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Ubisoft announces Far Cry Primal, coming this February

Ubisoft announces Far Cry Primal, coming this February

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After literally 24 hours of teasing (and a leak or two), Ubisoft has finally revealed the next Far Cry game, entitled Far Cry Primal — and there will be mammoths. It's coming February 23rd, 2016 to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, while a PC version will ship in March.

The game is being developed by the publisher's flagship studio Ubisoft Montreal, with help from teams in Toronto, Kiev, and Shanghai. It won't be small spin-off like the '80s-infused Blood Dragon; Ubisoft describes Primal as "a full-fledged single player experience." The game puts players in the role of a hunter named Takkar, whose motivations seem pretty simple, according to Ubisoft: "Survive in a world where humans are the prey." That includes hunting for food, crafting weapons, and fending off sabretooth tigers. Based on the reveal trailer, it appears the game will involve a lot of throwing spears at mammoths. "The Stone Age is the perfect setting for a Far Cry game," says creative director Jean-Christophe Guyot of the new setting.

Far Cry Primal

Ubisoft used a rather unique social media strategy for the announcement. Earlier today, the company tweeted an enigmatic photo of a cave painting featuring some prehistoric-era warrior, which led to a YouTube live stream taking over its US site. That stream, in turn, was of that cave painting. For many, many hours, the camera slowly zoomed out to reveal more of the painting — all to the tune of cave droplets, the occasional guttural growl, and other miscellaneous sounds. (I swear at some point I was hearing someone dramatically whisper "screenshots," but I might've been delusional at that point.)

At some point more than 11,000 watched a nearly-still image of a cave painting.

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The last entry in the shooter series, Far Cry 4, debuted last November to rave reviews. By the end of the year, Ubisoft had shipped 7 million copies.

Timeline: Ubisoft's painfully slow livestream reveal