Far Cry 3 is a 2012 first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the third main installment in the Far Cry series. The game takes place on the fictional Rook Islands, a tropical archipelago which can be freely explored by players. Gameplay focuses on combat and exploration. Players can use a variety of weapons to defeat human enemies and hostile wildlife, and the game features elements found in role-playing games such as skill trees and experience. After a vacation goes awry, protagonist Jason Brody must save his friends, who have been kidnapped by pirates, and escape from the island and its unhinged inhabitants.

Ubisoft Montreal collaborated with Ubisoft's global development team, including Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Reflections and Red Storm Entertainment. The game's development was partially restarted in 2010 after the departure of several key creative staff. The team evaluated the feedback for Far Cry 2 and identified areas that needed to be improved or removed. The team spent considerable time designing the island, which they described as the "second most important character" in the game. Inspirations were taken from films and TV shows such as Apocalypse Now and Lost, as well as video games The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption. Michael Mando was hired to portray Vaas, an antagonist the team compared to Darth Vader.