Far Cry, the first game in the massively successful franchise published Ubisoft, was the first game to showcase Crytek's famous CryEngine back in 2004. While considered a first-person shooter in mechanics, the open world design helps classify it more as an RPG of sorts. While each game is unrelated in terms of narrative, they all follow the same premise of wilderness survival with a different world and characters each time.
The latest release, Far Cry 4, took place in a fictional country in the Himalayas, while the previous installment, Far Cry 3, was set on an island in the Pacific. Breaking from this somewhat 'exotic' theme, Far Cry 5 is known to take place in America. Rather than battling pirates or warlords, the protagonist will be going up against a doomsday cult with an affinity for kidnap and murder. Perhaps the publishers are trying to shake things up. Or, given that it was developed primarily by Ubisoft Montreal, maybe it's just Canada throwing shade at America. We'll have to wait and see.
A lot of other details about the game should begin to surface in the coming weeks. We've got a long way to go until the tentative release date in early 2018, but here's everything we know so far about Ubisoft's latest masterpiece: Far Cry 5.
15 Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave
First things first, where does the game take place? Rather than some exotic island or made-up country, Far Cry 5 will be set in the blissful countryside of Hope County, Montana. While it may look quaint and peaceful from afar, it's actually riddled with violence and controlled by a extreme doomsday cult called Project at Eden's Gate. While the aesthetic might be the Wild West, it isn't the Old West; the game apparently takes place in the modern day, with all the weaponry and vehicles that go along with it. This is also apparently meant to highlight that the evil we've gotten used throughout the franchise might not be so far from home.
14 Custom Characters
For the first time in the history of the franchise, players will be able to customize their own character and play as any race or gender. Previous games had players fill a role in the narrative, playing as a pre-designed character with pre-designed motivations, personality, and aesthetic. However, Ubisoft has decided to fully embrace the RPG tradition and allow players to make their own character this time. The specifics of this customization (whether it'll be like Fallout 4 or old school Runescape) are not yet clear.
Regardless of who you make, you'll still start out as a Sheriff's Deputy, charged with rallying the citizens of Hope County against the nefarious Eden's Gate cult. Those on your side are known as The Resistance.
13 A Hefty Arsenal
An American setting means an American arsenal, worthy of the country with the highest guns per capita of any nation on Earth. You'll get a patriotic baseball bat, crafted from home-grown American pine, as well as feisty grenades and booming dynamite. Of course, you'll also have plenty of real guns reminiscent of Call of Duty's earlier installments. Vehicles are also a huge part of the game; given the location in middle America, the developers would be remiss if they didn't let you drive a tractor, pick-up truck, semi-truck, and much more, all of which are at your disposal. You can even pilot planes and dogfight or try your hand at helicopter flying.
12 The Villain Has Big Shoes To Fill
The Far Cry franchise, as far as the latest two games go at least, were lauded for their villain design. Vass Montenegro's "eccentric" personality gained so much acclaim, both in terms of animation and voice acting, that he became the poster boy for the game itself, appearing in numerous promotional material. Pagan Min, the antagonist from Far Cry 4, had a similarly outlandish aura about him, a quality that made him a compelling adversary.
Vaas' and Min's counterpart in Far Cry 5 is Father Joseph Seed, the founder of Project at Eden's Gate. The preacher-turned-cult leader is on a mission to convert the citizens of Hope County to his cause by any means necessary. He bears a striking resemblance to David Koresh, a real-life cult leader, though it's unknown whether this is intentional. You can "hear" more of him in this debut trailer.
11 Repent For Your Sins
Perhaps the most accurate representation of the game's aesthetic comes from another trailer that presents a first-person perspective of a town in Hope County. Upon entering a church, we see all the townspeople, armed to the teeth, looking to their leader. It turns out he has quite a set of pipes, singing an almost beautiful rendition of "Amazing Grace" while shirtless, holding an assault rifle, and flanked by an American flag altered to show the cult's insignia rather than the traditional 50 stars.
This gives us a fairly good idea of the type of theme the developers were going for. In fact, they aren't even being subtle about presenting the surprisingly zealous attitudes of Middle America. Some might say it's an obvious nod to recent politics.
10 Is There Multiplayer Tho?
Ubisoft has confirmed that the campaign will be co-op, so you can play through the whole story with a friend. However, the "drop-in, drop-out" mechanic of joining games makes it so only one of the players actually makes progress in the game; the other simply helps out but has to host in their own game to actually get achievements. To add insult to injury, the co-op is only through online gameplay, there's no local multiplayer.
On a somewhat positive note, the map creator from previous installations will also be made available for potential custom games, up to 6v6 deathmatches and more.
9 Squad Up (With AI)
Far Cry 5 will also allow you to recruit specialists from The Resistance and have them aid you on various missions as companions. One of them is Grace Armstrong, a skilled sniper who provides overwatch from afar. She isn't completely autonomous; the player can direct where she sets up her scope, as well as the area they want her to target. She'll be a crucial and possibly life-saving presence while you're deep in close-range combat. There's Boomer, a trusty dog with a fair amount of utility. He can tag enemies for you, as well as steal their guns away and distract them, giving you time to go in for the kill. And finally there's Nick, a mechanics who teaches you how to dogfight and provides air support during heavy battles.
