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Just Cause 4
Mainpage Game Just Cause 4
Developer(s) Avalanche Studios
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Engine Avalanche APEX
Resolutions 640x480 - 720x400
800x480 - 800x600
832x624 - 1024x600
1024x768 - 1152x872
1280x720 - 1280x768
1280x1024 - 1360x768
1366x768 - 1400x1050
1440x900 - 1600x900
1680x1050 - 1920x1080
Up to 4K
Platforms PS4, Xbox One and PC (Steam and Epic Store)
Release Date(s) JC4 launch times
Click to see full size.
"Epic Games" PC version came in early 2020.
Genre(s) Open-world action-adventure sandbox
Mode(s) Single player
Ratings PEGI 18, ESRB M 17+
Media Consoles: Downloads and disks.
PC: Steam and Epic Store.
Input Methods Controller / keyboard and mouse
Languages English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Russian, Korean (interface only), Chinese (simplified) (interface only), Chinese (traditional) (interface), Polish (interface only)


Just Cause 4 is the fourth game in the Just Cause game series.

Info summary

Just Cause 4 is an open world sandbox action-adventure video game developed by Avalanche Studios and published by Square Enix.

Quotes from the official Just Cause 4 website on Square Enix:

"Welcome to Solis, a huge South American world home of conflict, oppression and extreme weather conditions.
Just Cause 4 sees rogue hero Rico Rodriguez land in Solis to hunt down the truth about his past, at any costs.
Strap into your wingsuit, equip your fully customizable grappling hook, and get ready to bring the thunder!"
"Soar through the skies with your wingsuit - Skydive, Base Jump and Free Dive with no limits!
Fight your enemies under extreme weather conditions, including treacherous tornadoes and tropical lightning storms, taking the iconic Just Cause action to insane new heights.
Use extreme weather events to your advantage thanks to never seen before in-game physics."
"Spearhead the rebellion and defeat the Black Hand, a hi-tech private military organization.
Face off against Gabriela Morales – your most fierce, capable, and unpredictable adversary yet.
Uncover the truth of Rico’s father’s past life on Solís’ and its extreme weather."
"Explore the remote South American country of Solís, home of conflict, secrets, and danger.
Enjoy 1024 square kilometers of exotic playground, from rainforest to desert, via snowy mountain peaks.
Discover a plethora of wonders as you explore the world of Solís from bustling cities to rural grasslands."

Quote about the Gold edition of the game from Amazon:

"Rogue agent Rico Rodriguez journeys to Solís, a huge South American world home of conflict, oppression, and extreme weather conditions. Strap into your wingsuit, equip your fully customizable grappling hook and get ready to bring the thunder! Gold Edition Includes: just cause 4 - full game; neon racer Pack which Includes the following DLC items - neon racer Supercar: blitz around in your very own modified Supercar with boost Valve on tap. You'll be the fastest thing in Solís; neon racer wingsuit: race across the skies with this unique neon design; neon racer parachute: drift over the Clouds at speed with this unique neon design; expansion pass - unlock access to each of the three expansions upon their release. More details on the expansion episodes will become available when the game is released; Golden Gear Pack - contains the coveted Golden Gear shotgun Featuring ricochet tracer secondary fire, plus the Golden Gear wingsuit and Golden Gear parachute; digital Deluxe content - fight back against the Black hand with their own technology! Includes special Black hand DLC weaponry: Black hand stealth micro JET: special aircraft with retractable wings and experimental stealth Optic camouflage; Black hand prototype weaponized wingsuits: the Black hand's secret weapon - this prototype wingsuit features boost technology and enhanced Missile weaponry. 24Hr early access - enjoy just cause 4 before everyone else does!."

Just Cause 4 was officially announced by Square Enix at the Xbox E3 conference on June 10th. The game was released on December 4th, 2018.

This is the sequel to Just Cause 3, released in 2015, three years and three days prior to the release of this game.

Should there be a Just Cause 5, that game would likely be the sequel to this game.

Just Cause: Mobile was announced in December 2020, making that game the next game in the series after this one, but it was stated Just Cause: Mobile was not a direct sequel to this game.

Setting and plot

The new nation is Solís, located in South America. The game takes place after the events of Just Cause 3.

Rico travels to Solís to discover the truth about the circumstances of his father's death. Rico's mother was from Medici and his father was from Solís.

Solís is the homeland of the Black Hand, and as such, they rule Solís with a very militaristic regime. The Black Hand has also become an even more powerful enemy as they have obtained advanced weather-manipulation technology from the eDEN Corporation (Downloadable content for Just Cause 3) and continued to develop it themselves.

See this for anything achievement related.


