Far Cry New Dawn is Ditching Arcade Mode to Focus on Narrative Experience

DualShockers

By Lou Contaldi

Published Jan 23, 2019

Arcade multiplayer mode is getting stripped from Far Cry New Dawn so the development team can focus on the post-apocalyptic narrative experience.

There has always been a controversial air to Far Cry 5's user-generated PvP mode, Arcade. Though many appreciated the inclusion of any new modes in the game, the mode itself was hardly reviewed and suffered from often poor infrastructure or buggy gameplay. Taking the hint, developer Ubisoft will be ditching a PvP Arcade mode in the spin-off sequel, Far Cry New Dawn.

While covering the game for our Preview, we noticed that New Dawn seemed to be lacking the mode entirely. When asked, a Ubisoft representative stated that the game would not include Arcade so the team could focus more heavily on the narrative experience. And frankly, we have no qualms with that.

Of course, this isn't to say that Far Cry New Dawn is lacking options to play the game from a multiplayer perspective. As we discussed in our preview, simple co-operative matchmaking is definitely improved in Far Cry New Dawn thanks to quality of life changes. For instance, the ability to cede captured outposts back to the enemies to get incrementally harder difficulty and better rewards give more of a reason to return to the game with a friend.

Additionally, there is a new randomly-generated mission-based mode within the campaign which can be played in single-player or co-operatively for fuel to power and build up your home camp. So if you were a fan of how each Arcade map would change, you can expect a mode with a lot more variation than the standard game.

Finally, the dropping of a PvP mode makes sense -- server upkeep and maintenance on multiplayer games carry significantly more recurring development costs. Meanwhile, Far Cry New Dawn is coming in at a value price ($39.99) compared to a standard console release. It makes sense for some corners to be cut, especially ones that aren't frequently in demand by the core audience.

Far Cry New Dawn is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 15, 2019; you can pre-order the game now on Amazon for $39.99. Meanwhile, feel free to check out the preview of the game, which we think is an all-out improvement on Far Cry 5.