8 The Comic Relief, Love Interest, And Villager Walk Into A Bar
No game is complete without a diverse cast of characters, and at least on this front we know Far Cry 5 delivers. Besides the antagonist and player character, there's also Mary May Fairgrave, a bar owner whom many assume to be the love interest. She could also be a quest-giver or mission companion. Then there's our friend Nick Rye, the companion option who seems to be the comic relief type. Not last and not least (we don't have the full character list yet), we have Pastor Jerome Jeffries, an old friend of Joseph Seed before the Father converted the Pastor's followers to his cult, All of them will be your allies in the game. From Eden's Gate, there's a character that's meant to resemble Tom Cruise, specifically his relation to Scientology. The character is essentially a celebrity who returns to his town to help grow the cult through his more "worldly" knowledge.
7 Sounds Of The West
Compelling plot, multi-dimensional characters, detailed setting, smooth mechanics, intuitive progression; any good game will have some combination of these qualities. Any great game will have all of them. But there's nothing quite like a masterful soundtrack to bring it all together.
Dan Romer, who composed the music for the game, was asked to use elements from films such as the related Beasts of No Nation and Beasts of the Southern Wild. These works blend reality and fiction to create a folksy, surreal atmosphere. The resulting score utilized everything from banjos to gospel choir vibes. It featured lively and uplifting tunes with a much darker subtext. It combines outward faith and salvation with implicit violence and murder. A great example is "Oh John", one of the cult's prominent hymns.
6 Befriend The Woodland Creatures
Far Cry 5 wouldn't be the first game to incorporate wild animals into its open world setting. And just because we're not on some Pacific island anymore doesn't mean there isn't any wildlife to hunt. Montana is well known for its population of bears, both black and grizzly. Carnivorous felines can be found in more mountainous areas of the map, and in forests lurk wolves and coyotes. Some of these animals might even interrupt a shootout, though it's unpredictable whether they'll choose you or your enemies to have for lunch.
Fret not, there are plenty of herbivores native to Montana as well. The most obvious candidate to be included in the game is the famous American bison. Others may include moose, elk, goat, and deer, all roaming the great plains of the region. Whether you hunt them or just watch them graze is up to you.
5 Buy The Book, Get The Backstory
About a week ago, Ubisoft also announced that it would be releasing a novel called Far Cry Absolution. the narrative takes place just before the events of the game, and presumably tells the tale of how exactly Project at Eden's Gate came to power in Hope County. It starts in the small town of Fall's End, with the murder of Mary May Fairgrave's family, and ends with established motivations for each of the characters you'll meet along your adventure.
The book is written by critically-acclaimed author Urban Waite, and you can pick up an eBook, hardcover, or paperback edition if you so wish. Lifelong fans won't want to miss out on this unique opportunity to augment their gameplay experience. More casual gamers would be just fine with the Sparknotes.
4 Liberate, Rinse, Repeat
The general progression of the game involves attacking cult-held locations, freeing the townspeople who are being held against their will, and turning the place into a sanctuary (a safe place where you can shop, interact with NPC, and the like). A head-on assault and a stealth approach are both viable options, and its up to the player which route to take.
Another interesting, albeit unoriginal, aspect of the game is random encounters. You may come across various townspeople being harassed by members of the cult along your travels. While you're free to ignore the situation and move on, a true protagonist would battle evil everywhere they saw it, even it it's just a petty crime. And no act goes unrewarded (or unpunished); it's been suggested that forming relationships is an important aspect of the game, and a kind act early own could be beneficial later on.
3 Prepare Your Wallet
It's not like a game company would just sell the base game and be done with it, no sir. They've prepared several different purchasing options, fitting for diehard fans and new players alike. All pre-orders, now being accepted, come with a fun pack weapon and vehicle skins, as well as a cool outfit. The Deluxe Edition gets you a little more of each reward, but puts a $69.99-sized dent in your wallet. For an extra $30, you can get yourself the Gold Edition, which is essentially the Deluxe Edition plus the season pass. No DLC details have been released, so that one is really just a leap of faith. If you get the physical copy of the Gold Edition, it'll be $10 more at $99.99, but it comes with a slick steel case, if that's something you're into. More perks come with buying the game for a specific platform.
Or, you could go the old-fashioned route: wait for the release, read some reviews, then buy the regular edition.
2 Already Caught In Controversy
When the game was first announced, it was met with a fair share of negative reception, partly due to the fact that it turned Americans into villains. Others criticized the developers for recycling old mechanics and formulas into a new plot line. The latter isn't entirely true, however, Ubisoft has said that they've tweaked some of the old gameplay to create a more original experience.
As for the plot, the cover art itself paints a rather controversial image. It shows an altered version of "The Last Supper" (which is regarded to be a fairly sacred and religious work of art) with Jesus and his disciples replaced with members of the antagonistic cult. The controversy is ongoing, but one thing is certain: the game will address violence, and have us wonder why it's acceptable to end one group of people in previous games but not another in this one. In fact, there's even a petition over it...
1 A Satirical Petition To Cancel The Game
"We, the American gamers that make up the majority of your user base, demand to you cancel this game, or alter it to be less offensive to your main player base."
That's the general gist of a petition to cancel the game on account of the villain demographic Ubisoft chose for this latest release: American Christians. The language of the petition indicates that it perhaps might be set up as satire. However, it has garnered over 2300 signatures, and it's likely some of them took the petition seriously. While it may be a valid complaint, many others see this bad guy switch-up as a good thing. In previous games, the villains were natives of exotic islands or other foreign races. In any case, shifting the narrative closer to home gave the game just the right amount of kick to keep us interested for yet another installment.