What struck me in my first moments in the open Montana wilderness of Far Cry 5 was how at-home I felt. No, it wasn’t the occupation of Eden’s Gate throughout the world or the outlandish dialogue and action sequences you’d find it a Far Cry game. In fact, growing up in rural Kentucky, what stuck out most to me about Far Cry 5 is how truly realistic every aspect of the “mundane” country life is represented in Far Cry 5. Ideals and beliefs, whether they’re favorable or not, were so well represented in my playtime (about 4 hours) that I cannot wait to see what the rest of the game holds.
But like I was saying, it wasn’t how badass the action sequences I played through were (and they sure were badass), but it was walking through the open wilderness openly exploring the countryside. Unlike past Far Cry titles, I never felt like I was a stranger in the area; even though it was my first time playing the game in this capacity. Everything felt familiar; from local’s dialogue with the player to just the awe-inspiring skylines and landmarks.
Speaking of landmarks, Far Cry 5 has this great new system for revealing bits of the map. Now, players are able to find various roadsigns that point to different landmarks within the open world that eventually lift the “clouds” over your map, opening up fast travel points and other markable objectives like hunting grounds. Bye-bye radio tower climbing! Hello, actually exploring a map to discover new things. While I didn’t spend a lot of time going to each other landmarks, I definitely see myself spending more time in the actual exploring of the land with the new system, rather than just hopping tower-to-tower for PSN Trophy purposes.
https://youtu.be/lQf1knuupYw
But even with the plethora of exploration possibilities Far Cry 5 has to offer, it still plays like the typical Far Cry game that fans of the series has grown to love. Gun play still feels sharp, familiar and exciting; not to mention driving the various vehicles feels more honed in and focused than previous entries. I never really felt as though I was going to go careening off the side of the road to my death like in the previous games, which was super welcome. As you’ll see in the gameplay below, a lot of the mission-to-mission focus is still liberating various outposts to unlock new main and side missions, but getting between those outposts has never been more fun.
Let’s just take a moment to talk about the Seed family and Joseph Seed (the family that runs Eden’s Gate, and their leader). Far Cry has always been known for their captivating villains, but I couldn’t help but feel that Far Cry 5 takes it up a notch. The way Joseph Seed is portrayed as a calm, proclaimed “righteous” man is not only hauntingly familiar with other religious cults in heavily rural areas; but it’s because of that familiarity that makes him so enticing. I never felt so connected or afraid of a Far Cry villain as I do with Joseph Seed and his siblings.
In the area of the map I played, Jacob Seed (the militaristic brother of Joseph) runs the northern most section of Hope County; and it really shows. Most of the outposts have been set up in such a militaristic style, that you can really tell whoever is giving commands really knows how to run a military operation. What I found so fascinating though was when talking to Dan Hay, the Creative Director for Far Cry 5, he explained that one of the aspects they wanted to explore were the, “nuanced relationships with the siblings.” He goes on to explain that there is, “imperfection in a relationship;” and that even though Joseph is giving the commands to each of the siblings, each of those siblings carry out his commands in their own sort of fashion. Such can be seen in the case of Jacob, as his military training really stands out within his section of the map you explore.
Of course, I would be remiss not to mention the expanded co-op mode found in Far Cry 5. I had about an hour of co-op playtime (seen above, edited), and I can tell the influences from Ghost Recon: Wildlands really has played a part in crafting the co-op option for Far Cry 5. At any time in the story, your friend (or friends) can drop into your game no matter which section of the story you’re part of. It’s incredibly fun to just do story missions with your friends, or just mess around in the open world. My biggest fear though is how the story will react to having multiple players. Of course we’ll have to wait for the main game to see how co-op affects a story that seems to be focused on Player 1, instead of Players 1 – 3.
All in all, Far Cry 5 is shaping up to be a fantastic entry in the series. I really feel that taking the step into the mainland USA was a smart choice for the series. The game plays wonderfully, and even with co-op I feel there’s much to be excited about with Far Cry 5. Of course, look for our full review of the game later this month when it releases!
