Set six years after its predecessor, Just Cause 3 follows series protagonist Rico Rodriguez as he returns to his homeland of Medici, a fictional Mediterranean island country under the control of dictator General Sebastiano Di Ravello.

The game is played from a third-person perspective and allows players to explore the island of Medici in an open world environment.

[1] However, its volumetric terrain has increased to allow more verticality—as a result of this, it is possible for the player to explore caverns and scale buildings more effectively and realistically.

[2] A new wingsuit, which is permanently equipped by protagonist Rico Rodríguez, is featured in the game and allows the player to glide across the world more quickly.

[6] In addition to the equipment provided, a wide range of weapons, like assault rifles, missile launchers, shotguns, RPGs,[7] and vehicles, such as fighter aircraft, planes, ships, and exotic cars, are included in the game.

[5][13] A new mechanic called Rebel Drop allows the player to pause the game to select equipment, weapons, and vehicles.

It includes mini-games like wingsuit races and the destruction frenzy mode, in which new objectives and challenges are unlocked when the player destroys an enemy base.

[16] Six years after the events of Just Cause 2, mercenary Rico Rodriguez returns to his homeland of Medici, a fictional Mediterranean island country that has fallen under the control of a military dictatorship led by General Sebastiano Di Ravello.

Seeking to restore freedom to his people, Rico sets out to overthrow Di Ravello and his self-titled militia, the DRM, alongside an underground resistance movement led by his oldest friend, Mario Frigo.

[12] After helping Mario save his forces from complete extermination at the hands of the regime, Rico reunites with another old ally from his past, Dimah al-Masri.

Dimah and her team inform Rico and Mario that Di Ravello has been mining Bavarium, a valuable mineral found only on Medici, so that he can use it to build the most powerful arsenal the world has ever seen.

After Mario is critically wounded during the fight, Annika offers to aid the rebellion in exchange for Rico's help in stealing Di Ravello's Imperators, tanks equipped with protective shields powered by Bavarium.

Rico rallies the rebels to defeat the invasion forces, reducing Di Ravello's control to only one region of Medici after igniting an unstable reactor at another command base at Corda Dracon.

Rosa Manuela, a Medician politician and old rival of Di Ravello's, returns to Medici from political exile to form a government opposed to his regime.

With help from the smugglers, Rico destroys a train carrying Bavarium for export and frees the prisoners working in Di Ravello's last remaining mines.

With Sheldon and Dimah, he also prevents Di Ravello from selling a Bavarium bomb by forcing it out of its transport plane and detonating it in the sea.

The rebels make a final push to end Di Ravello's rule by attacking his central command at Falco Maxime, during which Dimah sacrifices herself to wipe out all known information about Bavarium.

In order to portray a world under dictatorship, the developers of the game established a color scheme composed of mainly grey, yellow, and red, to convey a sense of oppression.

[20] Environmental destruction is expanded in Just Cause 3, as Avalanche considered it a key element in creating a cinematic experience and a mechanic to give players more freedom.

The art director of the game explained that the studios "[wanted] just a touch of that James Bond agency feel [on Rico Rodriguez] without going too far into the goofy and outlandish like XXX starring Vin Diesel.

[31] The result of the poll was revealed on 9 July 2015, and the Collector's Edition includes a grappling hook, the Weaponized Vehicle Pack content, a poster of Medici and an artbook.

[43][44][45] Reviewers praised the open world environment, destruction mechanics and its promotion of player agency, but criticized the narrative and technical issues.