The fictional island of Yala is as beautiful as one might expect. There are sun-drenched beaches, friendly locals serving street food that, for some reason, you are not allowed to buy. The music coming from the houses and cars is cheerful, there is always a party atmosphere, and there are wild horses you can actually ride.

Yara's uniqueness ends there, and for me the uneasy feeling of parody begins. Ubisoft tries to make the despot Anton Castillo, played by Giancarlo Esposito, feel like a realistic and credible threat, but he is more like a satirical amalgamation of Franco and Castro. As he often reminds his son and protégé Diego, he is undoubtedly a bad guy with a vision of the country that supersedes all else, even family, but I just can't shake the two-dimensional feel of him. More on him later.

Far Cry 6 is a typical Far Cry game. You start out as an underdog who escapes from a tyrannical bastard who is destroying the lives of the locals to achieve his own dreams and soon earns the title of hero. In this case, he is creating a smokable cancer cure called Viviro. Bibilo is farmed and produced by Yarra slaves, and Castillo refers to them as "Outcasts" or "Fake Yarans," setting the "us and them" tone in the game's opening sequence.

As in previous games, players can grapple up cliffs and buildings and use their smartphones to track enemies and their weak points. Ubisoft has borrowed the cloaking mechanic from Assassin's Creed, allowing you and your holstered weapon to pass through checkpoints without being violated as long as you don't stand too close to guards or act suspiciously. It can also function as a stealth mechanic, allowing you to approach a car and quickly draw your pistol to assassinate the driver before stealing the prison truck.

Also, if you find an anti-aircraft gun, you want to destroy it. If you don't, you won't be able to fly around the yara or advance the story in some sections. There are still the usual animal hunting missions, as well as new cryptogram treasure chests that lead to unique equipment.

As in Far Cry 5, you can choose whether Dani Rojas is female or male, but you cannot customize her appearance. Unless, however, you experience the same bug that I experienced after using the photo mode, where Dani repeatedly does the unfortunate winking and tongue flicking combo in cutscenes for an hour or so. Dani is an orphan and was previously drafted into Yara's army, so she knows El Presidente and the people who fight for her country, and she knows they are not all bad guys.

She begins, as many losers do, without knowing what she truly believes. As she comes to understand the plight of the people and the suffering Diego has endured at the hands of his father, her alliances change and her core beliefs are strengthened. Family, whether by blood or friendship, is a core theme of Far Cry 6, and one that Dani struggles to reconcile in light of her history.

In the first few hours of Far Cry 6, you will hear the word "guerrilla" countless times. Juan Carlos, a veteran guerrilla, teaches you how to be a guerrilla and the guerrilla rules for success in guerrilla warfare. Yes, it's repetitive and a classic example of the game's caricature of revolutionaries, but he brings at least one major change to the table.

The Supremo is like an ugly backstrap, bringing too much power to the fight. Combo this with a weapon and you can inflict terrible damage on your opponent as you wish. We'll start with the flamethrower and rocket launcher combo, which is also ridiculously OP. The entire environment can be engulfed in flames like in Far Cry 5, and I spent way too much time dying from the flames. Then unlock another Supremo that unleashes an EMP attack that can destroy security systems and vehicles. You'll see why this comes in handy when you're being chased by cars, trucks, and helicopters.

There are other ridiculously effective weapons available in the game. Overall, the combat is as good as it ever was. You can sneak around and take out enemies with melee kills and headshots, or you can just go in guns blazing or Supremo's blazing. You can modify your weapons on the workbench to add better sights, suppressors, and ammo types, change their appearance, and add little charms. There's also the Blood Dragon gear from the Season Pass, which is not quite right for Yara, the Cobracon sniper rifle (which, by the way, is downright badass), and the K-9000, a friendly metal amigo.

Speaking of amigos, there are no humans to follow you around in Far Cry 6, but you will meet some cheerful animal friends. Chorizo, a lovable little dachshund in a wheelchair, can distract enemies and sneak past them. Yes, all my guns have little chorizo bone charms on them. There are also chicharrones and crocodile guapos to slay the enemy. The amigos are active on the field and add a bit of comedic relief to the battle. It is a real treat to turn around while head-shotting an enemy and see a little dog biting a man in the face.

As I mentioned earlier, you can now find and ride wild horses, and you can interact with and feed all kinds of wildlife around Yala. If riding horses is not your thing, you can also fly helicopters, drive various vehicles on land and sea, and even fly airplanes. I'm obviously not destined to be a pilot, but it's still fun to tour Yala from above and imagine that I'm having a nice vacation in the Caribbean after nearly two years of living in hell.

Sadly, the ride is pretty terrible. You don't turn left or right enough when steering, your viewpoint isn't centered enough, and your head feels like it's sticking out the window a bit. All of the rides, even the horses, seemed to go too fast even with the sensitivity turned down.

Playing on the 2070 Super, I also experienced a few crashes and bugs, including weird face bugs and NPCs floating. Also, for some reason the white eye color around each character's iris is not solid, so unless all characters are on drugs, something is wrong.

There are also a few odd sections in the camp that are played from a third-person perspective. You can't jump as if you were in "Mass Effect," and you have to walk around with a huge, deadly backpack on your back, tripping over dogs, chickens, and other debris. Speaking of camping, there is a new Los Bandidos mission, where you can send your yalan leader to do separate missions. Once you assign a leader to a mission and a certain amount of time has passed, you can choose how you want to complete the mission, depending on the leader's perks. It was less clear how this or cooperative play mode would contribute to the story other than collecting more resources or pesos, but it is still a nice distraction.

I'll keep this review spoiler-free, but it wouldn't be a Far Cry game without a few twists. From Castillo's deception of the world regarding the cultivation and production methods of bibilo, to the discontent within the guerrillas, to Dani's own relationship with the regime, betrayal is at the heart of Far Cry 6. Much of the betrayal is predictable - after all, this is not my first Far Cry rodeo - but there are enough surprises to keep you satisfied. Both are charming, two-faced, and ultimately grade-A assholes. Depending on whether or not you enjoyed "Breaking Bad," you may or may not find his character more appealing.

Compared to Joseph Seed in "Far Cry 5," this villain has less flamboyance and exaggeration. While Castillo is certainly passionate about his cause, he is more traditional and realistic in his position of power. He shines an unsettling light on a potential movement in the world, a "politics" that Ubisoft seems to want to distance itself from admitting, emphasizing that all the "good" things we receive may be the result of modern slavery and corruption. There is little to laugh at in the story of "Far Cry 6," and instead it leaves a sour taste in your mouth as you question reality and the state of the world. That said, I urge you to play it. Well, that and the fact that there are about a million dogs you can pet.