Far Cry Primal: Survival guide

As you begin your adventure on Far Cry Primal's Stone Age, don't expect an easy life. Alone, with limited weapons, and scarce resources, the first hours in Primal can be a challenge for less experienced hunters. You will be an easy prey for members of enemy tribes, and a delicious appetizer for the many predators that inhabit Oros. Let's hope then, that the tips we provide bellow can help you speed up the process climbing up the food chain.

Free Healing
Far Cry Primal uses a similar health system to the previous games, as in the health bar is divided into small sections. If a section is not completely consumed, it will regenerate automatically, but if a section gets expended, you will need to recover it using other means. The most effective ways of healing require herbs and meat, since they can restore multiple sections of the health bar, but you should save those for emergencies.

The talent tree "Survival Skills", unlocked from the start, has a "Primitive Heal" option, which allows you to cure a section of the health bar without spending resources. If you press the right direction on the Dpad, you will access the healing options menu. By default, the protagonist will try to spend resources to heal himself, and will only use "Primitive Heal" when he has no herbs. Change that, and make "Primitive Heal" your "Quick Heal". You then should try to improve the effectiveness of this cure method, by unlocking "Primitive II Heal" in the "Survival Skills" menu.

Be open minded
With Far Cry Primal you will likely lean on the bow to attack, and you should. It's a great weapon, but don't rely on it to the point you don't use anything else. When an enemy approaches, change to one of the of short-range weapons, preferably the two-handed club, which does some serious damage. Don't forget you can also charge a powerful blow with any melee weapon, if you hold the attack button.

You should also consider "bombs". Early on you will unlock the chance to create and throw bee hives at enemies, and those little fellows can decimate most enemies they sting. If you have time to prepare and surprise targets (especially animals), prepare one or two traps if you think the fight will be hard. They cause significant damage, and if you don't use them, you can pick them up after. Combat in Far Cry Primal has many options, and if you want to be creative, try to attract animals into the enemies bases, or set the huts on fire.

Mission priority
The world of Oros will open very early on, and you can try to explore and fulfil a number of side objectives before continuing with the missions, but you shouldn't. Don't waste time on distractions and try to complete the first missions, at least until you find Tensay and Wogah. The first unlocks the owl and the ability to tame beasts. The second allows you to use the grappling hook and rope, as well as learn to craft traps. The other characters also have their own bonuses, but we would say these two are particularly important gameplay wise.

Crawling in the dark
Night time in Far Cry Primal can be very dangerous, since visibility is almost nil and predators love to hunt in moonlight. If you want to play it safe, try to reach a fire camp and rest until morning, but if you have to play during the night, make sure you are are carrying animal fat, used to ignite weapons. With a lit club you will have reasonable visibility and a chance to scare animals away.

Although it is a dangerous period, the night also has its advantages, especially if you want to take down an enemy camp. Some guards will be sleeping and the enemy visibility is also very low, allowing you to move without being detected. Just make sure that, while you are hunting an enemy, there's not a tiger doing the same to you.

Learn each pet's role
When you unlock the ability to tame animals, you will gain some tactical options in Far Cry Primal. There are several kinds of beasts that you can attract to your side, but their roles vary from breed to breed, and you should fully study its uses for each situation. The bear, for example, is slow, strong, and tough, but can also grab the enemies' attention, making it a very effective tank.

The jaguar, on the other hand, is very stealthy, and can mark nearby enemies, making him perfect to infiltrate strongholds. Other animals can collect resources, or provide a more balanced play style. By default, however, when you are just exploring Oros, we recommended you use the bear or the sabre-toothed tiger, since they can hold their own and even scare other animals.

Use your village resources
Every time a new day begins, your rewards chest will get new resources, and you should get them. Every camp in Oros let's you access the chest, we advise you to visit them regularly to restore the resources in your bag. You might even be lucky and get some rare resources.

Your actions to help the village will improve the chances of receiving more valuable resources. Secondary objectives (marked in bright orange on the map), and rescuing Wenja members, are the best ways to increase your odds, and you should not ignore this daily source of plants, stones, meat and skins.

Bring a jacket - it's cold
There's some snowy areas in Oros, and they will give you something else to worry about - the intense cold. When you are exposed to these negative temperatures, you won't last very long without getting warm, but there are some ways to counter this problem. After you meet Karoosh, he will teach you how to make winter clothing, which increases the time you can endure the cold. If you improve the winter clothing, you won't even need to worry about the cold any more, but you will but will need better resources for that.

Even without clothes, there are ways to fight the cold, and the most obvious is fire. Light up a club, for example, and the cold will stabilise. It's not enough to restore the cold bar, but at least you won't freeze. If you are desperate, just put something on fire and get close to it. Another alternative are the caves, which will also protect you from the cold.

Tips on how to neutralise an enemy camp
Izila and Udan's strongholds have varying degrees of difficulty, and taking them by storm can be particularly complicated, but if you try a stealthy approach, there are some details you should keep in mind. The most obvious involves flying over the camp with an owl and marking all enemies. If you can eliminate some opponents with the owl, even better.

You should also be aware of the different enemies types, and the most dangerous are those with the horn symbol. These opponents can call in reinforcements if you are seen, so taking them out first is important. Even if you eliminate them, there are other stationary horns, so beware. Finally, try to take advantage of some opportunities that the camp offers you, like good places to burn, or trapped animals that you can released to cause chaos.

These are our tips to survive without problems in the early hours of Far Cry Primal. If you follow them, you will quickly gain the upper hand in Oros. If you haven't done so, you can also check our review here.