Far Cry 5

Welcome to Hope County, paved with good intentions…

Far Cry has become known as an explosive, globe-trekking sandbox of a series, intent on giving players the freedom to cut loose in exotic climes. From surviving in the African plains to warring against a dictator dug in like a tick in the Himalayas, uncovering a mystery on a Pacific island to mastering animal husbandry in neolithic Europe, it has pushed the definition of sandbox outwards, merging the idea of immersive exploration with chaotic trigger-happy gunplay.

You wouldn’t really associate either of those things with Montana. Yet that’s where Far Cry 5 calls home. In the gentle (fictional) foothills of Hope County, a religious cult calling itself Project Eden’s Gate has seized control, its far-right politics and twisted interpretation of Christianity making live hell for the ‘non-conformist’ locals.

So far, so Far Cry, right? It’s just all set in a very Western locale, instead of out in the middle of the mountains or the ocean, giving Far Cry’s penchant for social commentary more weight to a Western audience. To that end, we’ve got a new villain: the charismatic, devastating Father Joseph Seed, similar to Far Cry 4’s Pagan Min in his happy brutality, similar to Far Cry 3’s Vaas Montenegro in his insanity, but very much his own, unsettling character.