Ubisoft Explains Why Far Cry 5 Won't Have Towers Or Mini-Map

It's been announced previously that the upcoming Far Cry 5 won't feature the towers or mini-maps that are found in the series' previous titles, but Far Cry writers say that the decision is less about taking away features and is more about promoting exploration.

These towers that have been found in past Far Cry installations were important for exploration purposes in their own right. After finding a tower and sometimes fighting to gain control of it, players were able to use the structure to scout out points of interest in a radius around them, a mechanic that made it easier to find important locations or opportunities to collect items. Using a mini-map should be pretty self-explanatory, but it worked in tandem with the towers to show you those revealed locations that were nearest to you.

"I think it's because it helps increase exploration," Far Cry 5 writer Drew Holmes said in an interview with GamingBolt. "I think in Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 you got into a rhythm of, 'the only way that I can find out what to do in this area is to go climb a tower, hit a button and all of these things pop up.' We really wanted to focus on exploration with a sense of, 'I'm not sure what to do or where to go.'"

As opposed to being set in the Himalayan Mountains found in Far Cry 4, the newest game will instead be set in Montana, a location that might feel a bit more familiar to some players. Holmes said that he and the team want to direct players to do what they think they probably should do if they need to get items or information in the setting — poke around the towns and interact with the locals for help and make sense of your surroundings.

"So the goal really was to get rid of the towers as a way of forcing me to interact with the people, pay attention to my surroundings," Holmes said. "And sort of intuitively figure out, 'well, if there's a town here, there's a gas station down the road,' so everything sort of feels like a believable world."

Removing a mini-map follows a similar reasoning as most players can probably relate to staring at a mini-map throughout most of their playthroughs, but this game hopes to steer away from that trend by taking away the option.

Far Cry 5 will release on Feb. 27 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

[via GamingBolt]