Unlike annual releases like Assassin’s Creed, the Far Cry series has much more flexibility in what it covers. Players have been taken to far-off locations like lush jungle islands, a fictional country in the Himalayan mountains and even a retro ’80s sci-fi universe where they combat a blood dragon. The newest installment, Far Cry Primal, transports players to a prehistoric time, where they must survive against both warring tribes and wild beasts using only Stone Age weapons.
With roughly five months between the announcement and release of the game, Far Cry Primal saw a fast-paced marketing campaign that readied players to travel back far before recorded history.
The writing on the wall
Last October, Ubisoft teased the announcement of a new game by livestreaming a video of a torch-lit cave drawing. Starting with an up-close shot of what looked like the drawing of man holding a primitive weapon, the camera incrementally zoomed outward to reveal a whole tableau complete with saber-toothed cats and wooly mammoths.
Although the Far Cry Primal image was leaked hours before the event concluded, Ubisoft stayed tight-lipped and let speculation stir. When the game was finally revealed, players discovered that they would have a chance to visit the Stone Age.
In an official statement, Ubisoft creative director Jean-Christophe Guyot explained why the Stone Age was the perfect setting. “Far Cry usually puts you at the edge of the known world, in a beautiful, lawless and savage frontier. The Stone Age is, in a way, the very first frontier for humankind; it’s the time when humans put a stick in the ground and claimed land for their own, the time when we started climbing the food chain. That came with conflict, against other humans of course, but also against nature itself.”
Unleashing the Beast Master
In December, fans were given a first look at some of Far Cry Primal‘s gameplay, and found out that they would not only have a chance to go toe-to-toe fighting against giant cats and mammoths, but also a chance to tame and control them. Given enough skill, players could explore the land while riding a deadly saber-toothed cat before unleashing it on unsuspecting foes.
To stir up hype even further, playable demos were available at the PlayStation Experience event in San Francisco, giving attendees a chance to go wild.
Crushing it in slow motion
In the months leading up to the Feb. 23 (March 1 on PC) release of Far Cry Primal, Ubisoft released videos that revealed new details about the story, the enemies players will encounter and the primitive yet spectacularly effective weapons at their disposal. A number of YouTube personalities streamed early versions of the game to give viewers an in-depth look at living life in 10,000 B.C.E.
Among these is a video detailing how modern day objects would stand up against the crushing strength of a wooly mammoth, shown in slow motion. Spoiler: mammoth wins.
Gaming in the Stone Age
With less than one month before the game released, Ubisoft released a fantastic live-action trailer featuring a soldier that gradually moves from the future to the past across various battle scenarios before ending up in the Stone Age with nothing but a small bone to fight off a saber-toothed cat with.
This is also the time when marketing became a little more experimental. Going with a sort of Flintstones theme, a stone carving of a PlayStation 4 was commissioned. A video details how the console was cut from a single slab of stone, complete with a Far Cry Primal branded stone table, some stone controllers, flat screen TV and pizza slices and soda.
Not to be outdone, the official website promoted a video put together by Oz Modz, detailing how to build a custom Far Cry Primal-themed gaming PC to mark the March 1 PC release. It’s not carved from a slab of rock, but at least it works.
To further celebrate the game’s launch on the PC, the developers livestreamed the game on Twitch, the same as they did for the console release, giving fans everywhere a reason to give up on guns and pick up a nice, dependable spear.
