Far Cry 5
Far Cry 5 is a 2018 first-person shooter, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the successor to 2014's Far Cry 4, and the fifth main installment in the Far Cry series. Set in Hope County, a fictional region of Montana, United States, the game revolves around the Project at Eden's Gate, a doomsday cult that has taken over the county under the command of its charismatic and powerful leader, Joseph Seed. Players control an unnamed junior deputy sheriff who becomes trapped in Hope County and must work alongside various resistance factions to liberate the region from the despotic rule of the Seeds and Eden's Gate. Gameplay focuses on combat and exploration; players battle enemy soldiers and dangerous wildlife using a wide array of weapons. The game features many elements found in role-playing games, such as a branching storyline and side quests. The game also features a map editor, a co-operative multiplayer mode, and a competitive multiplayer mode.
Announced in early 2017, development on Far Cry 5 was extensive. The team explored several concepts before settling on an American location. The game was heavily inspired by several socio-political events in modern history, such as the Cold War and the September 11 attacks. The development team sought to capture the despondent social climate after the events and re-purpose it for the game.
Far Cry 5 was released worldwide for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in March 2018. It received mostly positive reviews, although it was the subject of controversy after being announced alongside a period of heightened political conflicts. Critics praised the open world design, visuals, gameplay and soundtrack but directed criticisms towards its story and some of the characters. The game was a commercial success, becoming the fastest-selling title in the franchise by grossing over $310 million in its first week of sales and had sold over 10 million units by March 2020. Several releases of downloadable content were subsequently published. A spin-off title and sequel to the narrative, Far Cry New Dawn, was released in February 2019. A successor, Far Cry 6, was released in October 2021.
Gameplay
Similar to its predecessors, Far Cry 5 is a first-person shooter set in an open world environment which the player can explore freely on foot or via various vehicles. Unlike previous titles in the series where the player takes on the role of a set character, the game gives the player the opportunity to customize their character's appearance. Additionally, the character in this game is a silent protagonist, devoid of voiced dialogue or a predefined personality, offering players the chance to deeply immerse themselves in the game, yet sparking concerns about the potential impact on the depth of narrative engagement. While the player has a variety of ranged and explosive weapons to fight against enemies, the game places a renewed emphasis on close-quarters combat compared to previous Far Cry titles by introducing a wider range of melee weapons. In addition, Far Cry 5 features a new weapons ballistics system that includes elements like a bullet dropping over a distance to increase realism.Creative director Dan Hay described the design of the open world as being modeled on the outposts from previous titles in the Far Cry series. These outposts represented a small section of the map occupied by enemy forces and the player was tasked with liberating them by killing or neutralizing the enemy presence. The outposts were designed with multiple approaches for the player to take and it was this element that the development team tried to recreate in the wider game world of Far Cry 5. The player is dropped into the game world with little context, direction or objective markers and is instead required to navigate the world on their own. Hay expressed a desire to create what he termed the "anecdote factory", a game where two players could venture out from the same point in opposite directions and have entirely different experiences that they would then share with one another anecdotally. To assist with this, most of the game world is accessible to the player after completing the game's introductory missions and they are free to advance through these areas as they choose; by comparison, previous titles in the series gradually opened up the game world to the player with story missions guiding their progress through open areas. Completing actions within a region earns the player "Resistance Points" which cumulate to trigger major story events. These Resistance Points also contribute to the "Resistance Meter", which divides each region into three tiers representing the region's relative level of difficulty. For example, on entering a region for the first time, the player will encounter basic enemies; however, as the Resistance Meter increases, the player will run into a wider variety of enemy archetypes, culminating in aerial patrols and airborne assaults.
The game also features a recruitment system in which the player can recruit locals in the county to fight alongside them similar to the "Buddy" system used in Far Cry 2 or the "Guns for Hire" system in Far Cry 4. In this Guns for Hire system, the player can recruit locals to join their cause at which point they will fight alongside the player. In addition to these Guns for Hire, the game includes "Specialists" or non-playable characters with their own unique skills and personalities. The recruitment system replaces the beacon system used in previous titles. For example, Far Cry 3 featured radio towers and Far Cry 4 featured bell towers that the player had to climb in order to open up parts of the map and various activities in the region. Far Cry 5 removed this system and instead relies on the player forging relationships with other characters to discover story missions, events and other characters.
The player has the ability to tame wild animals through the Specialists, which is based on a system that was previously introduced to the series in Far Cry Primal. The tamed wildlife assists the player in combat and follow the player's orders. Different wildlife have different combat patterns. A fishing mechanic was also introduced and a variety of fish can be caught. The campaign can be played individually or with a partner through the game's cooperative multiplayer mode known as "Friends for Hire".
