Far Cry's source code has leaked online and players say they can run it

A screenshot of the sun-drenched shores of Far Cry
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The source code from the original Far Cry game has leaked online.

The game files were recently uploaded to the internet archive, archive.org. Since then, PC gamers have been downloading the .zip and attempting to get the acclaimed shooter up and running. No one's entirely sure why the game was uploaded at this point or why. 

Some say some key files are missing – "it doesn't appear to be a complete application [...] just a portion, a few exes but no Xbox code or game assets, and the code itself won't compile without a large number of errors", according to one person – but others insist that the game does compile and run with a little additional work and building the binaries using Visual Studio 2003. 

"It compiles actually, I've seen people successfully building the binaries," replied Vinicius Medeiros, who broke the leak on Twitter (thanks, MXDWN.com). "The person that said about the errors just hasn't configured right, and about the assets – you can just take them from the full game."

The latest instalment in the Far Cry universe is Far Cry 6, a game we called "the latest and quite possibly the greatest in Ubisoft’s long-running open-world shooter series". 

"The island of Yara is a beautiful, dangerous place to explore, loaded with secrets and objectives that are actually worth hunting down this time," we said in our Far Cry 6 review, in which we awarded the game four out of five stars. 

"Far Cry 6 doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel of the long-running series," we said at the time. "What it does do, however, is present Far Cry’s open-world gameplay loop in a manner more fun and accessible than ever before. Side objectives are plentiful but don’t suffocate the map or overwhelm the player in their volume. Instead, you get a reasonable sense of progression as you take back territory across Yara."

Did you hear that Far Cry 7 might take Ubisoft’s popular series in a totally new direction by leaning into a more “online-oriented approach”?