Crytek recently shared that the "biggest difference" between Far Cry and Crysis was in the different approaches used for creating their respective in-game environments. These two titles are among the earliest games shipped by Crytek and were both critically and commercially successful.
Before the Far Cry IP was acquired by Ubisoft in 2006, it was the property of Crytek, the German studio that had developed the highly popular franchise's first-ever entry. The 2004 shooter was not only its debut project but also its first big hit. Three years later, Crytek followed Far Cry up with another successful original game called Crysis, which would go on to spawn multiple well-received sequels throughout the next several years. Although both these games are first-person shooters set in a jungle, there are still some notable differences that separate them, one of which the Crytek devs recently talked about.
Related Far Cry's Love of Tropical Settings Should Bring It Back to One Overlooked Region
The setting of the next Far Cry game has yet to be revealed, but the upcoming chapter should look to the franchise's past for inspiration.
Posts 3In a new video on its official YouTube channel, Crytek discussed the various phases of its journey so far, with a special focus on Crysis, which remains its best-rated game even after almost 20 years. Comparing what was the studio's second major success with its first one, Far Cry, Crytek Art Director Marcel Schaika said that the biggest difference between these two titles was in how the jungle setting was created for each of them. He explained that, for Far Cry, the art team "created a natural environment as they have [sic] imagined it," whereas the artists who worked on Crysis "mimicked nature as closely as possible." Schaika, who made 3D art for the 2007 sci-fi game, further stated that these two different approaches made "a massive difference" despite both games sharing identical technologies in certain areas.
Crytek Talks About How Crysis Did Things Differently Compared to Far Cry
CloseTom Deerberg, who was the senior 3D artist for Crysis, shared a part of the process that helped the team with building the in-game world. He said that artists and level designers physically visited "some tropical island," drew ideas from there, and captured plenty of pictures, which enabled them to better understand the vision for the game's setting. He added that the field trip helped "the level of quality and visual consistency" present in Crysis.
It's worth noting that developers making trips to real-world places before recreating similar in-game environments is not something unusual, especially for games of a vast scale. For instance, Rockstar Games has been known to tour relevant locations for the development of its GTA games, which portray fictionalized versions of real cities.
While the next installment in the Far Cry series continues to take shape at Ubisoft, the new Crysis game is unfortunately on hold indefinitely. Back in February 2025, Crytek conducted layoffs and paused the development of Crysis 4, casting serious doubt over the future of the franchise.
