Far Cry 6 shifts from one tropical paradise to another in the Vaas: Insanity DLC. Reintroducing iconic bad guy Vaas from Far Cry 3 as a playable character, Insanity is a journey through the psychopath's mind as he works through his demise at the hands of Jason and his complicated relationship with his sister Citra. Along the way, Ubisoft takes notes from the slasher franchises of the 1980s and shifts the character from a ruthless killer to a more relatable (but still dangerous) person. Even with that questionable decision, the DLC brings some welcome experimentation to the Far Cry formula and provides a more interesting experience than anything happening on the island of Yara.
Insanity takes place entirely inside Vaas' head, a bloody dreamscape filled with flying sharks and ghostly visions of his former pirate crew. The mixture of surreal dreamscapes and the familiar landmarks of the Rook Islands is powerful, and there's some great level design across the entire map. Of course, because of the DLC's roguelike ambitions, the open world is rather small. Players can see everything there is to see in one playthrough easily, and that will only take a couple of hours for anyone who has invested the time in completing one of the franchise's main campaigns.
While the run-based design holds Insanity back from feeling like a full dose of Far Cry, it does shift the focus to combat. This is likely something the series will lean on in future main installments, as the gunplay is the only aspect of Far Cry that has significantly improved from the early days. Vaas wields weaponry appropriate for Far Cry 3 and performs knife takedowns in the style of a Rakyat warrior. The FPS action is as big a highlight here as it was in Far Cry 6's main campaign, although the rewards for ramping up the difficulty after the initial playthrough are few and far between. The mixture of swappable perks and permanent upgrades provides a good progression, and even those who just want to see the story beats will find Insanity to be a fun ride.
The real problem comes whenever Insanity tries to insert Far Cry storytelling into its roguelike framework. There are several missions where Vaas puts down his guns and comes to terms with his past actions via visions of events from his life before and during his war with Jason. These moments are catnip to anyone engaged with Far Cry's methods of storytelling, but they also give the briefest of hints at a better version of Insanity. A Blood Dragon-sized campaign for actor Michael Mando's creation seems like the perfect fit for the narrative beats Ubisoft wants to hit here, especially if they retained the focus on combat missions along a linear path. As it is, Insanity delivers only a brief glimpse at this style, sacrificing its own storytelling potential to produce a roguelike that most won't want to repeat.
On the other hand, the story of Insanity tries extremely hard to make Vaas empathetic, so perhaps getting more of that wouldn't be a boon to those who remember Far Cry 3 fondly. While it's enjoyable to see former protagonist Jason portrayed as the obnoxious idiot he always was, Insanity's insistence on shifting the blame for Vaas' actions to his sister Citra rings hollow. Instead of spouting twisted truths layered under years of mental struggle, the character now cracks wise at game design tropes, references the infamous P.T. demo, and delivers dialogue that borders on heroic. It feels antithetical to what the character was in Far Cry 3, even if the DLC's final moments bring some excitement for what comes next.
At the very least, Vaas: Insanity succeeds more than Far Cry 6 proper at moving the franchise forward. By the same token, sanding off the hard edges of a character conceived in a much different world could sever the last few connections to Far Cry's glorious past. The DLC's roguelike structure feels novel but incomplete, another ultimately unsuccessful attempt at mixing things up after Far Cry: New Dawn's RPG elements and Far Cry 5's DLC adventures into new genres. If Ubisoft can do a better job of recapturing the spirit of its other two antagonists in the rest of Far Cry 6's season pass (or in the recently rumored Vaas film project) franchise fans may finally have something to celebrate in 2021.
Vaas: Insanity is available now as a part of Far Cry 6's Season Pass or as a separate purchase on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Amazon Luna. The DLC is coming to Stadia in 2022. Screen Rant was provided a PC copy of Far Cry 6 and the Season Pass for the purposes of this review.
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