Did I say the game is far too long? As the story missions endlessly pile on, the novelty of all the weaponry will wear off as you settle into a cycle of favorites. I don’t think I even touched the bows or SMGs, relying on my rockets for helicopters and two ARs with special bullets for all the grunts. Missions try to branch out here and there including a flying mission to destroy crops, a DJ Booth standoff and various stealth sections. But the sheer number of mains and sides will bring the repetition by game’s end. I ran through the final level as fast as I could simply out of exhaustion, and it worked just as well. The lack of biomes made the nice graphics eventually fade into my periphery, regardless of how nice the water looked, or the palm trees swayed. Open world fatigue is real here, as the game is overstuffed to its detriment. Once I got my trophy for the races, I quickly forgot about them as there was always the more pressing matter of clearing up the skies and unlocking checkpoints. The game guides you down a specific path if you want to be as efficient as possible, so there’s very little incentive to cock fight. NPCs are generally just there, unless they’re quest givers. I never felt like I was truly fighting a revolution for “the people” as there were so few of them to speak of. The game lacks the populated towns of games such as Witcher 3 and as a result, feels less lived-in despite all the graffiti and furnished interiors. For such a big country with areas such as Verdera, Cape Santa Maria and a Zoo, Yara starts to feel very repetitive and samey quite fast. Once you’ve burnt one field of crops, you’ve burned them all.

Fortunately, there are side quests to break up the dull, which come in the form of Yaran Stories, hunting Legendary animals, treasure hunts and military targets. Checkpoints will open that act as spawn points and hubs. Missile sites will go down which free up fast travel air drops. There’s always something that helps you open up the map. Feeling frisky? There’s even a Stranger Things crossover mission that rewards you with a weapon to use in the campaign. The game can be tongue-in-cheek as well as serious business. Not forsaking fun for realism. Enemy AI is generally stupid as, but the game is more about the playground and sandbox experience than Killzone cover-to-cover guerilla warfare. You will be flanked a lot, but you’re a sponge on lower difficulties and there’s no incentive to play on anything harder unless you so choose. Playing on easy will not lock you out of any trophies.

Enemies will grow stronger as you liberate areas. Or so says the screen, but so will you. You will ideally be levelling up alongside them acquiring better weapons and gear, so don’t fear the reaper. I finished at level 16 and was nigh on indestructible. Able to withstand everything solo with a generous healing mechanic and plenty of cover. End game is a thing, giving you leaders to vanquish and territories to reclaim on a weekly basis, but I felt no desire to return once the credits rolled. The collectibles (USB songs, roosters for cock fighting, hidden histories, ghost stories, diary pages, documents and criptogram charts) are forgettable. You will no doubt indulge in a few of these collectible quests during your travels but even the puzzles were largely not worth the effort. There really isn’t any reason to NG+ other than…well there’s not. My 60+ hour playtime left me satisfied enough. Sometimes it’s important not to overstay your welcome.

In conclusion, players new and old won’t find much that rewrites the playbook of open world playgrounds, but you’ll get your fill. Whether that’s through the amount of repetitive side content or overlong story, either way you won’t be left longing. If you somehow do want more, there’s co-op, an endgame with weekly challenges and the knowledge that you’ll look good doing it. Not the worst game, not the best, but just slick enough to bump it past average. Worth checking out on a sale if you’re low on first person fun in your life, but not essential enough that I can recommend it at full price. For rainy day explosions though, you could do a lot worse.