Far Cry 5 was announced in early 2017 and underwent extensive development. Before settling on an American location, the team considered several options. The game was heavily influenced by several sociopolitical events from modern history, including the Cold War and the September 11th attacks. The development team attempted to capture the depressed social climate following the events and repurpose it for the game. Ubisoft developed and published Far Cry 5, and its competitive multiplayer mode was also developed in-house, with the company's global studios gaining more creative input for Far Cry 5.
Far Cry 5 was released in March 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It received mostly positive reviews, but it sparked controversy because it was announced during a period of heightened political conflict. The open world design, visuals, gameplay, and soundtrack were all praised by critics, but the story and some of the characters were panned. The game was a commercial success, becoming the franchise's fastest-selling title, grossing over $310 million in its first week of sales. Following that, several releases of downloadable content were made available. Far Cry New Dawn, a spin-off title and sequel to the story, was released in February 2019. Far Cry 6 was released in October 2021 as a sequel.
Gameplay
Far Cry 5, like its predecessors, is an action-adventure first-person shooter set in an open world environment that the player can freely explore on foot or via various vehicles. Unlike previous titles in the series, where the player assumes the role of a predetermined character, this game allows the player to customise their character's appearance. [1] [2] While the player can fight with a variety of ranged and explosive weapons, the game places a renewed emphasis on close-quarters combat compared to previous Far Cry titles by introducing a wider range of melee weapons. [3] Far Cry 5 also includes a new weapons ballistics system that includes elements like a bullet dropping over a distance to make it more realistic. [4] The open world, according to creative director Dan Hay, is modelled after the outposts from previous Far Cry titles. The player was tasked with liberating these outposts, which represented a small section of the map occupied by enemy forces, by killing or neutralising the enemy presence. The outposts were designed with multiple paths for the player to take, and it was this element that the Far Cry 5 development team attempted to recreate in the larger game world. The player is thrown into the game world with no context, direction, or objective markers and is forced to navigate the world on their own. Hay expressed a desire to create the "anecdote factory," a game in which two players could venture out from the same point in opposite directions and have completely different experiences, which they would then anecdotally share with one another. [5] To aid in this, the player has access to the majority of the game world after completing the game's introductory missions, and they are free to progress through these areas as they see fit; 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 grants the player "Resistance Points," which add up to trigger major story events. These Resistance Points also contribute to the "Resistance Meter," which divides each region into three tiers based on the relative difficulty of the region. For example, when the player first enters a region, he will encounter basic enemies; however, as the Resistance Meter increases, the player will encounter a wider variety of enemy archetypes, culminating in aerial patrols and airborne assaults. The game also includes a recruitment system in which the player can recruit county residents to fight alongside them, similar to the "Buddy" system in Far Cry 2 and the "Guns for Hire" system in Far Cry 4. The player can recruit locals to join their cause in this Guns for Hire system, and they will fight alongside the player. In addition to these Guns for Hire, the game features "Specialists," or non-playable characters, each with their own set of skills and personalities. The beacon system used in previous titles has been replaced by the recruitment system. Far Cry 3, for example, featured radio towers, while Far Cry 4 featured bell towers that the player had to climb in order to unlock parts of the map and various activities in the region. Far Cry 5 did away with this system in favour of the player forging relationships with other characters to discover story missions, events, and other characters. [6]
Synopsis
Setting and characters
The game takes place in the fictional Hope County, Montana, where a preacher named Joseph Seed (played by Greg Bryk)[11] has achieved prominence. Seed believes that he has been chosen by God to protect the people of Hope County from "the Collapse," a global disaster that will result in the collapse of society, and has founded a congregation called the Project at Eden's Gate to that end. Supposedly, this is to fulfil his mission of leading people to salvation; however, Seed is a radical preacher, and Eden's Gate is a militaristic doomsday cult. Eden's Gate has used coercion and violence to forcefully convert the residents of Hope County, as well as intimidation to keep them from contacting the outside world for assistance. Seed has assumed the title of "the Father," and with the help of the Heralds, maintains control over Hope County: Jacob, "the Soldier" (Mark Pellegrino), a former United States Army sniper and Joseph's older brother who oversees the training and deployment of the cult's armed soldiers; and John, "the Baptist" (Seamus Dever), Joseph's younger brother and a lawyer who has been able to acquire much of the land in Hope County for Eden' , a botanist who pretends to be a pacifist in order to gain people's trust in Joseph, but uses a powerful hallucinogen called Bliss to run forced labour camps for residents who oppose the cult. [12] The Heralds have converted a series of decommissioned missile silos into fortified bunkers, where they plan to wait out "the Collapse" alongside the cult's followers.
