Far Cry Primal Introducing Permadeath With Survivor Mode Coming Soon

Players looking for more of a challenge in Far Cry Primal might just get it in a couple weeks. The open-world stone age game will receive a Survivor Mode in a free update on April 12.

Ubisoft announced the news in its blog. Far Cry Primal director Thomas Simon said Survivor mode will make exploration, crafting, and the difficulty "more realistic." He also says you'll be able to play it on any difficulty and enable permadeath--if you die, your game is over, and you have to restart.

Survivor mode brings a stamina gauge to the game that will make you slower and weaker as it drains. The only way you'll be able to regain your stamina is to sleep. The mode will also remove the minimap, make human and animal encounters more rare, and add a cost to fast travelling--food and stamina will be consumed.

Crafting will take time, instead of being instant, and you'll have to craft "cold-weather gear" as you'll be more sensitive to the cold. Your Hunter Vision, on the other hand, will be increased, making it easier to spot enemies and animals. You're apparently going to need it for "the longer, darker, deadlier nights" that will be present in the new mode.

Lastly, the blog touches upon beasts that you can tame. They're not going to be as powerful as they are in the normal mode, while more powerful animals like bears and sabretooths will now need to be taken down to half-health before you can tame them. Your beasts will also be susceptible to permadeath whether you are or not--even legendary beasts like the Bloodfang Sabretooth will be gone forever if they die.

Survivor mode will make its way to Far Cry Primal on April 12 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Additionally, the new mode will bring 4K textures to the PC version.

In related news, a recent patch added the ability to remove the HUD entirely from Far Cry Primal. And if you didn't get the preorder DLC, you can buy it now for seven dollars.