Someone is remaking the original Far Cry using CryEngine 5, and it looks absolutely incredible.
Back in the day, Far Cry was a sensation. Originally born from a tech-demo of the nascent CryEngine from CryTek, it then grew into a full-fledged first-person shooter that had the feel of a Hollywood action movie. And for the time, it was an absolutely gorgeous game that set the bar for graphics quality for years.
Fifteen years later, the original Far Cry doesn’t look nearly as pretty. But someone is giving Far Cry a second chance using the latest version of CryEngine, and the results are spectacular.
The video is courtesy of YouTube channel 2Key [D. Ray] that recently shared their progress on remaking the original Far Cry. What we see here is an utterly modern take on the classic tropical shooter.
What immediately stands out is the player’s HUD which is partially out of focus due to the depth of field effect. It almost looks as though the info is being projected into the player’s eye rather than merely displayed on a flat-screen.
The foliage and water effects are also incredibly vivid and detailed, while the jungle sound effects really make it feel like you're in the middle of a tropical paradise. Ripples and splashes in the streams and ocean are extremely well rendered and only marred by the somewhat lackluster liquid sound effects.
Another criticism is the muzzle flash which seems to be projected in front of the player’s face rather than at the end of the gun’s barrel. Also, the player is bald for some reason, making this look like a mod of Hitman 2 rather than a recreated Far Cry.
So far, only the training area is traversable and there are no enemies to speak of. We have no idea how much further this personal project will go or if it will ever see a wider release, but here’s hoping this is the first step towards a completely remade Far Cry.