How Far Cry 4 Avoids Repeating Far Cry 3’s ‘White Savior’ Narrative

Ubisoft’s Mark Thompson talked candidly about the development of Far Cry 4. In specific, he explained how they took a major criticism of Far Cry 3 to hear and ensured that they would literally change the narrative.

Some necessary spoilers follow below for context.

Mark was referring to the common criticism of how Far Cry 3 placed outsiders, white, fairly well-to-do outsiders at that, in the role of protagonists in this ‘exotic’, very othered, unfamiliar setting. There were many parts in the game itself where it seemed that Jason Brody, the protagonist, was cast in the role of white savior.

Mark explained Ubi made the decision to circumvent that narrative from forming inFar Cry 4, but also had to deal with the dilemma of making a relatable character. It was this frame of mind that led them to create both Kyrat and Ajay Ghale.

So, the idea behind making a fictional setting in Kyrat is they did want it to be set in the Himalayas, but not be offensive to any of the actual existing states, ethnic groups, peoples, and tribes that lived in there. (On the side, this addresses a prior observation I  had regarding the setting.) Kyrat takes influences from Nepal and Tibet, but has been conceived as entirely its own country, even with a completely fictional religion.

For Ajay Ghale, they wanted to send the message that he is a person from Kyrat. The character you are playing is not othered from the setting. It is, in fact, where they came from.

However, Ubi placed Ajay under several mitigating circumstances to ensure that he is still a character anyone can relate to. He was born and lived in Kyrat until he was three, however he and his mother emigrated when he was four. As a result, he is simultaneously connected and separated from Kyrat, and he has that Western upbringing Ubi assumes their market can relate to.

On an uncomfortable note, Ubi also decided they wanted to carry over the admittedly unintentionally seductive qualities of Vaas to Far Cry 4. It was with this in mind that they conceived of Pagan Min, your bad friend, who has deep connections to you, and you are not entirely sure you can trust.

Far Cry 4 is coming to PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One on November 18.