Assassin's Creed isn't the only long-running Ubisoft franchise set to undergo a massive transformation.

Ubisoft was one of the first companies to really go all-in on the open world concept. Unfortunately, it fell in love with it too much, to the point that even the genuinely good outings - take, for example, the criminally underrated Immortals Fenyx Rising, which could've gotten a sequel but was canceled midway - received backlash for sporting a similar design.

While Far Cry's open-world design has always been one of its strongest points, the series has become quite formulaic in recent years, which is probably why Ubisoft is looking to switch things up.

According to a report by Insider Gaming, Far Cry 7 will, for the first time in the 20-year-old franchise, feature a "non-linear story" centered around the player character's attempt to rescue his family from a conspiracy group, the Sons of Truth. This isn't as unusual of a take in a franchise that usually tasks players to either save themselves from captivity or liberate a group of people or maybe even both. But, what makes Far Cry 7 different is the use of an in-game timer that gives players only 72 in-game hours to rescue their family. This timer, which lasts for a total of around 24 hours in real life, is a mechanic that's already drawing comparisons to Dead Rising, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Final Fantasy XIII-3.