Far Cry Primal's "Survival Mode" makes for a considerably more immersive experience that honestly should have been available upon the game's release back in February. Not only does the update involve refreshing new features amidst restoring some old ones, so too does it add the ability to play with 'permadeath' activated, i.e. If you die then "it's game over, man..." Unless of course you decide to play with 'second chance' active, which allows you to respawn if and only if you've completed enough of the game since your last death. One way or another, the game's protagonist 'Takkar' has much work laid out before him in the war against the 'Izila' and 'Udam' tribes of Far Cry Primal.
Upon my first play through prior to April 12's addition of "Survival Mode," I made it about 30 percent of the way through the game before deciding that I wanted to restart and play on expert from the very beginning. Even on the 'hard' difficulty the gameplay became relatively streamlined so I eventually went through with having to restart completely in order to play on expert from the very beginning. To make things more interesting I had turned off the mini-map, tried to avoid fast traveling and attempted to limit myself as to increasing my maximum health and upgrading the various weapons. This made for a mildly immersive experience, but I quickly had all the crafting supplies I could ever need and had established a bustling safe haven for the many Wenja of Oros.
"Survival Mode" takes the aforementioned barebones approach and makes it look like easy-mode. First things first Ubisoft has introduced the following elements which drastically affect gameplay:
1. Fatigue.
There is a new stamina gauge which depletes over time, but also depletes even faster in combat and while sprinting, so long gone are the days of rushing through four missions consecutively. You can restore stamina by eating/healing but this both consumes meat and only provides an often very limited amount of stamina, sleeping is the best way to restore your stamina back up; if only for a little while. Meat is also consumed when fast traveling as well as when healing your beastly friends, and quickly becomes the single most valuable resource in the game. It's worth noting that fast traveling does also cost you some of your stamina. Be sure to watch your stamina gauge almost as much as your health, as low stamina equates to moving slower, swinging slower, and ultimately to dying faster. Running low on meat? Switch to using primitive heal, but keep in mind that each time you use the primitive heal you also remove a solid chunk from your stamina gauge, something which took me far too long to recognize. Not to mention the fact that you're unable to improve the primitive healing capabilities while survival mode is active and you won't be able to access your stashed resources unless you're at the initial village.
2. Susceptibility.
You can only get up to four health bars and your beasts cannot be revived after being downed and having their timer run out. This also means that if you're perhaps attacking a settlement but in the process your beast dies before you do, when you re-spawn your beastly friend will not be rejoining you; nor can it be revived. With that being said you can still revive your downed beast if the red-timer is still active, but once it reaches zero prepare to feel a pang of utmost sadness, especially when you have to begin traveling alone until finding a suitable replacement. Higher level beasts like saber-toothed tigers and bears will also require you to bludgeon/pierce them down to half health before you can bait and tame them, which in my opinion is absolutely great and again should have been in the game upon release. You'll also be more susceptible to the cold although on both my former play-throughs I had beelined improving my 'winter clothing' almost right away anyway.
3. Crafting.
Sure players have been limited by needing various resources but now there is a new feature which makes crafting actually feel like crafting. While you may not visibly watch Takkar build up the village's huts you will be required in survival mode to individually hold the action button to craft arrows, spears, clubs and the games other various projectiles. This means that you'll have to craft enough arrows and weapons before a fight or you'll be finding yourself stuck constructing arrows or another club while an army of angry Udam and or Izila are lobbing themselves against you. It's also worth mentioning that switching out from a lit weapon extinguishes the flame, amplifying your reliance on a limited supply of animal fat and fire itself.
4. Exploration.
Until you receive the White Wolf follower, the area which is revealed on your map will be significantly reduced, which makes exploring actually feel like exploring instead of just magically having most of the known world mapped out without much wandering. There will also be no more utilizing the Owl companion as a manually operated attack drone while it can still perform its traditional UAV-like function of tagging enemies; long gone are the days of hooting AC-130's. The Hunter-vision will receive a duration bonus but you can just re-activate it after it wears off so this seems a bit redundant.
Whether you're looking for an intense challenge or simply looking for a refreshing journey through Oros, Survival Mode' is unquestionably worth restarting for. Now go and may your "spirit walk free," as you develop and enhance your primal-instincts.
