Far Cry 6 slogged through its season pass with three increasingly trite expansions, so it’s a bit odd that Ubisoft came back to the dry well one last time so far after the fact with Lost Between Worlds. In typical Ubisoft fashion, this latest roguelite DLC bends reality and mixes the surreal with the real in order to take the series out of its relatively grounded setting. However, Lost Between Worlds retains very little of what makes Far Cry good while simultaneously ignoring what makes for a quality roguelite.
The reasons Lost Between Worlds fails as a Far Cry and a roguelite game overlap quite a bit and mainly have to do with how restrictive and predictable it all is. It has the illusion of choice, though, since it is broken up into short level chunks called rifts that branch out and interconnect like a spider web. These rifts have two exits, meaning it’s possible to get to the same special crystal at the end by traveling through different levels. Each rift also has some sort of trick to it, like an all-consuming storm that follows players or lightning strikes that electrify those outside of specific covered areas.
Most of these special stages are poorly conceived gimmicks that can barely support the 10 minutes they take up. Swimming endlessly in dark caverns, being able to slow time and drop mines, and contending with invisible enemies are just some of the weak and uncreative rules that don’t add anything to the experience. There are also no variables like wild animals or weather patterns to add a sense of unpredictability, so all of it is incredibly flat and unable to produce any emergent or memorable anecdotes. Ubisoft elected to go supernatural with Lost Between Worlds, so it’s confusing that the team chose to play it so straight and refuse to leverage the opportunities that this premise could have provided.
These levels also don’t ever shift or change from run to run, so while players can bypass some parts with special gadgets, it’s almost impossible to not be doing the same thing in each cycle. Even though players can choose what rifts to avoid, most levels have to be played at least a few times, and running through them and fighting the same enemies in the same sections can get awfully repetitive. It gets exponentially more monotonous because it doesn’t have Far Cry’s signature open world to fall back on, meaning players are just stuck running down linear paths blasting away without being able to consider other options.
Not having options is another way where it is an unsuccessful Far Cry and roguelite. Weapons and gadgets are doled out at specific chests in the same places and don’t shuffle what type of gun comes out; players will get the same one of six predetermined weapons every time. A late-game upgrade unlocks a second tier of those same weapons, but they are still almost identical and it comes too late to make a difference. This all severely narrows the variability within the experience and further adds to its repetitiveness. There’s also no way to go for any sort of build since there are no perks or special powers to grab, and this shows how Ubisoft once again neglected to take advantage of its unrealistic premise and opted for a more boring experience.
Lost Between Worlds is still Far Cry 6, so it does control well, but it has also inherited one of the base game’s most divisive features: swappable ammo. Players can switch between blue and red bullets with a simple button press to kill enemies of that color. However, it does not add any strategy to the game since it is so mindless and, outside of one special rift, isn’t used cleverly at all. It’s just one more tedious step in a fruitless attempt to make the gunplay more involved.
Accidentally firing off the wrong round is also annoying since the A.I. nags the player every single time as if it is a complicated system that needs more explanation. This sentient glowing ball named Fai makes the entire expansion worse since they are like a snarky, painfully unfunny version of Ocarina of Time’s Navi. Almost every single thing they say is some poorly written, grating insult that only makes Lost Between Worlds even more grueling.
Outside of some trippy, awe-inspiring vistas that throw Yara into space, the only impressive thing about this DLC is that it is the fourth time Ubisoft has failed to turn Far Cry 6 into a compelling roguelite. The three villain-based expansions were shallow and dull in ways that missed why Far Cry and roguelites are beloved. And it is abundantly clear Ubisoft didn’t learn from those repeated shortcomings with Lost Between Worlds since it somehow suffers from those same problems. While its heartfelt post-credits letter thanks the fans for their support, this DLC is at odds with that sentiment since it is a poor way to wrap up one of the best entries in the series.
SCORE: 4.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 4.5 equates to “Poor.” The negatives outweigh the positive aspects making it a struggle to get through.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a PlayStation 5 copy for our Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds DLC review. Reviewed on version 1.000.011.
