Crash Landing

After a helicopter crash in the mountains, Valley of the Yetis throws Far Cry 4’s Ajay Ghale into a whole new Himalayan area, packed with danger and mystery. After finding yourself stranded, without your weapons and skills, you’ll find yourself on an adventure to survive, battling against Yeti worshipping cultists and the titular Yetis themselves. Even with some new features it all feels very Far Cry, throwing odd and mythical creatures into the addictive core mechanics of the series to bring players back to Kyrat.

The new map is a lot smaller than Far Cry 4’s game world, but it fits the purposes of Valley of the Yetis quite well. There’s plenty of areas to explore, animals to hunt and an array of outposts to capture and now, defend. It’s particularly nice to revisit the more snowy and mountainous regions that didn’t play a huge role in the original game, with icy lakes, snowy tundras and stunning landscapes galore.

The biggest thing Valley of the Yetis brings to the franchise, aside from the beasts themselves, is a spin on the core outpost capture mechanic the series is known for. Night defence is a new addition that sees you fight to hold your newly acquired outposts against waves of cultists and eventually, the hard hitting Yetis.

In the lead up to night defence you’re able to gear up, upgrade your defences and prepare for the impending onslaught by completing upgrade missions during the day. You’ll unlock barricades, traps, weapons, and even caged bears to unleash upon your enemies, and these will ensure you have the best chance of tackling the hordes. It’s a lot of fun and adds a nice new dynamic to the Far Cry formula without changing too much or becoming unfamiliar.

The Yetis introduced in the DLC, while few and far between, are quite a deadly foe. Able to take you down in a few hits, these monsters can really soak up a lot of ammunition before going down. They’ll charge, swing and knock you over, but they provide a welcome challenge amongst the enemy archetypes that carry across from the original game. Expectedly, they’re quite large and have a pretty imposing presence when you do come across them in the game.

As you’d probably expect by now, the story of Valley of the Yetis is not super complicated. It is however a functional narrative that’s enough to push you in the right direction, enabling the carnage, craziness and creatures to take centre stage while you fight to survive. Missions are nothing too unusual for the series either, with the general combat, scouting and stealth based missions filling out your time between night defences.

Valley of the Yetis is quite a fun DLC pack, adding enough to pull players back in without trying anything too huge. It’s a lot of fun to play for a few hours, and fans will get a kick out of the monstrous Yetis, but it would have been nice to see Ubisoft try something a little more ambitious here; I’m still waiting for Far Cry 4’s Blood Dragon.

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One (Reviewed), PC

A review code of the game was provided by the publisher.