Earlier this week I had four hours of solid hands-on time with Far Cry 5 prior to its launch later this month, venturing through the first hour of the game and then wing-suiting around Hope County with a buddy in co-op. In short, it was a heck of a lot of fun.
That said, during my time with the game I noticed quite a few things have changed and evolved in the fifth entry of the long-running series. As such, here are seven things that had me excited for Far Cry 5 after my hands-on time with the game concluded.
Far Cry 5’s opening moments stick with you. Infiltrating cult leader Joseph Seed’s stronghold, you are introduced first-hand to the frightening realisation of cultist extremities as you try and reprimand Seed in front of his followers. Of course, it doesn’t take long for everything to go awry, but the ten minute sequence is truly something else — my eyes were glued to the screen from beginning to end, stricken by the design of the village I was walking through and what Seed’s managed to do to an entire county of people.
Shortly after those moments of intense violence and everything going pear-shaped for you and your crew, you are let loose on Hope County to do as you please. Like other games in the series, Far Cry 5 doesn’t force you to do anything in particular and gives you the freedom to tackle the game’s many tasks and missions in any way you please. Whether that’s liberating cultist outposts, taking on story missions, or recruiting more guns and/or fangs for hire — it’s entirely up to you.
A big new addition to Far Cry 5 is the ability to play through the entire game in co-op with a buddy, and it’s a game changer. The seeds were planted in Far Cry 4, with enjoyable co-op side missions to complete and endeavour on, but everything you can do in Far Cry 5 can be done with two players — whether that’s playing through the game’s story or adventuring out into Hope County’s wilderness.
You can read more of my impressions about co-op in Far Cry 5 here.
Customisable characters also make their debut in Far Cry 5, and while this also means we’re being treated to a mute protagonist this time around, the wide array of customisation options — combined with a shop in-game that allows you to buy new clothes, headgear, and so on — made for a much more personalised Far Cry experience. These customisation options paid dividends when playing with a buddy in co-op, too, as you’re able to see customised characters in all of their glory.
It might not be the biggest new addition to the series, but these customisation options are a nice change up from what’s been seen in previous entries, and makes the multiplayer side of things a lot more enjoyable and personalised because of it.
With prepper stashes to find, outposts to liberate, and everything littered in between, Far Cry 5 doesn’t shy away from its predecessors in that there’s a lot of content to experience throughout the game’s world.
Instead of relying on basic story progression, Far Cry 5 has instead implemented a resistance point system in each of the map’s territories, which acts as a way of progressing the narrative in more natural ways. Each activity you complete, from liberating outposts to rescuing captured civilians, nets you resistance points and improves your grip on the territory you’re occupying, in turn forcing out the leaders and allowing you to overthrow their power in the area.
As you fight back with others in each of the game’s territories, the leader of that area will notice their loosening grip and will start coming for you in more aggressive ways, which leads to a dynamic that should keep the gameplay and narrative experience enjoyable. It’s a great way of encouraging players to involve themselves in the multitude of activities on offer in Far Cry 5, and I’m keen to see how deep the system runs.
Early on in Far Cry 5 you’ll be forced into climbing a tower to complete the game’s prologue before being thrust out into the open world of Hope County. And while I thought this may have been a precursor for what was to come in this entry, the character instructing you to do the climbing jokingly states that no more towers will be climbed in the game. The entire sequence is an open acknowledgement of the changing times with Ubisoft, and it was wonderfully tongue-in-cheek.
After four hours of hands-on time with Far Cry 5, I’m excited by the direction the series is going and the way the game’s new features have been implemented. Obviously there are still unknowns in the mix — like how the story is going to play out over the game’s duration and whether there’ll still be co-op issues come launch day — that won’t be known until we have our hands on the full game and mull through everything that’s on offer. That said, Far Cry 5 is shaping up to be a really fantastic sequel, and I can’t wait to play more.
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Looks Great
How many towers do we have to climb to open up sections of the map? Rinse and repeat.
Maybe you should read what you commented on?
You're dumb.
GOT ME!
If you took co-op out of the game (for people like me with no freinds) would it still be enjoyable solo all the way through?
Definitely! I think the story should have a bigger impact on you, too.