All Far Cry Games in Order, by Release and Timeline

Lining up the Far Cry games in order is easy by date and odd by story. A different studio made the first game, the prequel arrived twelve years in and is set in the Stone Age, and one spin-off swaps the jungle for neon dragons and laser eyes. Twenty-two years after the original, the series counts nine major releases, and the Far Cry release order only loosely matches the Far Cry timeline.

Most entries tell standalone stories with a new hero, a new villain, and a new map so that you can start almost anywhere. A handful of returning faces and one direct sequel do reward a bit of planning, though.

This guide lists every main game and every bigger spin-off by release date, then gives you the story order. Each entry gets its developer, platforms, co-op support, protagonist, and our verdict on whether it still holds up. I'd start most people with Far Cry 3. If you want to play the series on PC or console, we stock keys for almost every game in our Far Cry games collection.

Want the Far Cry story order instead? Play Far Cry Primal, Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, Far Cry 5, Far Cry 6, then Far Cry New Dawn. Primal sits around 10,000 BCE. The first four numbered games play out roughly in the present day of their release years. Far Cry 5 takes place in late 2018, and New Dawn lands in 2035, 17 years after Far Cry 5's nuclear ending. Far Cry 6 carries an in-game date of October 2021, three years after that ending. Yara shows no trace of a nuclear war, and Ubisoft has never explained the gap, so treat its slot as loose. Blood Dragon is a retro parody set in an alternate 2007, with no place in the timeline at all.

1. Far Cry (2004)

The original Far Cry casts you as Jack Carver, a former special forces soldier who now runs a charter boat. He ferries journalist Valerie Constantine to an uncharted island in Micronesia; his boat gets blown out of the water, and he ends up fighting mercenaries and Dr. Krieger's genetic experiments, the mutated Trigens. The plot is pure B-movie, and the second half turns into a monster shooter that catches a lot of players off guard.

Crytek's CryEngine drew huge outdoor areas with long sightlines, dense foliage, and enemies that flanked you, at a time when most shooters ran down corridors. Crytek put PC sales at more than 2.5 million copies in 2010. Ubisoft took full control of the Far Cry name in 200; Crytek moved on to Crysis, and every game after this one came from Ubisoft's own studios. Console players got reworked versions such as Far Cry Instincts on the original Xbox and, much later, the Far Cry Classic port.

My Verdict: A museum piece now, with brutal checkpoints and a punishing Trigen-heavy back half. I'd only play it to see where the open sandbox idea started.

2. Far Cry 2 (2008)

Far Cry 2 moves to an unnamed African country torn apart by civil war. You pick a mercenary, arrive already sick with malaria, and set out to kill an arms dealer called the Jackal. From there you work for two warring factions who both buy guns from the man you're hunting, and the story asks uncomfortable questions about the people doing the shooting.

Guns rust and jam, malaria attacks force you to hunt for pills, fire spreads through dry grass and swallows whole camps, and buddies drag you to safety when you go down. Fans still argue over whether all that friction is brilliant or exhausting. Sales reached 2.9 million copies by January 2009, about three months after launch. The Fortune's Edition bundles the base game with the Fortune's Pack add-on.

My Verdict: I'd call it the most atmospheric game in the series and also the most divisive. Guard posts restock minutes after you clear them, and still nothing else in Far Cry feels this hostile.

3. Far Cry 3 (2012)

Far Cry 3 is the template every later entry follows. Jason Brody and his friends skydive onto the Rook Islands during a holiday out of Bangkok; pirates capture them to sell as slaves, and Jason turns into a killer to get them back. Vaas Montenegro, played by Michael Mando, steals the first half with a performance that made him the face of the franchise. Vaas's employer, the slave trader Hoyt Volker, takes over later, and Citra's Rakyat warriors push Jason further from the person he was.

This is where radio towers, outposts to liberate, hunting for crafting materials, and the tattoo-based Tatau skill trees all arrived. It worked, too: Ubisoft said in October 2014 that the game had sold about 10 million copies. Ubisoft has also announced Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon Classic Editions for Nintendo Switch 2 in Spring 2027, after both games got a free 60 FPS update earlier this year.

My Verdict: The best entry point into the series, with the villain everyone remembers. Start here if you only want to play one Far Cry.

4. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (2013)

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a standalone game, so you don't need Far Cry 3 to play it. It takes the Far Cry 3 engine and wraps it in a parody of 1980s action and sci-fi films. You play Rex Colt, a cyborg soldier voiced by Michael Biehn, hunting his former commanding officer, Colonel Sloan, across an island in an alternate 2007 scarred by nuclear war. Neon lighting, VHS-style cutscenes, and a synth soundtrack carry the joke all the way through.

The structure is Far Cry 3 shrunk down: garrisons to capture, side missions, and a compact island you can finish in an evening or two. The big addition is the blood dragons, giant lizards that fire lasers from their eyes and can be lured into enemy bases with cyber-hearts. It passed 1 million copies by August 2013, a big number for a cheap side project.

My Verdict: Short, silly and still very funny. Grab it when you want a break from serious Far Cry stories. It sits outside the timeline anyway.

5. Far Cry 4 (2014)

Far Cry 4 takes the formula to Kyrat, a fictional country in the Himalayas. Ajay Ghale comes home to carry his mother's ashes to Lakshmana, as she asked, and walks straight into a civil war between the Golden Path rebels and King Pagan Min, played by Troy Baker. Pagan is flamboyant and oddly charming, and the game hides a secret ending at the very start for anyone who simply waits at his dinner table.