Having arrived at Solís, Rico will start his own rebellion, called the Army of Chaos, to overthrow the Espinosa Dynasty rule and to fight the Black hand and start the Solino Civil War, eventually resulting in the liberation of all of Solís. The Black Hand itself is commanded by Gabriela Morales, who believes herself to be similar to Rico and that Rico is dangerous because of their similarity.

Rico helps an archaeologist named Javi Huerta uncover the truth about the history of Solís and about the Espinosa Dynasty (who have been a central part of the history of Solís). There's evidence of many crimes and cover-ups.

It has also been explained in the "Just Cause 4: All About Narrative [ESRB]" trailer that the storyline is now more broken up and less dependent on missions. The player is no longer expected to get all mission/story information from cut-scenes. Instead, the player learns a lot of the story information from exploring the environment and piecing the information together. Also, this time it won't be completely clear who is "good" and "bad", because of the layered intentions of the factions. See the Category: Just Cause 4 Missions for a list of all missions.

The plot thickens a lot as The Agency becomes a new enemy by the end. Details would be a major spoiler (see missions Operation Thunderbarge and Operation Illapa) and this was expanded upon in one of the expansion packs later. At the end of the storyline Rico and Tom Sheldon team up to take down The Agency.

Returning things and new game features

General gameplay

Chaos points and game progression system

Main articles: Liberation & Chaos points

Chaos points have returned, but the way they work is completely different now.

  • Getting points: Destroying Black Hand infrastructure, equipment, and vehicles rewards the player with chaos points, just as before.
  • How the points work: Chaos points are now automatically spent on unlocking units (called "squads") for the Army of Chaos. Once the player has completed a "region strike" mission (raiding larger bases is a type of mission), it is possible to spend those army units on capturing the newly unlocked region. As another new game feature, there there is an actual war front along the edge of the captured territory. It is necessary to capture more of the map in order to unlock the storyline missions that take place there.
  • Amount of chaos points needed: The amount that is actually needed is next to none in comparison to previous games. In general, outside of mission objectives, the player almost does not have a reason to cause chaos, because dealing with enemy units who spawn during heat (during and outside of missions) is actually enough to progress the story.
  • Necessity of raiding bases outside of missions: In previous games the player had to raid bases in order to earn chaos points, but in JC4 there is never a need to raid a base outside of missions. Base raiding is now only required in "region strike" missions because liberations now only happen on a region level at the click of a button while looking at the map. Most settlements don't even have to be visited, unless going for 100% completion. So as a result, many bases are completely captured off-screen and without any destruction taking place. This is something for which JC4 has been criticized by some players, who feel that no heavily fortified enemy position, or even remote village, should be captured off-screen without player contribution.
  • Destructible chaos objects all respawn infinitely and their destruction numbers are not listed anywhere. This is good for players who like to destroy potentially infinite amounts of things and for those don't want all their captured bases to be destroyed. JC4 has been criticized by some players for this, because it takes the meaning out of the action and leaves no physical sign of anything ever having taken place. However, the developers made chaos objects respawn infinitely so one could argue that the player can blow them up over and over again.

Equipment

  • Rico's arsenal like his grappler, parachute and wingsuit returned.
  • The grappler now has a lot more features and is customizable. All these can be customized to lift, pull, or push as hard as the player wants.
    • The rocket boosters will make a return, but in the form as a mod for Rico's grappling hook. Previously it was a feature of GE-64.
    • A new feature that comes into the game is airlifters. They are balloons that are attached to any tether to the grappler and have different settings like inflating and float above 15 meters, 20 meters, follow where you're pointing or have it follow the character.
  • Freely walking on top of vehicles returns. It seems like Rico's movement on vehicles is not as limited as they were previously, so the player can now basically grapple on to almost every part of a vehicle (e.g. hanging off the side of a plane).
  • Rico can carry two two-handed weapons of players choice, but there are no longer any usable single-handed weapons.
  • Weapons now have this new ability called Secondary Fire, as an alternative way of how the weapon handles and fires.
  • See also: Category: Just Cause 4 Weapons.

Mission structure

Main article: Category:Just Cause 4 Missions.

  • Bigger storyline missions are called "operations". Each "biome" (climate zone) has its own set of storms and main missions about investigating them. It's possible to do these missions parallel to each other, without having to finish one region first. Each set of operation missions tells a part of the story and they all work towards the same story conclusion.
  • There are also "region strikes" that are mainly about weakening a base' defenses to make the Rebellion's taking over of key areas easier. Completing these will make it possible to liberate a region.
  • There are many sidemissions as well. Completing them will unlock mods for the grappler.
  • Random Encounters are back.
  • Stunts are back, too. JC4 has a lot of stunts.

Vehicles

Graphics

This section is largely a matter of opinion and some may disagree with it.

