Spoiler Warning: Far Cry Game Series
Far Cry is a series of videogames that began in 2004 with the release of the first game in the series, aptly named Far Cry, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. Since then, the series has grown to include five sequels and multiple spinoff games, such as Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Far Cry Primal. The series derives its name from its developer, Crytek, who in turn derives its name from their signature game engine, the CryEngine. More than other game engines currently available to developers, the CryEngine is known for creating crisp, lush environments that, in recent years, appear so real that with high definition TVs, it is almost impossible to distinguish them from reality.
With this ability, the Far Cry series, as well as Crytek themselves, have made a name for creating videogames with vast, lush, open worlds that are practically begging to be explored and with so much green on display that one would think they were on vacation rather than in a life or death scenario as told by the game. Behind that veil of beauty, however, lies a perpetually dark heart, and it is that dark heart that has allowed the series to endure as long as it has with its gripping storytelling and perilous twists.
Naturally, one would think that a series with so much outward beauty and with a dark core underneath is ripe source material to adapt into a movie or perhaps a streaming series. Most would not be wrong for thinking this, as in 2008, German director Uwe Boll attempted to make his own adaptation of the series, Far Cry, based on the events of the first game in the series. However, anyone familiar with Uwe Boll's work will not be surprised to learn of the movie's poor quality and the fact that it was a major box office bomb.
Even before 2008, however, steps were already being taken at Crytek to move the series in a vastly different direction from the events of the first game. Since then, every new installment of the series tells its own original story. While the story of each game may be different, many motifs and plot elements remain throughout, so at their core, the story of each game is a Far Cry story. It is this diversity, however, that makes the series ripe material for adaptation rather than the events of any of the games.
Far Cry's Heart of Darkness
The story of most, if not all of the games in the Far Cry series take some obvious inspiration from the 1899 literary classic Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which is most likely known as the basis for director Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 movie Apocalypse Now starring Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen. Like in Heart of Darkness, the story that the Far Cry games tell is of a descent into madness, often times for reasons that appear noble and righteous initially, but slowly begin to unravel as the story of the game goes on. The best example of this can be seen in the protagonist of Far Cry 3, Jason Brody. When Jason's story begins, he is a young and somewhat brash college student who, while vacationing with a group of friends in Bangkok, finds themselves captured by actual, modern-day pirates with the intent to sell them into... “slavery.” Jason, however, escapes and goes on a one-man mission to rescue the rest of his friends from the clutches of those pirates.
Where Jason's descent into madness begins, however, is not in his actual mission to rescue his friends but rather in how good he actually becomes at it. Over the course of the game, Jason grows from a simple, if a little brash college student to a man who becomes so skilled at killing that he starts to enjoy it the more he does it. As the game goes on and Jason rescues more and more of his friends, each of them begin to recognize their friend less and less, and some of them even start to question whether Jason is really doing all of this only to save their lives or just to get revenge on the pirates. This all comes to a head towards the end, as after Jason rescues the last of his friends (that he knows of), rather than return home with them, he decides to stay so that he can finally finish off those pirates once and for all. As far as he was aware, his mission had been completed by that point, and yet completely of his own volition, he decided to stay and continue killing because he knew he was good at it. That type of descent into madness is at the core of every Far Cry story.
Which Game Should be Adapted?
With six games in the main series and multiple spinoffs, if Far Cry is adapted into anything, one must ask which of the six games should be adapted. The truth is that any of them would do, as the story of each game is unique and interesting in its own ways. In the hands of a skilled director and talented team, as long as there is a descent into madness and a lush, green setting that can be stained with blood, then the story could be called Far Cry. It is possible that a completely original movie could be made bearing the Far Cry name. There would not be anything wrong with that.