Best 14 Action-Heavy Games Like Far Cry
The Far Cry series has kept its essence intact since it debuted in 2004. It offers massive open-world, straightforward FPS, and stories about defeating tyrannical governments.
These stories also have a rhythm. The map has various regions, and each region has a boss you need to defeat -plus dozens of side activities to complete. The saga may be repetitive, but it can also be frantic and fun. If you’re looking for more of that, let’s check out the games like Far Cry we’ve found.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
While Far Cry helped create the open-world FPS formula, the Assassin’s Creed saga helped create the open-world action adventure. And as it comes from Ubisoft, shares design elements such as questing, the map, and storytelling.
The 11th main entry is perhaps the best in recent times. You play as a Spartan warrior during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), and you’re in the middle of a conflict between proto-Templars and proto-Assassin guilds.
The map is fully open and full of historical scenery. Here, you can explore, hunt for treasures, complete quests, level up, unlock skills, and loot. Combat is fun and fast-paced, and relies on dodges, parries, slashes, and simple melee skills.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Wildlands is a third-person tactical shooter with an open world full of activities, mountains, forests, salt flats, deserts, and bandits camps.
The combat offers a cover-based shooter with an optional first-person perspective to use the gun sights. The game features sci-fi equipment, drones, a day-night cycle, vehicles, and many side activities.
You play as a special US soldier, a “Ghost,” on a special stealth mission. And while the action is more tactical than Far Cry, the approach to questing, map design, and gunfire is quite similar.
Just Cause 4
Just Cause 4 is an open-world action-adventure experience featuring chaotic gameplay. The title is expansive and explosive as it mixes a heavy weather system, a wingsuit, a grappling hook, and rag-doll physics.
With these items, you’re free to explore and cause havoc. On top of that, you have a wide arsenal, vehicles to steal, and customizable tools to improve your traversal options. Also, you’re in a world where an AI system controls the struggle between two factions.
You play as Rico, a highly-skilled operative. Your quest is to take down a military government, like in Far Cry. Then, the setting is a massive tropical island where two factions conflict against each other. You advance to new areas by winning significant battles.
Borderlands 3
Borderlands 3 may be the crazy-fueled semi-open FPS you may be looking for. You start the game with one of the available classes and enjoy a game that combines bullets, grenades, shields, and powers.
You play as one of the available “Vault Hunters” looking for alien treasures. You have a ship, which is a central hub, to decide your missions, and the goal is defeating the Calypso Twins and many other bosses.
So, you travel across planets on a hub ship and explore these planets freely for loot and combat. And the loot is massive: there’re millions of weapons, armor, and gadgets you can loot, most of which are randomized.
GTA V
GTA V is one of the biggest games in the industry. It’s a third-person action shooter with three protagonists you can swap at any time. These come with distinct personalities, lines, and relationships, but the gameplay is similar.
The setting is a massive open-world city, Los Santos, and you can freely explore it. The game gives you tools, activities, and quests, and throws you into its sandbox full of all kinds of criminal activities to do. However, the AI is reactive, and the city has a “Wanted” system to respond to your crimes.
The storyline features increasingly bigger heists. You’d go from small robberies to local shops to massive robberies to banks, thefts, expensive car thieves, and more. For gameplay, you aim and shoot with simple mechanics, and you drive.
Crysis Remastered
Crysis is the spiritual successor to Crytek’s original Far Cry game. The newer version is easier on hardware, but it keeps the game the same. It’s an action FPS with a sci-fi setting.
The action-packed adventure takes you across 11 semi-open levels where you battle against aliens and rival factions. You have a vast arsenal, suit skills, weapon customizations, vehicles, and a dynamic environment to face an AI that learns and adapts.
The linear story begins with a rescue mission. You play as a powerful soldier wearing an advanced Nanosuit. It allows you to become invisible for stealth and resists a lot of punishment. Also, it can grant temporary boosts to your strength and speed.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Dying Light 2 is an open-world first-person action-RPG with parkour traversal and zombies. Like Far Cry, the map has various regions, and you may find bandit camps, dungeons, and bosses in each area.
