Far Cry 6's cockfights are hilarious and should be a full game

Far Cry 6 is almost upon us, and while the main game doesn't have a huge amount of new and shiny things outside its tried-and-tested formula, there is one mini-game that took me utterly by surprise.

Far Cry 6 is a guerilla revolution campaign against Presidente Castillo, who brutalizes a fictional Caribbean nation experimenting on a supposed "cure" for cancer. It's typical Far Cry fare, with a huge and gorgeous island world, as you traverse from outpost to outpost, gradually dismantling the enemy regime. Far Cry 6 probably won't make any best Xbox games lists this year, but it's another decent entry in the franchise, and fans of the formula will find plenty to enjoy.

Far Cry 6's guerillas subsist in hidden villages dotted around the landscape and form a sort of "social hub" system, where the camera falls back to third-person. Here, you can customize your gear and weapons, and also participate in mini-games like Dominos.

One of these mini-games, however, is a simplified fighting game featuring collectible combat cockerels, hellbent on viciously pecking their opponents to death. And it's hilariously awesome.

Far Cry cockfighting

Far Cry 6 probably won't win any awards from PETA for this cockfighting mode, but it's among the more surprising features Ubisoft added to this year's installment of the game.

You unlock cockfighting in the first guerilla hub you go to after the initial tutorial island. A fight organizer beckons you over, with a crate, rewarding you with your first combat cockerel. There are about a dozen to collect from across the island with different styles and stats, to mix up your hectic hen battle strategy.

When you first engage with the system, you're greeted with a Street Fighter-inspired character selection menu, complete with its own catchy chiptune soundtrack. After selecting your chosen fighting fowl and placing a bet, you'll enter the arena, ready to battle to the death.

The combat system is relatively simplistic and designed to be reactionary. You can dodge up and down similarly to fighting games like Tekken, as well as sidestep backward to avoid different attacks. You can then lunge your pugilistic poultry's pecker right into the eyes of your opponent, complete with a special meter to unleash a devastating grapple move.

Once you've achieved victory, you get all the prize money, awash in rowdy rooster bloodlust. It's hilarious and is arguably one of the best mini-games I've ever seen in a title like this.

Make it a full game!

Ubisoft will no doubt catch some shrapnel from animal rights groups for its parodic depiction of very real and very illegal combat cock scenarios, but hey, it's probably the most original aspect of Far Cry 6, and I'm here for it.

Ubisoft struggles to build games outside of its typical open-world sandbox wheelhouse, and I can't help but wonder what a full-blown chicken brawler from Ubisoft may look like, complete with combos and complex button inputs. It's hardly far removed from Pokémon, in a way ... kind of.

Far Cry 6 launches on Oct. 7, 2021, for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.