In Ubisoft's first-person shooter Far Cry 3, players take on the role of Jason Brody, a young American who travels with his friends and siblings to the Rook Islands for vacation. Unbeknownst to them, the islands are filled with hostile pirates lead by the sadistic Vass Montenegro. When Vaas kidnaps Jason's friends, he must become a ruthless warrior and battle the pirates head-on to save the people he loves.
Like many of the games in the Far Cry series, the game features skill trees that offer numerous upgrades that help improve Jason's stealth and combat abilities. In Far Cry 3, these skill trees are represented in-game in the form of the Tatau.
After the game's opening sequence, Jason is rescued by island local Dennis, an adopted member of the Rook Islands' indigenous tribe, the Rakyat. When Jason wakes up, Dennis gives Jason the beginnings of a traditional Rakyat tattoo called the Tatau. Dennis explains to Jason that the Tatau has the ability to reveal one's true self and that the tattoo will help Jason become the warrior he needs to rescue his friends and take back the Islands from Vaas and his pirates. At the beginning of the game, the Tatau has a minimalist design but gets more elaborate as the game progresses.
Aside from story progression, there are two ways that the Tatau can be filled. The first is by playing the game and gaining experience by completing story missions and side quests. As Jason gains more experience, he acquires skill points that can be used to purchase new abilities in the game's three main skill trees: The Heron, The Shark, and The Spider. The Heron improves mobility, The Shark focuses on health and assault, and The Spider revolves around stealth and resource management. The more skills Jason purchases, the more markings his tattoo has.
The other way to fill the Tatau is by collecting relics, which are collectible items scattered across the Rook Islands. Unlike skills, Tatau markings that come from relics are purely cosmetic. Relics are divided into four animals: Heron, Shark, Spider and Boar. Each relic found adds a new dot to the Tatau, and collecting all 120 relics while purchasing all the skills will completely finish the Tatau by the end of the game.
Far Cry 3's Tatau borrows its name from the Samoan word for tattoo, which is where the English term comes from. In Samoan culture, a tatau is a series of traditional markings on the lower half of the body meant to signify a right of passage for young adults and represent courage, respect and power. There are two types of tatau: Pe'a for men and Malu for women. The designs for these tattoos, particularly the male Pe'a, are comprised of intricate lines and shapes, and the process of getting these tattoos is very long and painful.