The combat is quite different, though. You fight in melee with slashes, parries, dodges, kicks, and parkour maneuvers. You also have tools such as make-shift grenades, and bows. Then, traversal includes a glider, a hook, running, jumping, vaulting, climbing, and more.
The story follows Aiden, a rough survivor finding her long-lost sister. Aiden can level up his Parkour and Combat skill trees, as well as upgrade his HP and Stamina with special collectibles.
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is an immersive survival horror, first-person shooter. We chose it because it’s one of the best experiences in the genre, even though it’s linear and more grounded than Far Cry.
You play as Artyom, the leader of a group of survivors. After a devastating nuclear war, Moscow residents took the metro tunnels as their shelter. After many years, you’re leading the group on the surface for the first time.
The title takes you across various semi-open-worlds, but there’re no maps or in-game menus. So, the action is more immersive, but the shooting can be as fast-paced and frantic as Far Cry fans would like. However, enemies include mutated monsters, and ammo and supplies are scarce.
Sunset Overdrive
Sunset Overdrive is a third-person playground shooter. You play through a series of quests in an open world, and each quest happens in isolated locations like circuses and skate parks.
The story happens in 2027, and your city is under siege. An energy drink transformed the population into toxic mutants. It’s the opportunity the hero gets to escape his boring life by saving the world.
Your characters combat from a third-person perspective. You shoot various weapons, each one featuring effects like elemental damage. Then, you have tons of traversal abilities like gliding, skating, wall-running, diving, unlockable skills, and more. These mechanics deliver hyper-agile combat.
Serious Sam 4
Serious Sam 4 is the newest main entry of the classic high-powered FPS series. It’s also a prequel, so newcomers can join up without missing story beats. And if you like its gameplay, you can continue on the stand-alone expansion Siberian Mayhem.
The title offers a series of wide wide levels to engage in arena-like combat, such as in games like Doom. It means you go from one big area to the next, but you need to defeat a horde of enemies to progress.
You’re Sam, and you have to manage a huge arsenal of weapons to exploit the weakness of your alien enemies. The result is fast, dynamic, and explosive combat.
Saints Row IV
Saints IV is a high-octane open-world game with a comedic tone. You play as the US President, and your mission is to save Earth from the invasion of the alien overlord Zinyak.
The action relies on wild sci-fi weapons, a dynamic open world, and sandbox mechanics. Moreover, the President travels to various countries, space, and even time to complete the quest.
Also, the title includes superpowers. You can leap over buildings, blow up enemies with your mind, and run through vehicles. You can also wield chaotic alien tools to fire some science at your enemies.
Rage 2
Rage 2 is an open-world title with the kind of insane tone you may be craving. It’s also an FPS game, but the carnage, gore, and violence are way beyond any Far Cry title. For example, enemies are sadistic gangs, and weapons are quite violent.
You play in a post-apocalyptic setting. It’s a dystopian world where various factions rival for power after an asteroid destroyed most of humanity. Your role as Walker, the last Ranger, is to help those who most need help.
You have chaotic vehicle combat, customizable powers, and explosive weapons at your disposal for the task. Lastly, you can travel on foot or vehicles across different biomes, and go through insane action-set pieces that rival the craziest Far Cry moment.
Homefront: The Revolution
The Revolution is an open-world FPS with many of the design markers Ubisoft games have. Also, like Far Cry, the story is about defeating a tyrannical government as the leader of a “Resistance.”
The gameplay focuses on scavenging supplies to modify gear, completing quests, and defeating enemies with simple shooting mechanics.
Then, the story goes through three areas on the Philadelphia map. You have to defeat the invaders and a boss in each area, as well as destroy a fortification. Some features the setting delivers are dust storm, calling for back-up, and four-player co-op.
The Division 2
The Division 2 is an online action-shooter RPG. The game focuses on exploration, character progression, and questing on a persistent world you share with other layers.
You play in an open-world and post-pandemic Washington DC. The story is about re-establishing others to prevent the city’s collapse. You follow the story by taking missions from NPCs.
Lastly, the action is fast but also more tactical than Far Cry. You shoot, take cover, run, and loot. You can do so alone, or as part of a 4-player party.
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