Far Cry 6: Pagan Min

If something works, why change it? This is what Ubisoft must have thought when developing Far Cry 4 after the success of Far Cry 3, especially because of that charismatic villain named Vaas Montenegro. It is not that Pagan Min was a copy, since his personality and motivations were different, but an attempt to replicate the same formula was noticed that did not achieve the same response from the public.

And now, due to its DLC within Far Cry 6, it is once again under the shadow of that figure at replicate your formula roguelike. But at least it has served me to give another chance to Far Cry 4 Y redeem myself with the figure of Pagan Min, the greatest tyrant of Kyrat as well as a great communicator and golden egomaniac.

Pagan Min knows how to play the Vaas DLC cards

Ubisoft Shanghai has chosen to use the same style as the Vaas – MADNESS DLC for Far Cry 6, where we controlled the “master of madness”. Here, as is more than obvious, the villain to control is Pagan Min inside his troubled mind. This means that part of the most representative sites of Kyrat will be recreated in his own way while we witness an interior monologue about him and everything that surrounds figures like Lakshmana, Mohan Gale or Ajay, of course.

It is once again a game focused on repetition because we will be unlocking different “mental” levels that will become harder as we get “respect” for Pagan Min and thus access different improvements for their permanent traits between pride, greed, anger, sloth and envy. Now, some traits differ from what we had available with Vaas.

The formula is identical, yes… but the path is different. The organization of the map created by Pagan Min’s mind is surprising due to its apparent lack of accessibility when starting from a distant (and high) point, until we discover that there is the possibility of unlock a couple of shelters that will make it easier for us to move around and that are added to the portals that Vaas already had (and that are repeated here, of course).

At the content level it surpasses that of Vaas, as there is a greater variety of secondary missions (specifically, the “illusions”), despite the fact that some of them last a breath or are extremely simple. That attempt is appreciated, at least, to delve into the life of Pagan Min so that we can better empathize with him.

Logically, the game takes licenses at certain times when not follow the logical pattern of a Far Cry to use. For example, if with Vaas we saw giant sharks flying, here we have a region in a plane perpendicular to the ground. And all to delve into the radio facet of Pagan Min, whom we listened to on many occasions when taking the car with Ajay Ghale. One of his great signs.

If I speak from my own experience, it was the little I remembered at this point of Pagan himself, since back in the day i just enjoyed Far Cry 4 and I was not motivated to complete his story until today, motivated by the need to refresh and fill in the gaps that I needed to know about Pagan Min himself. I give credit to the DLC for that and because Far Cry 4, despite the continuity in many of its mechanics, was a remarkable adventure that overwhelmed by its content by the bucketload.

The crazy roguelike of Pagan Min, here without control

Pagan Min – CONTROL bet, obviously, for a condensed experience in a small space and with a limited number of objectives. But of course, we are more vulnerable: if we die, we lose almost everything… except “respect”. And start again. So over and over again as we unlock respect upgrades to make Pagan Min’s “hide flaws” task more accessible…

If you played the Vaas DLC you won’t be surprised not at all, except for the beauty of some locations taking advantage of the improvements next-gen from Far Cry 6. In addition, Ubisoft has been successful with the layout of each area, with walks or teleports to hot spots being somewhat more enjoyable in the long run. Although he sins again by not motivating enough to get all the weapons by perfectly using two or three and the passive improvements that we obtain.

Comment, in passing, that as happened with the crazy spin-off the vase, here we will also have voices in Spanish. Because we must not forget that Far Cry 6 it came localized into Latin Spanish to stick to the realism of its Yara region.

On the other hand, I don’t know if I had more luck with Vaas, but with Pagan Min I’ve been through harder times and I’ve been killed more than once. With Ajay’s father, without going any further, one of his henchmen went crazy with the mortar after burning down some houses and I was hardly warned in advance of each bomber. Crazy. And it goes without saying that at higher mental levels, once the main plot is complete, there will be more enemies and they will be tougher, as happened with Vaas.

And what happens when night falls? Here Ubisoft has not opted for anything original, by replicating those explosive ghosts that we suffered with Vaas… that are not even remotely as aggressive as the creatures of Dying Light, it must also be said, wow.

If you enjoyed the character of Pagan Min in Far Cry 4 you will have plenty of reasons to satisfy your curiosity for its most lucid moments, but at the same time you will verify that this kind of spin-offs they are a little lame because of their structure of roguelike. Because both Vaas and Pagan Min deserve much more.

iGamesNews’s opinion

Ultimately, the DLC Pagan Min – CONTROL de Far Cry 6 shares the same pros and cons as Vaas, so it will depend on which villain you liked the most at the time to enjoy it to a greater or lesser extent. But what is undeniable is that they leave a better taste in the mouth than the uninspired Hours of Darkness, Lost on Mars and Undead Zombies from the previous one. Far Cry 5.