You are Jason Brody attempting to save your friends. Soon he realizes not only is he good at killing but he likes it....
Right from the start you are thrown into a hostile world of drugs, pirates, and ferocious beasts at every turn. You play Jason Brody a twenty something who was just trying to enjoy a tropical vacation with his brothers and friends which turned into a nightmare. In the beginning of the game Jason is hell bent on exacting revenge for the death of his older brother Grant all the while attempting to save the rest of his friends... pretty soon he begins to realize not only is he good at killing but he likes it. He begins to identify less as Jason Brody and more of a Raykat Warrior....
After the first sequence you wake up in a shack with a man named Dennis who is giving you a new tattao. Yes Tattao, not tattoo.... Anyway after the first few bits of dialogue you can go hunting to acquire animal skins and craft better materials such as rucksacks, weapon holsters, ammo pouches, grenade pouches, and arrow quivers (among other things). Or you could reveal a portion of the map by climbing a radio tower (viewpoint), unlock a fast travel station by taking out the pirates at an outpost, or get on with the main story. It's an open world game, many say "Skyrim with guns", i say it's more like Assassins Creed with guns.
As you complete missions, weather they be main or side, you gain experience and can learn new skills from 3 different trees. The Heron, the Shark, and the Spider. The Heron allows skills such as increased effects from health items, hold your breath longer while sniping, and increased speed while running. The Shark unlocks essentials for survival like takedowns (stealth kills), Ironsides, and more health squares,. The Spider specializes in things such as running reloads, sleight of hand (essentially), and increased value of sold items... all of which come together to create a killing machine who is a threat to all pirates!
The voice acting is awesome to say the least.
Stealth, although it's not mandatory, is highly encouraged. This is where learning certain skills comes in handy. The guns you unlock along the way become essential for victory, although the specialty weapons have a clear advantage over everything. This however does not take away from the strategy needed to liberate an outpost without detection netting you a sweet 1500xp... as opposed to a measly 500xp going in guns a blazing... Not only do you get extra XP for stealth but it is so satisfying that you will want to attempt stealth every time; alas if all else fails just break out some LMGs, SMGs, or your go-to assault rifle and take care of them....
The story is very engaging and its easy to get caught up in the world of Rook Island and exact your revenge!!!
This is a game that is so fun to play, you might just end up scouring the map going from outpost to outpost, completing Wanted Dead missions (assassination contracts), or supply drops (courier missions) for hours without continuing the main mission... However, in order to fully unlock all the skills you need to progress to the second island, as well as things such as "kill 10 pirates with cooked grenades", or "kill 10 pirates with handgun"...there are also specialty hunts you need to complete to acquire the specialty skin thats needed for the best of weapon holsters, ammo pouches, syringe kits (health), and others...
Definitely a game to buy... expect to play this more than once and enjoy every second of it. Happy gaming!