Far Cry 4 doesn't include playable female characters, but Ubisoft, according to Creative Director Alex Hutchinson, has made a point of ensuring that women fill many prominent roles in the game, including among its primary antagonists. "They're everywhere," he said, "just like life."
The decision to leave playable female characters out of Far Cry 4 proved controversial for Ubisoft, as much for the rationale behind it as for the decision itself: It was "purely a workload issue," is how Hutchison put it to Polygon . But while Ubisoft "just couldn't squeeze it in in time," he added, the upside is that it "managed to get more of the other story characters to be women."
In a newly-posted interview with Outside Xbox , Hutchinson confirmed that women really are "everywhere" in the game. "We tried very hard to make sure that of the four main antagonists, half of them are women, which is cool," he said. "On your side, one of the main leaders of the rebel faction is a woman, half the rebels that fight with you are women. It's packed to the gills with women. They're everywhere, just like life."
He also said that, as the E3 trailer strongly hinted, the player will have an existing relationship with lead villain Pagan Min, although he is definitely not your father. He's also intended to be a bit more complicated than conventional videogame villains, and may well prove to be fun to hang around with, as long as you don't mind occasionally doing some terrible things.
"He wants to be your buddy. I like that idea," Hutchinson said. "I like the idea that the antagonist, the guy you're meant to be afraid of, says, 'Come on then! Let's ride elephants and shoot guns, it's going to be great!' And you as the player will be like, 'Oh, I kind of do want to do all that sort of stuff.' So again, we're just trying for that black humor and that sort of uncomfortable line that makes people think."
Far Cry 4 comes out on November 4. While you wait, why not have a look at our take on why the lack of female characters in Assassin's Creed Unity is more than just "unfortunate?" With all due respect to Hutchinson, I suspect it might it might go a little further toward making you think than exploding elephants.
