Far Cry 3 is a heck of a fun game, and lovely to look at. But those gorgeous sunsets and mountain vistas are marred somewhat by the intrusive screen-clutter that covers the game with waypoints, pop-up reminders, and other unwanted text.
I'd been playing the game with a fairly scorched-earth mod that removes every single HUD element entirely. I like it, but only because I'd played the game before; it'd make things unplayable for a newcomer. Last week, Ubisoft let us know that based on feedback, they were working on a patch to let players remove elements of the HUD.
That update went live last night in the 1.04 patch for PC users, and among other things it promises to allow "New options the hide the HUD are now available in the option menu."
I of course immediately downloaded the patch last night and gave it a go. And indeed, you can now turn off the game's HUD in the options menu. Go to the "gameplay" part of the potions menu on the PC version and you'll see this:
Looks good! And it's very nice to be able to turn off all of the annoying pop-ups and notifications, particularly the one that reminds you about the next story quest every few minutes.
But… and here's where I prove that I'm NEVER HAPPY I guess, but there's still no option to turn off the Grand Theft Auto-style mini-map. And we all know how I feel about Grand Theft Auto-style mini-maps. It seems surprising that it's not an option, given that mini-map toggling is an option in so many other open-world games, including Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed III.
Still, a welcome improvement. I think I still prefer the more extreme modified version of the game, but I'm weird. Good on Ubisoft for listening to user feedback. I've asked Ubisoft when console players can expect the patch, but haven't heard back. It's likely that it's coming, but at a somewhat later date.