I find this game to be a tad overrated. The story is not as smart and well-written as people make it out to be. Vaas is extremely underutilized and his role in this story is absolutely pointless outside of foreshadowing one thing about Jason's arc in the second half of the game, which was extremely disappointing. The dialogue and certain decisions made by characters are either weird or downright stupid. Jason's brother's death was one of the dumbest moments in all of gaming. I found the lore behind the island and the Rakyat to be a much more intriguing aspect of the story than Vaas, especially since he's just treated as a side villain. I think Hoyt, despite being a much less menacing villain, was better written than Vaas. Hell, there was a character in this game named Buck who was also a better antagonist. Overall, Vaas was just not a very good character. Michael Mando's performance is incredible and gives the character a couple of good moments, but you're honestly better off watching the Far Cry 3 Experience live-action videos if you're looking for more of that, because it's not here. I think Jason's arc is good and found the second half of the story to be much more engaging than the first. I also thought the endings were great too.

That's my two cents on the story. How about the gameplay? Absolutely amazing. I love the intentional clunky controls to make Jason play more like a survivor in the beginning of the game. It makes the transition to when you become a total badass so much more rewarding. The only other game I've played that has built its design like this with similar results is Dying Light, which is one of my favorite games of all time. The tatau being an in-universe way of you getting new skills was also clever writing on Ubisoft's part. The island has a lot to do and I'm yet to find a side mission you do in here that isn't fun. The grind to unlock more skills and things to craft is fun. (Especially shark hunting, despite how intimidating it is.) The side quests are fun. The towers are fun. The delivery missions are fun. The trials are fun. The outposts are fun. The traversal is (mostly) fun. This game is fun. I found the steep hills in the first island to be an annoyance but the second island gets rid of them and fixes all of my issues with the first. Incredible game that is definitely worth checking out, despite its flaws. A very influential title that I don't see a lot of buzz around anymore.