Plot
In late 2018, a joint operation of the US Marshals Service and the county sheriff's department—composed of Deputy Marshal Cameron Burke (Doug Hutchison), Sheriff Earl Whitehorse (Christopher Heyerdahl) and his deputies Joey Hudson (Luisa D'Oliveira), Staci Pratt (Julian Bailey), and the player character, an unnamed Junior Deputy—arrive at an Eden's Gate church to arrest Joseph Seed Despite his lack of resistance, Joseph claims that God will not allow him to be taken. Cult members attack the task force and cause their helicopter to crash as he is being escorted away. Joseph flees and orders the cult to apprehend the task force members. [12]
By broadcasting a message depicting Hudson as his captive, Joseph's younger brother John entices the Deputy to Holland Valley. Residents are indoctrinated into the cult's beliefs through forced baptism to "cleanse" them, tattooing their "sins" onto their bodies, and carving out the marked skin as part of their "atonement." John apprehends the Deputy and comes to the conclusion that their sin is Wrath. When the Deputy flees, John retaliates by seizing Fall's End and forcing the Deputy to confront him and atone for their sins. A local Resistance counterattack causes John to flee, resulting in the Deputy engaging him in an aerial dogfight and fatally wounding him. As he dies, John observes that the Deputy will not be able to save anyone and asserts that Joseph is correct. The Deputy saves Hudson and the remaining captives and destroys John's bunker.
When the Deputy arrives in the Whitetail Mountains, the Whitetail Militia is already at odds with Joseph's older brother Jacob. Jacob recruits and trains cult members while holding an indoctrinated Deputy Pratt hostage. Jacob mentally conditions cult recruits as part of their training with The Platters' song "Only You (And You Alone)," which he uses to induce an altered state of consciousness in the recruits and have them carry out his commands. Jacob subjected the Deputy to the same conditioning and was successful in breaking him. He orders the deputy to assassinate militia leader Eli Palmer (Patrick Garrow) in order to cripple the resistance. The surviving militia members blame Jacob, and the Deputy confronts him in the mountains. As he dies, Jacob reflects on how empires rise and fall, and predicts that if America is not prepared, it will suffer the same fate. The Deputy finds Jacob's bunker key, saves Pratt, and floods the bunker.
After killing his Heralds, Joseph summons the Deputy for a final showdown at his church. He has kidnapped the Deputy's resistance group allies, hypnotised them with Bliss, and is holding Whitehorse, Hudson, and Pratt hostage. On the condition that they leave him and Eden's Gate alone, Joseph offers the Deputy the option of walking away with their friends unharmed. [15]
Endings
If the Deputy leaves, Joseph forgives them and enters the church with the Deputy's hypnotised allies. The Deputy, Whitehorse, Pratt, and Hudson leave in a truck, and Whitehorse promises to return with the National Guard to help free Hope County from the cult. When Whitehorse turns on the radio, the song "Only You" comes on, triggering Jacob's brainwashing. The Deputy is put into a trance once more, and the screen goes black. If the Deputy chooses to resist, Joseph forces him to fight in order to resurrect their hypnotised friends. Throughout the game, radio broadcasts have suggested that the world outside Hope County is in chaos and that a nuclear war is imminent. [16] When Joseph is apprehended and a nuclear bomb detonates in the distance, these fears are realised. The Deputy, Whitehorse, Pratt, and Hudson flee to Dutch's bunker with the captured Joseph. They collide with a tree, killing Whitehorse, Pratt, and Hudson. A resurrected Joseph transports the unconscious Deputy to the bunker. The Deputy is handcuffed to a bed, and Dutch is dead on the floor. Joseph laments the loss of his family and land, claiming that this is the "Collapse" that he predicted. He tells the Deputy that after losing his family, they are all he has left and that they are now family. This ending sets up the spin-off Far Cry New Dawn, in which Joseph Seed will become an ally to the game's player character, and the Deputy will become the Judge, a new Specialist. [15] [16] The game's secret ending can be found at the start. During their first encounter, the Deputy decides not to arrest Joseph. Whitehorse, who was opposed to apprehending him head-on due to the risk of being ambushed and killed, lowers Joseph's hands and orders the group to leave. Despite Burke's protests, Whitehorse maintains that it is "better to leave well enough alone" and that arresting Joseph would result in no one being alive.
