Many action stories produced by the modern entertainment industry (especially in the United States) follow a specific narrative “mold” where the main character, an individual from the western “civilized” world, is sent to a poor, “uncivilized” country torn by war. The protagonist's goal is to complete a heroic mission, usually consisting of somehow saving the innocent portion of the population from the savage evildoers (who are depicted as solely responsible for the conflict), acting in the interests of both countries and reaching a satisfying, morally unambiguous conclusion. This, of course, serves as wish fulfillment for the country that holds narrative power over the production, as it provides a comfortable fantasy that would justify their actions in the real world. It may not be directly government-funded propaganda, but it reflects how the citizens from these western countries (again, almost exclusively the United States) see themselves: as necessary saviors of foreign nations. The main character's brutal killings are then framed as heroic acts, essential for the population's liberation. "Sugarcoated" is an understatement. This framing completely sanitizes any involvement from the powerful attacker, painting all of it as heroic altruism, a mission to "introduce democracy to the primitive people". In these narratives, the third world and its instability are objectified, turned into a tool to deliver both entertainment and political reaffirmation.

Far Cry 2 completely rejects this notion and offers, in its place, amoral realism. You start the game with the objective to kill an arms dealer, "the bastard who sells guns to both sides", as the game describes him. However, any pretense of morality is completely discarded less than an hour into the playthrough. After a brief introduction, you begin your journey by doing mercenary work, oftentimes war crimes, for both factions behind the conflict. You are not a hero, there are no good intentions here, you're a foreigner murdering Africans for money. As everyone else involved in this war, you maim and kill for selfish gains. Far cry 2 opts for a realistic depiction of the conflicts that are so sanitized by the entertainment industry at large. It doesn't shy away from recognizing the western presence in these countries, too. Half of your bosses are white and have European or North American origins. All of them show the same degree of disdain towards human life. You'll hear their attempts at morally justifying their actions through a simplified rhetoric: "They brought this on themselves", "Some destruction is necessary for the greater good", etc. It’s a reflection of the modern “imperialist” logic. But there is no justification for cutting off water supplies, killing professors and destroying medicine storages.

The game doesn't explicitly judge your actions, but it presents them without a filter. There isn't a moral bias to exempt your atrocities. It’s clear that you're just a killer, another pawn aiding the continuity of this conflict. What’s unique about Far Cry 2's narrative is that there isn't an active author's voice condemning or congratulating you, things are presented as they are, and you're the one to comprehend the immorality of your actions. However, it isn’t a game without a statement. Several literal elements help paint a clear message. There is a deliberate aura of dread permeating every moment in this experience, effectively enforced through visuals and game design choices, that helps set the tone of utter helplessness in a collapsing society.

The aesthetics of decay and misery are intensely palpable, Far Cry 2’s Africa looks unbearable to inhabit. Outposts are made of metal debris, safehouses are claustrophobic wooden huts, people are dirty and injured. All of this is presented through a dry, overwhelmingly saturated color palette that makes the game uncomfortable to look at (the graphics are quite nice, though).

This visually and narratively decaying world serves as the perfect backdrop to a gameplay loop built to oppress you. Enemies are aggressive, accurate and deal high damage. Guns jam frequently and healing plays a slow animation that locks you in place and cancels itself whenever you’re hit. Outside of the rare safehouses and towns, your safety is never guaranteed, as an enemy vehicle could always be rapidly rushing your position. In my personal experience, I thought the game was a little too forgiving when set to Hardcore difficulty, but too limiting when set to Infamous. While the former allows you to engage in interesting strategies in the middle of a dynamic combat, the latter forces you to find a rock, tree or car, crouch behind it and never leave cover until everyone is dead. That’s boring. I believe Infamous is designed to provide a dynamic and challenging experience to those who are already experienced with the game, which is not my case. A perfect difficulty (for me, at least) would have the higher damage taken and lower ammo count from Infamous with more fragile, less accurate enemies. In this sense, Far Cry 2 doesn’t fully succeed in its oppressive gameplay design. It’s either too easy or too boring. It’d be unfair to call the game unfun, however. Regardless of difficulty, the gameplay is fluid, allowing you multiple approaches to each scenario and providing you with opportunities to plan your actions ahead of time. I found myself making quick, unusual decisions in the middle of combat to maximize safety and resources, such as choosing not to blow up an enemy vehicle so I could steal it later or doing a sudden sideways drift near an enemy outpost in order to use my own car as cover. Your strategies and goals can change in the middle of every encounter, making combat dynamic and entertaining to engage with.

Traversing the environment is often a hassle. No fast travel means you’ll have a map shoved in your face almost every time you’re not shooting people, as if you were playing a very sick, twisted version of Firewatch. The difficulty in traveling is essential for a pure experience, but this aspect could have been implemented with more grace. Two or three additional bus stops scattered around the map would have still made traveling long distances essential (making you vulnerable for long periods of time) while alleviating some of the duller aspects of checking a map every 3 seconds to make sure you’re on the right track. I’m exceptionally awful at spatial localization, though, so that might be a more personal problem.

Your journey is, for the most part, aimless. The story feels static, there is no sense of progression and nothing you do makes any significant difference. Even the ending sequence makes it clear that your efforts came to nothing. It reflects the main character, an emotionless mercenary disconnected from reality who is concerned only with profit and satisfaction. The protagonist serves as a representation of the unthinking player, the type of individual to engage with a game like this from a purely indulgent perspective, fully embracing the role of psychopath murderer assigned to them and never stopping to consider the context surrounding their actions. The main character doesn’t become a villain, he has always operated following the same cynical approach towards existence: It is worth to trade countless human lives in exchange for profit. “I used to be you”, says the Jackal. There are no heroes in Far Cry 2. There are no villains either. Only war remains when you annihilate humanity.