There are minimal narrative elements or chronology between the games. Whereas the first Far Cry and its spin-offs/remakes were typical FPS with discrete levels, Far Cry 2 and the subsequent games have adapted an open world-style of gameplay, with main story and side missions and optional quests to complete. The main Far Cry games are first-person shooters (FPS) with action-adventure elements.

The Far Cry games have generally been well-received, with praise for their open world gameplay and antagonists, but criticism for their lack of innovation, and are considered commercial successes. The games also offer competitive multiplayer options and the ability for users to edit the games' maps for these matches. The Far Cry games feature a single-player campaign with later titles also offering co-operative campaign support. The Far Cry games, due to the history of their development, do not have any significant shared narrative elements, but instead share a theme of placing the player in a wilderness environment where they must help fight against one or more despots that control the region as well as surviving against wild animals that roam the open spaces. In the present, the franchise consists of six mainline games, a standalone expansion, and several spin-offs additionally, the first game, initially developed for Microsoft Windows, saw a number of ports to video game consoles, which changed several elements and are therefore considered standalone releases. The following games in the series have used a Ubisoft-modified version of the CryEngine, the Dunia Engine, allowing for open world gameplay. Subsequently, Ubisoft obtained the rights to the franchise and the bulk of the development is handled by Ubisoft Montreal with assistance from other Ubisoft satellite studios.

The first game, Far Cry, was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Far Cry is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft.

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