  • As one would expect from a newer, more recent game, the graphics have improved. Additionally, the Apex engine is said to be capable of higher-quality graphics. The following notes are in comparison with Just Cause 3:
    • Improvements:
      • Textures have been improved.
      • The level of detail has significantly improved.
      • There is a more detailed, diverse and realistic natural environment, with more realistic-looking vegetation.
      • Explosions are brighter, more complex and detailed, more firey in shape, texture and tone, more colorful and generally more spectacular.
      • Lighting and global illumination have improved.
      • Shadows are sharper.
    • Regressions:
      • There seems to be a slight regression in water textures. Sometimes, in rivers, the water looks flat and apparently incredibly fake. In the ocean, the water has waves, foam, and ripples. However, water quality was addressed in one of the patches.
      • In JC4, details on an NPC's face seems to be slightly worse than they were in JC3.
      • Most would agree that cut-scenes in JC4 look worse than they were in JC3. This is strange since promotional content and game trailers showed pretty high-quality cut-scenes, indicating that higher graphical quality is available, but the game was at times downgraded to improve performance.
    • Other:
      • The artistic style of JC4 seems to be completely different than that of JC3. Colors are generally much brighter, making the world look sharper than JC3.

Soundtrack and music

Just Cause 4 has many different soundtracks. They are used in different times of the game. The soundtracks can be divided into five main categories:

  • Combat music. This is a collection of dramatic action songs that are played during heat and sidemissions including region strikes and Sargento, Garland and Javi sidemissions.
  • Exploration music. This is a collection of calm songs that are played when the player doesn't have any heat, is not doing any missions or is flying around in his wingsuit (without heat).
  • Special mission music. These are unique songs that are played during main storyline missions. Operation Thunderbarge, Windwalker, Sandstinger and Illapa all have unique soundstracks that are only played when the player plays these said missions.
  • DLC music. This is a collection of songs that are played when the player is in areas added by DLCs or is playing DLC missions.
  • Other. All other soundtracks fall into this category. Songs include ones that are played during specific loading screens, cutscenes and credits.

Here are some (but likely not all) of Just Cause 4's soundtracks:

In-game radio

JC4 is the first game in the series to have radio stations in vehicles. These stations each play a selection of about 10 different items of music and they have some DJs talking. Solís Hoy is a news channel that discusses news and local rumors. The content of this channel changes throughout the storyline.

See:

Trailer music

Just Cause 4's trailers use music composed by Artizan, a musical group. Click here for a playlist of all their songs used in JC4 trailers.

Game editions and DLC

Main article: Downloadable content for Just Cause 4.

Just Cause 4 is a confusing mess of numerous different editions. See Downloadable content for Just Cause 4 for a list of all editions and their included content. If you're looking for Just Cause 4 with all DLC, get the Complete Edition, not the "Gold", "Digital Deluxe" or "Reloaded" editions.

Unlike with JC3, there didn't seem to be a disk edition of the PC version. Looking hard enough, it was possible to find at least 1 site that lists a PC DVD version, but all other sites have JC4 listed as a "download", or as a "Steam code". The console versions, however, were pictured as the box/disk version at most online stores.

See the Downloadable content for Just Cause 4 article for a full list of pre-order bonuses and other DLCs. All pre-order items have been released as separate DLC.

Expansion Pass

The game has 3 expansion packs (similarly to Just Cause 3 expansions) called "Dare Devils of Destruction", "Los Demonios" and "Danger Rising".

See Downloadable content for Just Cause 4 for full info about the expansion packs.

PC system requirements

Originally Steam listed the DirectX as 11.1, but this was later changed to just 11. At the same time, they removed 4K requirements completely.

Minimum

  • OS: Windows 7 SP1 with Platform Update for Windows 7 (64-bit versions only) As of 2020.04.20 this was changed to Windows 10. The game still runs on Windows 7, but there are no guarantees.
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.1 GHz | AMD FX-6300 @ 3.5 GHz or better
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (2GB VRAM or better) | AMD R9 270 (2GB VRAM or better)
  • DirectX: 11
  • HDD/SSD: 59 GB

Recommended

  • OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz | AMD Ryzen 5 1600 @ 3.2 GHz or equivalent
  • RAM: 16 GB
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (6GB VRAM or better) | AMD Vega 56 (6GB VRAM or better)
  • DirectX: 11
  • HDD/SSD: 59 GB

4K requirements (outdated)

  • OS: Windows 10 (64-bit Fall Creators update)
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-7700 (3.6 GHz or higher) | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X (3.6 GHz or higher)
  • RAM: 16 GB
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • DirectX: 11
  • HDD/SSD: TBC

Glitches, patches and updates

Main articles: Just Cause 4 Bugs and glitches and Just Cause 4 Patch history.

