Ubisoft Narrative Lead Went to Cuba for Far Cry 6

During the Ubisoft Forward livestream event last weekend, ol’ Ubi revealed a bunch of new games, from a Battle Royale no one will play to some actual gameplay of the upcoming Viking-themed Assassin’s Creed. And while some reveals were more interesting than others, one of the most interesting was the new Far Cry game, Far Cry 6, which looks to take the series in a more grounded direction after the last few dabbled in more fanciful elements.

I, and others, suspected that the games setting appeared heavily inspired by Cuba, and in a recent Q&A posted on Ubisoft’s website, narrative director Navid Khavari confirmed that was the case:

I think the first thing is that it was clear that a lot of our fans were excited to go back to a tropical setting. Also, when you start on a Far Cry – this is my fourth Far Cry now – you always want to look at somewhere players have never been before in the series. And finally, 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.

So that confirms that, although I couldn’t say it was that big of a surprise. The fact they talked to actual guerrilla fighters is interesting – I wonder if they’re gunning for a more “historic” feel, like when Call of Duty decided to briefly dabble in the Cold War era.

Regardless, the whole interview has more interesting nuggets, including how the main villain has some serious Trump vibes, so you can read up on that if you want.