Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a first-person shooter released in 2013, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It functions as a standalone expansion to Far Cry 3 and marks the seventh main entry in the Far Cry series. The game is a retro-futuristic parody that satirizes 1980s action movies, cartoons, and video games, and takes place on an open-world island. Players control Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt, a military cyborg. Its gameplay largely mirrors Far Cry 3, though several systems from the base game were simplified or removed. A key addition is the Blood Dragon itself: a massive reptile that fires lasers from its eyes and can be lured to attack enemy garrisons.

Development took roughly six months. The project was part of Ubisoft’s effort to create downloadable content that would attract newcomers to the series, with the team instructed to produce something unexpected for Far Cry 3 DLC. Inspiration came from 1980s films like *The Wraith* and *Terminator*, as well as recent movies such as *Manborg* and *Hobo with a Shotgun*. The director of *Hobo with a Shotgun*, Jason Eisener, became an informal advisor after befriending the game’s director, Dean Evans. Michael Biehn, who played Sgt. Kyle Reese in the *Terminator* franchise, was invited to voice the protagonist. The Australian synthwave duo Power Glove composed the soundtrack.

The game launched for PlayStation 3 on 30 April 2013, and for Windows and Xbox 360 on 1 May 2013. It received generally positive reviews, with praise for its gameplay, soundtrack, and 1980s aesthetic, though opinions were split on its humor. Commercially, it succeeded for Ubisoft, selling 1 million copies by August 2013. A remastered version was released in December 2021, available to players who purchased the *Far Cry 6* season pass. No direct sequel was made, but a spin-off, *Trials of the Blood Dragon*, came out in 2016. An adult animated series loosely inspired by the game, *Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix*, debuted on Netflix in October 2023.

**Gameplay**

Blood Dragon is a standalone expansion to Far Cry 3, a first-person shooter. Players control Rex "Power" Colt, a cyborg commando stranded on an unnamed island. As in the main game, players can approach objectives in various ways: using firearms like pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles, or explosives such as grenades.