Map maker and multiplayer
Far Cry Arcade allows players to build and share small maps that have single player, two-player cooperative, and multiplayer objectives. Players are able to construct maps using assets from Far Cry 5 and its downloadable content, as well as Far Cry 4, Far Cry Primal, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Assassin's Creed: Unity. While a separate mode from the main game, the Arcade mode can be accessed from arcade cabinets scattered around the game's map; successfully completing these maps can earn in-game money and other rewards for the main campaign.Synopsis
Setting and characters
The game is set in the fictional Hope County, Montana, where a preacher named Joseph Seed has risen to prominence. Seed believes that he has been chosen by God to protect the people of Hope County from "the Collapse", a global catastrophe that will see the collapse of society, and has established a congregation called the Project at Eden's Gate in order to lead the people to salvation; in reality, Seed is a radical preacher and Eden's Gate is a militaristic doomsday cult. Under his rule, Eden's Gate has used both coercion and violence to forcibly convert the residents of Hope County, and intimidation to keep them from contacting the outside world for help. Seed has assumed the title of "the Father" and maintains control over Hope County with the aid of his Heralds: Jacob, "the Soldier", Joseph's older brother and a former United States Army sniper who oversees the training and deployment of the cult's armed soldiers; John, "the Baptist", Joseph's younger brother and a lawyer who has been able to acquire much of the land in Hope County for Eden's Gate and leads the forcible conversion of residents; and Rachel Jessop, also known as Faith or "the Siren", a botanist who acts as a pacifist to bring the people to trust in Joseph, but uses a powerful hallucinogen called Bliss to run forced work camps for residents who resist the cult. The Heralds have converted a series of decommissioned missile silos into fortified bunkers where they intend to wait out "the Collapse" with the cult's followers.The player takes on the role of a rookie sheriff's deputy—referred to as "the Deputy"—who is part of a task force sent to arrest Seed. The residents of Hope County opposed to Seed and his followers include a cast of characters who join the fight with motives ranging from altruism to revenge, profit, and boredom. They are aided by Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt, a local survivalist with a deep distrust of government and a history of anti-social behaviour. Characters from the Far Cry series who return in Far Cry 5 include Hurk Drubman, Jr., a dim-witted though well-intentioned redneck party boy with a love of high-powered explosives; and Willis Huntley, a sociopathic CIA agent and self-proclaimed "patriot bastard" in the habit of recruiting civilians for dangerous clandestine missions.
Plot
In late 2018, a joint operation between the United States Marshals Service and the county sheriff's department—consisting of Deputy Marshal Cameron Burke, Sheriff Earl Whitehorse and his deputies Joey Hudson, Staci Pratt and the player character, an unnamed Junior Deputy—arrive at an Eden's Gate church to detain Joseph Seed with a federal arrest warrant on charges of kidnapping with the intent to harm. Although Joseph offers no resistance, he claims that God will not allow him to be taken. As he is escorted away, cult members attack the task force and cause their helicopter to crash. Joseph escapes and commands the cult to capture the task force members; Hudson is captured by John, Pratt becomes Jacob's slave, and both Whitehorse and the Marshal are hypnotized by Faith.The Deputy survives and escapes with the help of Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt, a local survivalist and Vietnam War veteran who explains that the cult has interpreted the attempt to arrest Joseph as the fulfillment of his prophecies. Believing the end of the world is upon them, they have begun "the Reaping", a concentrated effort to purge Hope County of non-believers and gather all material needs. As the county is now cut off from the outside world, Dutch tasks the Deputy with contacting the fledgling resistance scattered throughout Hope County to gather allies, rescue the task force and dismantle the cult's operations to erode the influence of Joseph and the Heralds. Although the Heralds focus their efforts on stopping the Deputy, they maintain an interest in recruiting them to their cause.
Joseph's younger brother John lures the Deputy to Holland Valley by broadcasting a message showing Hudson as his captive. John indoctrinates residents to the cult's beliefs by subjecting them to a forced baptism to "cleanse" them, tattooing their "sins" onto their bodies, and carving out the marked skin as part of their "atonement". John captures the Deputy and concludes that their sin is Wrath. When the Deputy escapes, John retaliates by taking over the town of Fall's End where he forces the Deputy to confront him and atone for their sins. A counterattack by the local Resistance prompts John to flee, leading to the Deputy engaging him in an aerial dogfight and mortally wounding him. As he lies dying, John remarks that the Deputy will not save anyone and asserts that Joseph is right. The Deputy rescues Hudson and the captive survivors and destroys John's bunker.
The Deputy arrives in the Whitetail Mountains to find the Whitetail Militia already at war with Joseph's older brother Jacob. Jacob recruits and trains the cult's members using The Platters' song "Only You ", which he uses to trigger an altered state of consciousness in the recruits and carry out his commands. Jacob subjects the Deputy to the same conditioning and successfully breaks them, hypnotizing them into killing the Whitetail's leader Eli Palmer to cripple the resistance. The surviving militia hold Jacob responsible and the Deputy confronts him in the mountains. As he dies, Jacob reflects on how empires rise and fall, and predicts that America will suffer the same fate if it is not prepared. The Deputy retrieves Jacob's bunker key, rescues Pratt and floods the bunker.
Faith, a collaborator and "sister" of the Seeds, oversees the production of Bliss in Henbane River. The hallucinatory effects of Bliss puts its victims in a trance-like state and staying under its influence for too long makes them vulnerable to Faith's hypnotic manipulation. The Deputy reunites with Whitehorse and joins the Cougars, based in the Hope County Jail. Whitehorse informs the Deputy that Burke has been captured and is now under the influence of the Bliss. The Deputy repeatedly encounters Faith, who attempts to persuade the Deputy to join her and live in paradise. The Deputy resists her and rescues Burke, unaware that he has been hypnotized. Burke kills Virgil Minkler, leader of the Cougars and Mayor of Fall's End, opens the jail to Eden's Gate, and kills himself. The Cougars suffer heavy losses repelling the cult and Whitehorse is captured. The Deputy defeats Faith, and she warns them before she dies that Joseph is right about the end of the world, but the Deputy will decide what happens in the end. The Deputy rescues Whitehorse from Faith's bunker and destroys the production of Bliss.
Killing his Heralds prompts Joseph to call the Deputy for a final confrontation at his church. He has captured the Deputy's allies from the resistance groups, hypnotized them with Bliss and is holding Whitehorse, Hudson, and Pratt hostage. Joseph offers the Deputy the option of walking away with their friends unharmed on the condition that they leave him and Eden's Gate alone.