and Star Wars Outlaws promise to shake up the open-world genre, offering players a more focused and less overwhelming experience.
- Far Cry 7 introduces a 72-hour in-game timer, adding a sense of urgency to the gameplay and addressing criticisms of repetitive missions in previous entries.
- Star Wars Outlaws prioritizes story over sheer size, aiming to provide players with a dense and rich open-world experience, setting the stage for a potential new franchise for Ubisoft.
While open-world games have become a staple of the Ubisoft roster over the years, two titles scheduled to be released in 2024 offer the potential to provide a refreshing take on the publisher’s now-familiar formula. Ubisoft Montreal’s Far Cry 7 and Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws have grabbed gamers’ attention in recent months not only thanks to the popularity of both properties but also for how they promise to shake up the open-world genre. By offering players a more focused open-world experience and moving away from some of the tropes that have defined its biggest franchises in recent years, this duo could make 2024 a big year for Ubisoft.
Both Ubisoft Montreal’s Far Cry 7 and Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws look to be moving away from Ubisoft’s habit of providing players with titles whose meticulously crafted but utterly massive open worlds can make reaching the credits a chore. While this may disappoint gamers who enjoy spending hundreds of hours uncovering every secret on the map, it should broaden the appeal of both titles. For Far Cry 7, this more tightly focused format should help to alleviate some complaints about recent franchise entries, while for Star Wars Outlaws it could help set what could become a series off on firm footing.
Far Cry 7’s Most Innovative Mechanic Can Make Up For Some of the Series’ Missteps
Recent leaks about Far Cry 7 hint that the upcoming game could address some longstanding flaws with the franchise’s formula by radically rethinking the gameplay. Rather than allowing players to explore the game’s open-world setting at whatever pace they desire, Far Cry 7 is rumored to feature a 72-hour in-game timer after which their character’s kidnapped family members will be killed by the villainous Sons of Truth. Translating to 24 hours of actual playtime, this new mechanic should mix up the series’ traditional gameplay and give players’ actions a sense of urgency that was absent from previous entries in the franchise.
Putting gamers in a race against the clock could help alleviate complaints about the unfocused feel of recent Far Cry games, which have tended to start off strong before devolving into often repetitive gameplay. Rather than spending hours taking down checkpoints filled with enemies or scrambling to the top of Far Cry’s iconic radio towers, Far Cry 7 could make gamers carefully manage their time and tactics as they rush to rescue their family from the Sons of Truth. This more focused approach won’t just benefit Ubisoft’s longest-running open-world franchise, it should also help its newest entry into the genre get off to a strong start.
Star Wars Outlaws Could Revitalize Ubisoft’s Familiar Open-World Formula
As the first open-world game in the franchise’s history, Star Wars Outlaws has the potential to revolutionize the way players experience the galaxy far, far away. To deliver on the potential of its premise Star Wars Outlaws, which follows smuggler and bounty hunter Kay Vess in her adventures through the galactic underworld, needs to offer more than just familiar open-world tropes with some Star Wars set dressing. Luckily, much like Far Cry 7, the Massive Entertainment title looks to be prioritizing story over sheer size.
To this end, creative director Julian Gerighty has stated that Star Wars Outlaws is “absolutely not a 200 or 300-hour epic unfinishable RPG.” Providing players with a dense and rich open-world adventure rather than just populating the map with countless side quest icons should ensure that Star Wars Outlaws is more approachable than Ubisoft’s other open-world titles. This will not only broaden the game’s appeal but also help lay a solid foundation for what could become Ubisoft’s next big franchise.
With both Far Cry 7 and Star Wars Outlaws offering a fresh take on the familiar formula found in many of the publisher’s biggest franchises, Ubisoft could be in for a banner year in 2024. If these two titles live up to their potential it could mark the start of a whole new chapter not just for Ubisoft, but for the open-world genre as a whole.
Star Wars Outlaws releases in 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Far Cry 7 is rumored to be in development.