See also, at external links

Trivia

  • This game has many firsts for the game series as a whole:
    • This game has more languages (voice acting and subtitles) than any other Just Cause so far.
    • This game is the first game in the series to not have standalone grenades and pistols. While they technically do exist, they just aren't used.
    • With approximately 108 missions including DLC, this game features the most missions in any Just Cause game, with more missions than the previous three games combined.
    • This game is the first to not have an obvious heat system.
    • This game is the first to not show Rico flying into the new country.
    • This game is the first to have actual tanks, as "tanks" in previous games were actually armored cars or APCs.
    • This game is the first to have a fully functioning VTOL aircraft, in this case being the X700 Flycatcher (albeit DLC). While the Si-47 Leopard from Just Cause 2 is based on the Harrier Jump Jet, which has VTOL capabilities, the Leopard doesn't actually have that.
    • This game is the first to lack an emergency vehicle. Just Cause (1) had the MacNamara Emergency III as an ambulance; Just Cause 2 had the Kenwall Heavy Rescue as a fire truck; Just Cause 3 had the Stria Switzo Ambulance as an ambulance, but this game seems to lack any kind of emergency vehicle.
  • On the other hand, this is also the game with the fewest armed helicopters, with only three.
    • Just Cause 2 also has three attack helicopters, but the Rowlinson K22 once fully upgraded in the Black Market gets machine guns equipped.
  • Several of the Vehicles in Just Cause 4 are nearly identical to their Just Cause 3 counterparts, but they have been renamed.
  • Several rumors and leaks indicated that JC4 was in development several years before the official announcement on June 10, 2018. See the Archive of Just Cause 4 news about them.
  • Robert Meyer, a developer for JC4, revealed in an interview in November 2018 that he had been working on JC4 for 3 years.
  • One of the writers for the story is Nick Giovannetti.
  • It has been reported that the Xbox One version of the game is about 45 GB. The PC system requirements list it as 59 GB. Downloading the gold edition from Steam takes 50.2 GB for the initial download and possibly more for the additional content.
  • It's unclear if a retail (disk) version exists for the PC. The PC disk version is at this point a myth.
    • Originally promotional materials that showed the game boxes showed boxes for all 3 versions. Oddly the "box" of the PC version has "Steam" written on it, confirming that the PC version only comes on Steam. These 3 boxes were just CGI.
    • In later trailers, the end scene was changed to only showing boxes for the console versions. Steam was normally marked at the bottom of the page, below the boxes.
    • All official sources for where to buy the PC version only direct to Steam.
    • Then on 2018.11.14, there was a confusing post on the official Just Cause Facebook page that had a picture of a stack of game boxes of each version, including a PC DVD.
    • All internet searches for a Just Cause 4 retail version only show options for a "CD key" for Steam.
    • There is 1 online store in India that seems to be selling a PC DVD version of JC4 and they even show a box cover. However, that box cover seems more CGI rather than a photo of a physical box.
  • As explained in one of the below videos dedicated to this subject, the developers are aware of how poorly Just Cause 3 performed at first (reported here and here), until several patches improved it. This time they've reworked how the game stresses the CPU and are confident that it'll run better.
  • The PC version of the game has been improved importantly: The game now safely minimizes when pressing the Windows logo key. JC2 and JC3 don't want to minimize and when JC3 is forced to minimize, it can become glitchy when maximized again. JC1 is fine to minimize on XP but refuses to do so on W7.
  • As one could expect, it is almost completely impossible to get through the game without dying once. It is possible, but the chances are extremely low.
    • There was once a glitch in Aeropuerto Scramble where at the end of the mission, you spontaneously die even if no damage is taken. This glitch seems to have been fixed in some patch.
    • The heat system in this game is significantly harder compared to previous games, and now that the heat has been updated as of some patch, it is extremely difficult for Rico not to die in combat.
  • Similar to Just Cause 3, this game either does not have a dynamic day-night cycle or if it does than days are very long and the game always starts at a day. A few missions automatically set the time to night.
  • The game doesn't have a normal day/night cycle. Reportedly, when the game was first released days lasted about 2.5 hours and nights about 20 minutes. This has resulted in some players never having seen an in-game night during their play sessions, outside of a few missions that reset the game time to night. The vast majority of missions are set at day and starting the game also resets time to day. This is something that the developers have addressed in a patch in August 2019. The patch makes nights longer and adds chairs where the player may sit to force the game to pass its in-universe time faster.
  • While probably not intentional, this game and its theme of extreme weather are extremely similar to a movie called Geostorm, which also deals with extreme weather. In that movie, there is also a villain that wishes to harness extreme weather to make the United States the dominant superpower in the world.
  • This game won the Action Game category in the 2019 Webby Awards.

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