Far Cry New Dawn Has Some Awesome Post-Apocalyptic Influences

When you think of post-apocalyptic, several things come to mind. Arid, desolate wastelands is usually one, and radiation is most likely the other – which is why it is extremely refreshing to see a new and more scientifically-based approach to the post-apocalyptic world that we see in Far Cry New Dawn.

We sat down with key creatives from Ubisoft Montreal to discuss just how the vibrant and unique world of Far Cry New Dawn was constructed, and what influences brought on such changes.

ALL OF OUR EXCLUSIVE FAR CRY NEW DAWN COVERAGE:

Jean-Sebastian Decant, Creative Director of Far Cry New Dawn, gave us some insight into how their specific world was crafted through historic studies and research.

“When we start Far Cry, it’s where could we create a new and surprising frontier, a place that’s very remote, where there is no order, where there’s a bunch of weird people living, and lots of dangers coming from the wildlife and also bandits. Where can we recreate that? The prehistoric age actually gave us that (with Far Cry Primal), and I mean its almost like the post-apocalyptic formula. So it felt like a perfect match.” said Jean-Sebastian Decant

“To me really as I was evoking it earlier it’s really about world first, so we look back at the last hundred years in terms of natural disasters, world wars, and also nuclear disasters. We took all these elements, we looked at them through the lenses of the impact on the environment; weather patterns, wildlife, population, and we created our own model. And that model was really the basis for the game. And when we had that we actually contacted specialists in the US, two meteorologists that have dedicated their lives into creating these nuclear winter scenarios. And they work with the government and the military to create these what-ifs and see how the US could respond. When they finished that, we really use that as our core basis for the game. We weren’t really looking into pop culture version of the post-apocalyptic.” continued Jean-Sebastian Decant,

Olivia Yassi-Alexander, Scriptwriter for Far Cry New Dawn, discussed further how the study of history allowed for a deeper understanding of the world they had crafted.

”It was quite easy to get into that mindset, because the narrative team did a lot of research, a lot of predictive and also science-based research. We consulted meteorologists. Basically we saw, sort of through the storytelling of science and history, what happens to people after that kind of an event, both in the short-term and the long-term. There’s a reason why it’s set 17 years after such an event. It’s because all the time leading up to that is really, really awful. So as writers, we knew very much all of that, and the survivors would know all of that firsthand, so to put ourselves in that kind of mindset, once we did the research, was very easy.” said Olivia Yassi-Alexander.

Art Director Isaac Papismado explained more about the neon graffiti and looks of the Highwaymen; Far Cry New Dawn’s main antagonistic force.

“First we looked at what the group… Who the group is, and what they do in the world. Basically, when they first started, they were scavenging the world for everything they can. It was a really tough world, so for them to survive, they really needed to make a brand for themselves. They wanted people to fear them. It first started with the name Highwaymen. When people hear the name ‘Highwaymen’, they get … they’re already scared. Then in the Motorsport gear came in as a influence looking at trends with celebrities and the clothing lines right now, they’re doing a lot of these cross brands with Motorsports and that was something really interesting for me. I thought, in the context of the world, it makes sense for them also as protection.” said Isaac Papismado.

“Then after that we have a graffiti artist here in Montreal that we partnered up with and we’re working with. His style is very different and unique, it’s not your typical graffiti artist. We found that it was perfect for the Highwaymen. We put them together, it really created magic. For us, it was like, Yes this is the identity that we wanted them to have. Then we added these cool animal jaws on them, which really instills fear in people. When you see a helmet you’re okay, but when you see a helmet with skulls and all these whatnot things things, you’re really … you’re getting fearful and that’s really want them to be. We wanted people to fear them, we wanted them to leave their mark in the world, and intimidate others.” continued Isaac Papsmado.

It is clear that this game is more than just another case of shoot the bad guys to save the good guys, but I don’t think we’d expect anything less from such an awesome studio. The world of Far Cry New Dawn is yours to explore when the game releases on February 15th, 2019.

PRESS START GOT AN EARLY SNEAK PEEK AT FAR CRY NEW DAWN IN MONTREAL, CANADA. FLIGHTS AND ACCOMMODATION WERE PROVIDED BY UBISOFT.