The most defining feature of the Far Cry franchise has been the cast of characters featured within each entry, with the series putting a heavy emphasis on fleshed-out villains to antagonize the player. This same pattern is apparent with Far Cry 6, which features Giancarlo Esposito as the villain. However, the game will not include Hurk, a supporting character that's been featured in several Far Cry games.

First appearing in Far Cry 3, Hurk is a bombastic American from Hope County, Montana with a penchant for blowing things up. While he was only an NPC in Far Cry 3, Far Cry 5, and Far Cry: New Dawn, players were able to step into his shoes during Far Cry 4's co-op mode, allowing them to rain destruction with a friend. While he's something of a celebrity in the Far Cry series, he won't be making an appearance in Far Cry 6.

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In a developer AMA on Reddit, the team elaborated on its decision to keep Hurk out of the game. Ubisoft wanted to "spotlight" characters from Yara, the fictionalized take on Cuba that serves as Far Cry 6's setting. Because of that, Hurk will instead be off on "other adventures" during Far Cry 6. That doesn't mean Hurk can't make an appearance in other games in the future, but it'll be some time before fans get to fight alongside him again.

While Far Cry 6 is bringing a decent amount of new features to the table, it's still a Far Cry game. However, it looks like the narrative will have a heavier tone than some of the previous entries, with a special emphasis being put on Dani Rojas, the game's protagonist, and their relationship with Esposito's character, Anton Castillo. Hurk's comedic nature doesn't really jive with that, so it's understandable that Ubisoft decided to skip him this time around.

The build-up to Far Cry 6 has been smooth so far, the only real controversy being misinterpreted comments from the game's narrative director, Navid Khavari. Khavari stated that Far Cry 6 wouldn't be making political commentary about Cuba, specifically, but many assumed Khavari meant that Far Cry 6 wasn't trying to make a political statement at all. Khavari has since published a blog post specifying that Far Cry 6 is political.

Hurk, a play on certain American stereotypes, could easily be seen as mocking serious situations, so it seems likely that Ubisoft's move was largely motivated by that perception, rather than solely trying to spotlight Yara's inhabitants. Regardless, the reasoning is sound.

Far Cry 6 releases October 7, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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