Panau

Panau is the fictional country featured in Just Cause 2.

Info Summary

 * "Here we are, Panau Islands. South-East Asia's best kept secret." - Maria Kane describing Panau to Rico at the beginning of the game's first cut-scene in the Welcome to Panau Agency mission.

It is a fictional island nation in the Gulf of Thailand, more so in the region of the Malay Peninsula.

The Panauan islands were controlled by the Spanish during the Age of Exploration. Although the Dutch, Portuguese, and British were mentioned by Odd Ahlgren in the Panau Mini-Doc, they only controlled smaller islands around Panau, some of which are part of modern Panau. The location is implied to be somewhere in the region of the Malay Peninsula. Many urban centers in the game take certain cues from the visual style of Singapore.

Stretching out 1035.55 km2 (400 square miles), the island is packed with dense jungle, arctic peaks, arid deserts and sun-bleached beaches, each populated with a variety of settlements in which to cause chaos. From ski resorts to submarine bases, towns and villages to a huge capital city, Panau is an island rich in variety. Each climate zone has its own unique weather system with dense snow falls creating picture postcard peaks and tropical thunder storms lighting up the night sky.

Just Cause 2 has a dynamic day and night cycle, which covers 24 in-game hours in 1 real life hour and dramatically affects the appearance of the landscape, resulting in some very picturesque sunsets.

Panau uses Panauan dollars as exchange, evidenced by a radio transmission after the mission Three Kings. During the first stage of the mission, "The White Tiger", where Rico must meet Ken Pang. He says this to the informant: "Considering the value of the Panauan Buck, shooting you would have been more expensive." If what Rico paid Pang were US dollars, that would mean a single US dollar could be over 50 Panauan bucks. The prices on the Gas Station signs are probably also in this exchange.

The design of Panau is likely to have been inspired by Thailand or Indonesia (because of its archipelago). The name is most likely based on the nation of Palau, which is located in the same area.

The flag looks very reminiscent of the flag of Cuba.