8 things Far Cry: Primal needs to survive © Ubisoft

Far Cry is one of those franchises that could get away with going anywhere. Like its Ubisoft stablemate, Assassin's Creed , it's only really held back by the collective imagination of its creators. It's for this reason that the announcement of Far Cry 3 was so exciting, while its follow-up was decidedly less hype-worthy: why produce something so similar to what has gone before when the entire world and span of human existence is quite literally open to your interpretation?

Of course, that did little to dampen Far Cry 4’s critical and commercial success. The expansive world and inventive use of the environment and wildlife created some wonderfully emergent moments. For example, how many other games have you screaming for your life while trying to escape the ravenous jaws of a knee-high honey badger?

Which brings us to Far Cry: Primal, a game that looks to be taking the base mechanics and ideologies of Ubi's action-adventure franchise and transposing them into a completely different framework, namely the Stone Age. Set roughly ten thousand years B.C., Primal is the story of Takkar, a young warrior who must survive in a harsh world and rise to become the leader of his tribe and a beacon that will lead his people to the top of the food chain. It's a lofty goal, for sure, but can it work? Arguably, the four pillars holding Far Cry aloft are gunplay, vehicles, exotic locales and freedom. While the last two are likely to feature, we know guns, explosives, modern tactics and vehicles aren't. Can such a radical departure from formula deliver on the franchise's legacy? Maybe, but there a few things Far Cry: Primal needs to deliver if it wants to survive the harsh, unforgiving climate of the Spring release window.

8 things Far Cry: Primal needs to survive © Ubisoft

A full crafting system This first one kind of goes without saying. One of the coolest elements of Far Cry 3 and 4 was the crafting. Anything you killed except humans could be harvested for parts to make new equipment for your protagonist, be it a new ammo-pack or a wallet that inexplicably held more cash because it was made from shark-skin. Realism aside (let's face it: it can't be that easy to skin a shark and turn its hide into a wallet without at least a handful of modern conveniences), it was an intriguing upgrade system that proved so popular, Ubisoft included it in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. With Primal being set in the Stone Age (ish), it seems even more appropriate to repurpose the flesh of slain animals into clothing, but Ubisoft Montreal has the opportunity to go much further. Why stop at utilities and clothing? Takkar could craft pretty much everything he needs from raw materials. How long can a flint axe last when you're using it to stove in the skulls of sabretooths? We’re guessing not long, so a fully-formed crafting system with repairs and upgrades seems essential.

Era-appropriate navigation Far Cry: Primal is a game, this we know. It's also a Ubisoft game, which means certain Ubisoft tropes will find their way into the mechanics, and that's OK, too. But if the aim is to immerse the player into a world of thundering beasts, arid plains and tooth-and-claw survival, the last thing we really need is Caveman GPS. In Assassin's Creed, the minimap makes sense because the player character is really inside the Animus and essentially playing a game within the game, but in 10,000 BC, a detailed minimap will stick out like a stubbed toe, or a human with a haircut. While it's obviously more convenient it would be so much more immersive to be forced to use simple maps and landmarks to navigate the world, even going so far as to use wall markings to signify pre-explored areas or areas of high danger or increased animal population. There’ll probably still be a satnav, but don't say we didn't ask.

Mammoth riding Far Cry 4 featured elephant riding, and it was every bit as amazing as it should have been. Ajay pounded down the doors of outposts and enemy forts on a giant, angry pachyderm; it was like bouncing around on a big, grey tank and was among the highlights of the last game. Didn't do much to save us from the dreaded honey badger, mind, but there's something effortlessly awesome about charging into battle on the back of an actual elephant. Well, Far Cry: Primal features mammoths. Gargantuan woolly mammoths. It's not too much to ask that Ubisoft connect the dots here and let us mount up one of those bad boys. Battling a hunting pack of sabretooth tigers from the back of a mammoth would be excellent, and guarantee that Far Cry: Primal is remembered for a long time.

8 things Far Cry: Primal needs to survive © Ubisoft

Focus and momentum There was never really a moment during the last two games where we felt particularly bored of Far Cry, but there were certainly times when we found ourselves kind of pottering around, mopping up side missions or stalking specific animals for their excess skin. With such wide open worlds, both games occasionally felt either bloated or spread too thin, which led to an uneven pace and a lack of focus. Messing around in the Stone Age doesn't strike us as an awful lot of fun. There won't be any hang-gliders and wingsuits to go for a fly in, fewer tombs to raid, fewer people offering jobs they're too lazy to complete themselves. If Far Cry: Primal wants to keep us interested, then it needs to give us a world full of activities. Hunting, crafting, fighting, cooking, cave-painting, leading the tribe... It must maintain focus and momentum at all times, or we'll just end up following mammoths around all day trying to the ride them.

A likable protagonist OK, in fairness to Ajay, he did have an interesting backstory. Sadly, though, like Jason before him – and Watch Dogs and chunky knitwearer Aiden Pierce – he was little more than a cipher, a blank canvas upon which we could spooge our hero fantasies. With no training or military background, the last two Far Cry protagonists have somehow managed to become utter badasses in mere days. At least original Far Cry hero Jack Carver was ex-Special Forces or some such. A couple of days eating weird fungus cannot turn you into an action hero. Takkar is already leagues ahead simply because the weight of responsibility should press upon him the need for maturity. There's also the fact that, as a young hunter, he's supposed to be learning how to hunt, track and fight. There's no reason for it to feel forced. And while we're here, a sympathetic villain wouldn't go amiss either. We’re all for deranged psychopaths, and Vaas, Hans and Pagan Min were certainly that, but it would be a great change of pace to see a villain who's struggling to keep his tribe together, fighting for survival, with just as much to lose as Takkar and who we can genuinely emote with. Just a thought.

8 things Far Cry: Primal needs to survive © Ubisoft

Diverse weaponry Given the Stone Age setting, this might be a big ask, but bows and arrow, stone axes, spears and blow-pipes can only stretch so far. How will Ubisoft supplement the comparative lack of hardware? Fire, a paleolithic gentleman's best friend, is one option, as are traps and snares to catch or kill unsuspecting prey. One thing is certain: Ubisoft need to be as creative as it can with the weaponry, and if the team can't provide enough variety in the actual tools, then they need to give us lots of ways to use what gear there is: poison darts and sleep darts, long and short bows, a variety of arrowheads. No one is going to complain too much if the developers play a little fast and loose with historical accuracy in favour of delivering a compelling action experience. Without machine guns, pistols, rocket launchers and sniper rifles to lean on (not to mention the inherent lack of C4 or dynamite) Ubisoft might be hard pushed to produce the toys we want to play with. That said, knowing the franchise history, some form of shamanistic magic can't be ruled out, and there's a good chance the sabretooth seen beside Takkar in the box art can be commanded somehow to attack and defend our loincloth-wearing hero in times of peril.

A meaningful day/night cycle A lot of games feature day/night cycles these days, but the majority of them don't allow such things to have any real impact on the gameplay. Maybe the shops are closed and the doors are locked and bolted, but on the whole, the time of day doesn't often impact on gameplay in a significant way. Even in RPGs like The Witcher 3 , you can simply meditate or rest until morning and avoid any unnecessary moonlit action. In Far Cry: Primal, the world should become a more dangerous place at night. Plummeting temperatures and the emergence of nocturnal predators should really emphasise the reliance on fire, for heat, light, cooking and survival. It's really not a Stone Age adventure without a fire theme, and being forced to combat the isolation and danger of night without even basic technology and engineering would be an incredibly powerful mechanic.

8 things Far Cry: Primal needs to survive © Ubisoft