Downloadable content
Prior to the game's release, Ubisoft announced three downloadable content episodes titled Hours of Darkness, Lost on Mars, and Dead Living Zombies. Each episode tells a separate story about a secondary character from the main campaign.
The events of Hours of Darkness take place at the height of the Vietnam War. The player assumes the identity of Wendell Redler (Billy MacLellan), a door gunner known as Python 2-5. Python's helicopter is shot down while on a mission to scout North Vietnamese forces' positions in a wide jungle valley. He is kidnapped by the North Vietnamese Army but manages to flee during an airstrike. He retrieves a radio from the downed helicopter and is given the order to cross the valley to an extraction point. Python's reconnaissance mission turns into a rescue mission when he locates his squadmates Joker, Moses, and Yokel (Alex Weiner). Python travels through enemy territory, freeing South Vietnamese prisoners of war, sabotaging anti-aircraft batteries, killing North Vietnamese commanders, and surviving Agent Orange spraying. Python and his squadmates fight off waves of soldiers as they wait for the helicopters when they arrive at the extraction point. The survivors are extracted safely and flown out of the valley.
Nick Rye is the protagonist of Lost on Mars (Steve Byers). Nick is teleported to Mars, where he encounters Hurk Drubman, Jr.'s disembodied head. Hurk reveals that after Hurk failed, he had Nick teleported for a mission to save Earth. Nick meets ANNE (Erica Lindbeck), a millennia-old artificial intelligence who warns that a hostile alien race known as the Arachnids is putting the finishing touches on an invasion of Earth. With no way to return home, Nick is enlisted to restore power to ANNE, allowing her to construct defences and repel the invasion. Hurk is given a robotic body to help with the mission and requests that Nick locate his missing body parts. . While having a series of apocalyptic visions involving his newborn daughter and Hope County, Nick becomes suspicious of ANNE's intentions. The two manage to fully restore ANNE's power, but in doing so, she is able to plan her own invasion of Earth, as she regards humans as inferior lifeforms. They battle both her robots and Hurk clones created from his reassembled body. They were successful in shutting down ANNE at the expense of Hurk's life. Nick and the robotic Hurk return to Earth and are hailed as heroes.
Guy Marvel (Giles Panton) is an auteur film director with a reputation for being difficult to work with in Dead Living Zombies. Dead Living Zombies has a very different style and tone than the main story campaign and other downloadable content episodes, relying on parody, meta-humour, and irreverence over plot. It tells the story of Marvel's life and how he ended up in Montana during the Eden's Gate incident. During the early stages of Marvel's career, he approaches established directors with unsolicited pitches for zombie films. While the directors attempt to see the merits of his projects, it quickly becomes clear that they are excessively violent with little plot or character development, and the directors lose interest.
Guy Marvel (Giles Panton) is an auteur film director with a reputation for being difficult to work with in Dead Living Zombies. Dead Living Zombies has a very different style and tone than the main story campaign and other downloadable content episodes, relying on parody, meta-humour, and irreverence over plot. It tells the story of Marvel's life and how he ended up in Montana during the Eden's Gate incident. During the early stages of Marvel's career, he approaches established directors with unsolicited pitches for zombie films. Marvel admits to having no film directing experience and is offered the job of directing Blood Dragon 3 in Hope County.