Mechanically, it's Far Cry 3 with more toys. You get a grappling hook, the Buzzer autogyro, rideable elephants, and a mountain map with real verticality. The Golden Path leaders Sabal and Amita ask you to pick sides, and the leader you back decides what kind of country Kyrat becomes. Hidden thangka paintings open surreal missions in the mythical Shangri-La, and two players can roam the open world together in online co-op.

My Verdict: The most polished take on the Far Cry 3 formula, with a story that leans on the same beats. It's a safe second game once you've finished Far Cry 3.

6. Far Cry Primal (2016)

Far Cry Primal goes back to around 10,000 BCE, which makes it the first game in the Far Cry timeline. You play Takkar, a hunter of the Wenja tribe, rebuilding his people in the valley of Oros against the cannibal Udam and the sun-worshipping Izila. Linguists built the game's language from reconstructed Proto-Indo-European, with a dialect for each tribe, and the subtitles do the rest.

Without guns, combat comes down to clubs, spears, slings and bows. Takkar's Beast Master ability lets you tame wolves, bears, and saber-toothed cats, and an owl acts as your scout and later as an aerial attacker. Mammoths roam the map, the nights are dangerous, and the village you grow feeds you crafting materials. Large parts of the map are reworked regions of Kyrat from Far Cry 4, and longtime players notice.

My Verdict: The most original setting in the series, and riding a sabertooth into a fight never gets old. I'd still file it under curiosities, as the mission design repeats fast.

7. Far Cry 5 (2018)

Far Cry 5 brings the series to the US for the first time. You play an unnamed junior deputy sent to Hope County, Montana, to arrest Joseph Seed, the leader of a doomsday cult called the Project at Eden's Gate. The arrest goes wrong within minutes, and you spend the game taking the county back from Joseph and his siblings John, Jacob, and Faith. All three endings are bleak, and the canon one sets up New Dawn directly.

The whole campaign is playable in two-player co-op, a first for a numbered Far Cry. Guns for Hire lets you recruit locals, and Fangs for Hire adds animal partners such as Boomer the dog and Cheeseburger the bear. Far Cry Arcade gives you a map editor and community levels. Update 1.18 in March 2023 added 60 FPS support on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S for the fifth anniversary.

My Verdict: The best co-op Far Cry and the most memorable cult villain since Vaas. Play it before New Dawn, as the sequel spoils and continues its ending.

8. Far Cry New Dawn (2019)

Far Cry New Dawn is set in 2035, 17 years after Far Cry 5's nuclear ending, which makes it the latest point in the Far Cry timeline. Hope County has grown back in bright pinks and greens, and survivors in Prosperity, a settlement built on John Seed's old ranch, face the Highwaymen, a gang led by twin sisters Mickey and Lou. You play a new security captain, and familiar faces from Far Cry 5 return, Joseph Seed among them, older and changed.

New Dawn is a smaller, lighter project that adds RPG systems to the formula. Weapons come in three tiers, captured outposts produce the ethanol you spend on upgrading your base, and Expeditions send you to locations outside Montana for quick raids. Raid a liberated outpost and the Highwaymen take it back at a greater difficulty, which gives the map some replay value. A 60 FPS update arrived for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in February 2025.

My Verdict: A fun epilogue to Far Cry 5 that makes little sense on its own. Finish Far Cry 5 first, or the returning cast will mean very little.

9. Far Cry 6 (2021)

Far Cry 6 is set in 2021 on Yara, a fictional Caribbean island ruled by dictator Antón Castillo, played by Giancarlo Esposito. You play Dani Rojas, a former soldier who joins the guerrilla group Libertad after a failed escape. Castillo prepares his teenage son Diego to rule after him, and their scenes give the game its best moments. Ubisoft calls Yara the biggest map it has built for a Far Cry game, from the capital Esperanza to jungle and farmland.

Resolver weapons, built from scrap, and Supremo backpacks with special attacks give fights a playful, homemade feel. Amigos replace Fangs for Hire, led by Guapo the crocodile and Chorizo the dachshund in a wheelchair. Three DLC episodes let you play as Vaas, Pagan Min and Joseph Seed in surreal mind-trip stories, and Lost Between Worlds followed in December 2022.

My Verdict: The busiest Far Cry, with a great villain I wish had more screen time. Play it for the sandbox and the villain DLCs, and expect some bloat.

FAQs About Far Cry Games

Final Words

Far Cry has spent two decades selling one fantasy: a beautiful place run by a terrible ruler, and a lot of ways to blow up his outposts. Its best entries all have a villain worth hearing. Vaas carried Far Cry 3, Pagan Min gave Far Cry 4 its personality, and Joseph Seed turned Far Cry 5 into a cult thriller.

Your cleanest first step is still Far Cry 3, with Far Cry 5 close behind for co-op. Completionists can go in release order with no real loss. The stories rarely lean on each other. Just keep Far Cry 5 ahead of New Dawn, and save Blood Dragon for when you need a laugh.

Ubisoft has yet to put the next Far Cry on its release slate. Five years have passed since Far Cry 6, the longest the series has gone without a new game. The only confirmed news so far is Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon reaching Switch 2 next spring. Pick an island now, as the next one could be years away.

GameBoost Products

View Far Cry Games Collection
View all GameBoost Accounts
View all GameBoost Boosting Services
View all GameBoost Currencies
View all GameBoost Game Keys
View all GameBoost Gift Cards
View all GameBoost Top Ups
View all GameBoost Items