Set during prehistoric times, the game follows the story of Takkar, who starts off as an unarmed hunter but will rise to become the leader of a tribe, using his special gift of taming animals.

Primal adapts the traditional Far Cry formula to its prehistoric setting, replacing modern firearms with primitive weapons like spears, clubs, and bows and arrows, and allowing players to summon animal companions during battles.

[4] At night, more predators are present, and many become more aggressive and dangerous, whereas during the day, the player can gather food and scavenge other resources such as tools for hunting.

These animals serve as a companion for the player and can assist them in combating enemies after being tamed, and can be summoned remotely and issued basic commands.

[10] Players take on the role of a Wenja tribesman named Takkar (Elias Toufexis),[11] who is stranded in Oros with no weapons after his hunting party is ambushed by a saber-tooth tiger.

[12] Takkar, a hunter from the Wenja tribe, is the only survivor after his hunting party is ambushed and killed by a sabertooth, cutting him off from the rest of his kin.

Takkar then starts gathering the Wenja he meets around his cave, eventually encountering the wolf shaman Tensay (Terrence C. Carson), who helps him to learn the ability to tame the local animals.

After preparing himself enough to face Ull and Batari, Takkar storms the Udam and Izila's main fortresses, passing by all opposition before confronting and killing their commanders.

The survey includes themes like vampires, zombies, dinosaurs, a post-apocalyptic world, historical warfare and modern days locations like Peru and Alaska.

[32][33][34] Destructoid's Kyle MacGregor spoke positively about how the game depicts violence towards animals and the survival aspects in general, saying that they were designed with realism in mind.

"[36] Jeff Cork from Game Informer praised the setting for allowing for gameplay and story elements with more realism, specifically in regard to the protagonist not being a stereotype young male who inexplicably has advanced combat knowledge.

Lastly, Cork wrote: "Players who associate Far Cry with explosions and massive gunfights might find the setting disappointing, but it's one of my favorite entries in the series yet.

"[37] Matt Utley of GameRevolution called Far Cry Primal a "breath of fresh air for both the franchise and first-person action games in general".

He praised the decision to remove guns and motorized vehicles for enabling more dynamic gameplay, called the graphics "lush" and "evocative", and, like others, commended the bold setting change.

Utley's critiques were minor; he disliked some aspects of the control scheme, found that the quieter moments of the game were drowned-out by aggressive enemies, and felt that not enough improvements and fixes were made to the basic Far Cry formula.

He praised the open world for being "cohesive" and "foreboding", enjoyed the "tense" focus on survival, and called the beast-taming mechanics "creative".

[39] Joe Skrebels from GamesRadar was more critical of the game, summarizing his thoughts with: "Primal takes the great structure of the Far Cry series, but little of its character.

[40] Luke Reilly of IGN summarized his review with: "Far Cry Primal comes to the table with a quiver of neat ideas but it forgot to bring much of a story with it."

Reilly thought the game's strongest aspects were created by its twist on the series' formula, highlighting the scavenging elements and the animal-taming mechanics.

However, Reilly felt the drastic change for the series wasn't without its flaws, saying that the characters, quests, and overall story were a step back from the memorable moments of the previous games.

He summarized his review by writing: "I don't want every Far Cry game from here on to trade bullets for arrows, motorcycles for tigers, but Primal is an invigorating example of how to re-imagine a tired franchise while keeping its soul intact.