Development
Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto created the game, with help from Ubisoft Kyiv, Ubisoft Shanghai, and Ubisoft Reflections. [17] Dan Hay, who previously worked on BioShock Infinite and its downloadable content, was the lead director, with Drew Holmes, who previously worked on BioShock Infinite and its downloadable content, leading the writing. [18] The series' tradition of using the Dunia Engine, a modified version of the CryEngine, was continued in this game. [19] [20] The team chose Montana as the game's setting because it is located on the United States' western border. To create a realistic environment, the development team spent fourteen days in Montana gathering information about its biomes, environment, and the "self-reliant" nature of the locals, who do not want any authority or outsider intervening in their lives. During the development of Far Cry 4, the development team went on a similar research trip to Nepal. [21] The development team was no longer satisfied with having only one core antagonist in each game, so the cast of antagonists was greatly expanded.
To create a realistic environment, the development team spent fourteen days in Montana gathering information about its biomes, environment, and the "self-reliant" nature of the locals, who do not want any authority or outsider intervening in their lives. During the development of Far Cry 4, the development team went on a similar research trip to Nepal. [21] The development team was no longer satisfied with having only one core antagonist in each game, so the cast of antagonists was greatly expanded.
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Writing
Separatism inspired the setting and tone of the game. According to Hay, he often felt unsafe as a child as a result of the Cold War conflicts between the two superpowers. In the twenty-first century, this manifested itself in the form of frequent terrorist attacks, such as the September 11 attacks, and financial problems, such as the subprime mortgage crisis, which caused people to become increasingly protective as they questioned the government. Eventually, the concept of the "global village" began to crumble, setting the theme of the game and prompting the team to write a story with a doomsday cult as the game's main antagonist. Hay began writing the story in late 2014, and in February 2016, he investigated the details of an occupation and standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge, looking for evidence of the rise of separatism. [12] To create a memorable story, the characters in the game were designed to have opposing viewpoints on major events and ideologies. [28] Despite the dark theme, the team wanted to make sure the game was still enjoyable to play. [29] As a result, the team created a large arsenal of weapons and open-ended gameplay options for players to use. [30]
Music
Dan Romer wrote and composed the music for the game. [31] According to audio director Tony Gronick, the team wanted music in the background throughout much of the game world, but they wanted it to reflect the nature of the cult so that the player would be experiencing the cult's messaging throughout the game, tied to the narrative. To accomplish this, Romer composed hymn-like gospel music with lyrics describing the cult's end-of-the-world teachings. Extending on the concept of multiple antagonists, the music style shifts as the player enters regions of the world controlled by different cult members, from country to glam rock to industrial music, representing how Joseph Seed's hymns evolve in response to his siblings' personal preferences. [31] When the player drives in vehicles, the game uses licenced music tracks, with the type of music played influenced similarly by the area they are in. [31] Hammock, an ambient/post-rock band, reinterpreted some of the songs Romer wrote for the game. This resulted in the release of a multi-volume soundtrack collection, which includes the original soundtrack as well as the three-part Far Cry 5 Presents series. Far Cry 5 Presents is a thematic compilation of the game's additional music: When the World Falls is a choral version of those songs, and We Will Rise Again is Hammock's ambient reinterpretation.
Reception
"Far Cry 5 is another wide-open playground with all the necessary ingredients for causing a real ruckus: loads of enemies and allies, temperamental wildlife, and plenty of explosions," said Daemon Hatfield of IGN. [46] "It's a shame that Far Cry 5 is propped up by a weak story with bland characters, because behind the plot is an open world filled with what Far Cry as a series does best," said Polygon. [47]
The ending of the game divided critics. If the player selects "resist" when prompted—an ending considered canonical by Ubisoft—the game depicts a series of nuclear explosions that destroy civilization. Some critics claimed that the ending rendered the player's actions meaningless. [15] [16]
Far Cry 5 became the franchise's fastest-selling title, more than doubling the sales of Far Cry 4. It was the second-biggest launch of a Ubisoft title, trailing only Tom Clancy's The Division, with $310 million in sales in its first week. [48] The PlayStation 4 version sold 75,474 copies in its first week on the market in Japan, ranking second on the all format sales chart. [49]
Following the release of Far Cry 5, the Montana Tourism Board collaborated with Ubisoft to use some of the game's setting imagery to promote tourism to the southwestern part of Montana, which inspired the game's fictional Hope County.
