Gameplay Basics

The HUD

Far Cry 4’s HUD isn’t flashy, showy, or intrusive, but it still conveys a remarkable amount of information.

Health syringes available:Use ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. Because if you don’t, the guy who loots your corpse definitely will.

Health:The green blocks are your health, and the white line above represents your body armor.

Mini-map: The red teardrops show you where your enemies are standing and which way they’re looking. Allies show up as blue teardrops or arrows. And you’re the white one in the center. Features like vehicles, mortars, and nearby collectibles also appear, and if you see a yellow diamond, go toward it—it’s your mission objective.

Ammo: The blocks represent the shells in the weapon you currently have equipped. The number is the ammo you have yet to load.

Throwables:Your currently equipped throwable item, from grenades to meat, and how many you’re carrying.

Upgrade ready:The orange bolt here signals you’ve collected enough skins to craft an upgrade.

Compass:The white circle rotating around the mini-map’s edge always points north.

Enemies: When an enemy is in range, a white arrow will appear and begin to widen. If it reaches full width and flashes, they’ve seen you (and are probably trying to shoot your face).

The Map

The map in Far Cry 4 is one of your most valuable tools. Zoom all the way in and you can examine Kyrat’s crazy topography, track collectibles and mission markers, and even see what animals are common in a particular area. Pull back, and you get a satellite’s-eye view of the territory you control. And at any level, you can set waypoints and let the game show you the best roads to take you there.

The Trading Post

Far Cry 4 offers you three ways to sell your booty and buy weapons and supplies. First is a store, complete with a shopkeeper who insists upon engaging you in conversations you really don’t want to have. Second is a weapons cabinet, which you’ll find in every safehouse you visit. Third is the sherpa, a living, breathing, wandering gun store who you can find roaming around even the most dangerous enemy territory. Every store has the same stock and prices at any given time, so feel free to use whichever is most convenient.

HOW DOES HE CARRY IT ALL?

More importantly, any time you pick up a weapon in the wild and bring it back to a trading post, you unlock that weapon for the rest of the game, free of charge. All the more reason to whack that enemy pointing a laser-guided rocket launcher at you.

Any Questions?

All this complexity can be a lot to absorb, but don’t fret. Far Cry 4 has a very detailed in-game encyclopedia. If you ever need to remind yourself how any of the in-game systems work, just head into the menu, select the “Tactics” tab, and soak up the knowledge.

How to Play

This is going to be a short section, because Far Cry 4 is all about enabling you to play any way you want. If you love the smell of gunpowder in the morning, lock and load the heavy ordnance and health packs and roll out. If you’d prefer a stealth approach, strap on some silenced weaponry and assassination moves. And if you’d rather do the long-range thing, grab a sniper rifle and some mines and explosives (just in case). Whatever your personal gameplay style, Far Cry 4 will make it work.

That said, some strategies work better than others. For the most part, this guide will favor a blended approach in which we use sniping to soften up the opposition, stealth in, and unleash the big guns when things get hairy. But there will almost always be other strategies and paths that work just as well, possibly even better, so you absolutely should experiment.