With the recent release of the Joseph Seed: Collapse DLC,Far Cry 6’s season pass has come to an end. Already, many are expecting Ubisoft to move on toFar Cry 7or another spin-off, as the franchise typically follows an annualized release schedule. This doesn’t mean that the DLC has been pushed out of mind, though, as the first two really nailed various aspects of character.
Even though Ubisoft brought backMichael Mando for Vaasin his DLC, it still wasn’t easy breathing new life into a Villain NPC fans have adored for years. That DLC did well by Vaas, as well as Jason Brody. The same can be said of Pagan Min and Ajay Ghale, even if those relationships are fundamentally different. ButFar Cry 6’s Joseph Seed: Collapse DLC drops the ball when it comes to perhaps the most unique villain-protagonist relationship in the franchise: Joseph Seed and The Judge.
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Far Cry 6 DLC: Vaas and Jason Brody, Pagan Min and Ajay Ghale
First, it’s worth looking at how the former twoFar Cry 6DLCs did well by their characters. In Vaas’ DLC, not only does the roguelike formula work best for his particular mindset, but it adds depth to his character, to Jason Brody, and to Citra. InFar Cry 3, Jason Brody’s perspective is that he’s the hero—either for his friends or for the Rakyat. Either choice fundamentally changes him—he either dies a villain in his own way or is scarred for life by the choices he made in the Rook Islands.
Because Vaas manages to survive the events ofFar Cry 3, it shows how Vaas dealt with his past abuses by his sister and overcome his rivalry with Jason. Vaas’ DLC proves that, in the end, it’sVaas who walks away fromFar Cry 3truly victorious—not Jason Brody.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Pagan Min and Ajay wasn’t exactly fully antagonistic; Pagan Min spoke of Ajay endearingly, if in his own eccentric way, of Ajay. But, inFar Cry 4, players do not get to fully understand the type of future and relationship Pagan Min envisioned; they see that in his DLC. This allows players to see the lifePagan Min wanted with Ajay, with Ajay’s mother, and with Pagan Min’s daughter (who Ajay’s father killed).
Pagan Min struggles with this vision and dream, questioning if he only used his daughter’s death as an excuse to go on his rampage, but it’s clear thatPagan Min wanted something beautiful, lost it, and became the dictator he was inFar Cry 4.
Far Cry 6 DLC: Joseph and The Judge
Whereas the new context in each of these relationships builds on them,Far Cry 6’s Joseph Seed DLC drops the ball. There is no new, real context added to the Judge that players don’t know comeFar Cry: New Dawnor fundamentally improve/change it. As players may recall,Far Cry 5’s Deputy Sheriff gets trapped in the Bunker with Joseph Seed after The Collapse. Joseph Seed is dealing with his own demons during this time, reflected in this DLC by puttingplayers in the shoes of Joseph’s disgusting actions. Nonetheless, during this time, the Deputy Sheriff changes, comes to believe God speaks to Joseph, and becomes his “Judge.”
Far Cry: New DawnNPCs will comment how the Deputy has changed, while some believe he was brainwashed. Some believe that the Judge changes Joseph Seed as much as Seed changed the Judge, but the entire character dynamic is already there. In theJoseph Seed DLC, the Judge is not important—likely because he doesn’t exist yet, not in this form, but this visions of this character still come straight from the Voice. Players will have to fight the Judge, who according to the Voice, is the one to judge Joseph, explaining where the name comes from, but that’s it.
There’s a scene where Joseph and the Judge interact within the bunker, but it adds nothing players didn’t already know. And then, after getting all the cross pieces, theFar Cry 6: Joseph Seed DLC comes to an end. Whereas the otherendings really build up the world ofFar Cry, just like its treatment of the Judge, Joseph Seed’s DLC doesn’t end with any major nuance or change.
Far Cry 6is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