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Controversy
Many journalists predicted that Far Cry 5's setting and narrative concept, which involved themes of religious fanaticism and the emergence of far-right political movements within the borders of the United States—rather than the more exotic locales depicted in previous Far Cry titles—would make the game highly controversial. [2] [19][51] These journalists noted that, due to the long development cycle, it was unlikely that Ubisoft purposefully designed the game's narrative around the political climate at the time of the announcement, and that Ubisoft had been careful to downplay any perceived connections to then-current real-world events. [51] [52] Formalized paraphrase In response to the criticism, game director Dan Hay stated that the story was written to discuss the consequences of beliefs and ideologies being taken to their most extreme form, rather than as a reaction to a specific political event. [53] Hay stated that they decided to base the game on a cult in Montana because they felt it reflected a remote frontier that most people were unaware of, similar to their other Far Cry game settings, and that after visiting the state, they discovered that Montana was a place "where people go to be alone, where they don't want to be messed with," resonating with previous Far Cry themes. Hay, however, stated that after three years of development, "we could never have imagined, and to be honest, I wouldn't have wanted to... that in some ways, it's echoing out in the real world." [54]
Following its announcement, Far Cry 5 was the subject of an online petition on Change.org by individuals who objected to the portrayal of American Christians as villains and demanded that the game's antagonists be recast. As possible replacements, the petition suggested Muslims, inner-city gang members, and other non-white antagonists. The petition also suggested that the game's setting be changed to Canada. [55] The petition itself was criticised by industry commentators, who emphasised the game's exploration of its themes as necessary in today's social and political climate, and emphasised video gaming as a medium for social commentary. [52] [56] Some publications also questioned the petition's authenticity, speculating that it was intended as satire. [56] [57] [58]
After the game's release, however, some outlets criticised it for attempting to be inoffensive and apolitical rather than directly engaging with contemporary political issues. According to Polygon's Ben Kuchera, the game is a "defiantly inoffensive mess" that "wants to appeal to everyone but ultimately says nothing." [59] In an article for The A.V. Club, William Hughes described the villains as a "easily digestible evil" that was carefully crafted to not offend gamers of any political persuasion. [60] The game "creates the illusion that it has something to say, then stubbornly refuses to say anything," according to Andrew Webster's The Verge. [61]
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Game Critics Awards | Best Action Game | Nominated | [64] |
| Golden Joystick Awards | Most Wanted Game | Nominated | [65] | |
| 2018 | Best Co-operative Game | Nominated | [66][67] | |
| The Game Awards 2018 | Best Action Game | Nominated | [68][69] | |
| Gamers' Choice Awards | Fan Favorite Action Game | Nominated | [70] | |
| Fan Favorite Shooter Game | Nominated | |||
| Fan Favorite Male Voice Actor (Greg Bryk) | Nominated | |||
| Titanium Awards | Best Action Game | Won | [71] | |
| Australian Games Awards | Shooter of the Year | Nominated | [72] | |
| 2019 | New York Game Awards | Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game | Nominated | [73] |
| Statue of Liberty Award for Best World | Nominated | |||
| Guild of Music Supervisors Awards | Best Music Supervision in a Video Game | Nominated | [74] | |
| 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards | Action Game of the Year | Nominated | [75] | |
| National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards | Art Direction, Contemporary | Nominated | [76] | |
| Game, Franchise Action | Nominated | |||
| Song, Original or Adapted ("Help Me Faith") | Nominated | |||
| 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards | Audio of the Year | Nominated | [77] | |
| Music of the Year | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Soundtrack Album | Nominated | |||
| Best Cinematic Cutscene Audio | Nominated | |||
| Best Dialogue | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Song ("We Will Rise Again") | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Choral Composition ("Oh the Bliss") | Nominated | |||
| 15th British Academy Games Awards | Music | Nominated | [78] | |
| Italian Video Game Awards | People's Choice | Nominated | [79] | |
| Game of the Year | Nominated |
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