“Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact same thing, over and over again, expecting it to change.” Said (albeit in far more vulgar terms) by Far Cry 3’s menacing and memorable antagonist Vaas Montenegro, it’s also a narrative ethos that the first-person shooter franchise has lived by since its inception. Each game follows a different storyline, with the biggest commonality being the main character’s immersion into an anarchic locale that forces them to survive in the wilderness, often in opposition to hostile military forces.
While the first game was a well-made FPS with a generic story centered on a retired U.S. Special Forces soldier, the narrative became a much greater focus as the series continued. The anthology format has allowed the series to explore the cyclical and seductive qualities of bloodshed, the consequences of colonization and imperialism, and the dangers of contemporary religious extremism in semi-fictionalized locations everywhere from Thailand to Montana. The games have been ripe for a Hollywood adaptation from the very beginning, and after several failed attempts, there’s now a television series on the way... and its stars have just been revealed.
