After briefly visiting the ancient world, Far Cry is returning to the present day to be reunited with its first love: guns. And boy, does Far Cry 5 have a lot of guns. Its main antagonists – a crazed American cult – are staunch believers in the Second Amendment, and are willing to use it to increase their congregation. But what else will Far Cry 5 provide? Find out right here with our handy guide to everything we know.
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Far Cry 5 release date
The Far Cry 5 release date was March 27, 2018. Make sure you find out whether the game is for you with our Far Cry 5 PC review and see how well it performs in our tech review.
Far Cry 5 setting
Far Cry 5’s Hope County is located in Montana, USA, making this the first game in the series to be set in the West. That means a variety of changes – different folk to contend with, new wildlife to hunt (or be hunted by), and a landscape that is arguably more familiar to Western audiences. Expect rolling crop fields, mountain peaks, quaint wooden churches, and roads filled with big rigs and muscle cars.
The world will also be pretty large; this is the biggest map a Far Cry game has ever had. While you will be able to explore on foot or in one of the many land-based vehicles, you will also be able to take to the skies in a plane. Planes are not purely for getting from A to B, though: dogfights will be one of the game’s key combat features, and a bombing window will allow you to easily drop explosives on cultist territory.
Far Cry 5 story
The plot revolves around Project At Eden’s Gate, a doomsday cult that have moved into Hope County and started seizing the locals. Led by Joseph Seed and backed up by his three siblings Jacob, John, and Faith (known as The Heralds), the cult take the traditional right-wing American values of freedom, faith, and firearms to their limits. Those who do not embrace the cult willingly are maimed, tortured, and killed.
The game’s trailer and artwork depicts several people with words like ‘sinner’ carved into their flesh, signaling just how serious the Seeds are about using violence to spread their faith. Even though Ubisoft might have made the game more political than intended, they have stressed that Far Cry 5 is more a work of entertainment than anything with a serious moral or message.
In the opening act of Far Cry 5, police officers are dispatched to Hope County with the intention of arresting Joseph Seed. While at first it appears that he is willing to come quietly, things soon go south, and the deputy sheriff leading the arrest finds themselves stranded in the middle of very hostile territory. That sheriff is you, and so starts your journey through Far Cry 5’s story.
How you progress through the story is entirely up to you. After the intro you can explore the world and do missions in any order you please. This means your first ten hours in Far Cry 5 could be completely different to a friend’s if you both start in opposite directions.
Far Cry 5 characters
You play as a Montana deputy sheriff. Rather than giving you a predefined character, like in Far Cry 3 and 4 where you played Jason Brody and Ajay Ghale, this game’s protagonist will be someone entirely of your own choosing. A character creator allows you to generate your own combination of race, gender, and appearance.
In the villain’s corner is the Seed family led by “The Father” Joseph, a man who believes he has been chosen by God to protect Hope County from an “inevitable collapse.” Aiding him in his occupation of the area is his brother Jacob, a former military officer who deals with the cult’s weaponry; and John, a lawyer who has used his legal knowledge to acquire land for Eden’s Gate. Joining them is their half-sister Faith, who plays the pacifist in order to coerce targets into converting to Joseph’s agenda.
Standing against the cult are a homegrown resistance. Among their number are Pastor Jerome, a preacher whose congregation has been taken by Eden’s Gate, Mary May, the local bartender who’s father is a victim of the cult, and cropduster pilot Nick Rye, a man looking to bring down the Seeds in order to secure a better world for his children.
We also know that the game can be finished in 10 minutes, in a way that reminds us of the fourth game’s secret ending.
Far Cry 5 gameplay
By their open-world nature, the Far Cry games have always been system-led experiences. Far Cry 5 sees the return of some classic mechanics, albeit in an altered form. At the forefront of them all is Guns For Hire, which allows you to call on allies to help you in battle. While Far Cry 4 had a very similar system, where gangs of NPCs would turn up and open fire, the fifth game’s take on this idea more closely resembles Far Cry 2’s buddy system.
You will need to convince locals to join their cause, and each new companion will have their own unique skills and personality. For example, if you recruit the pilot Nick Rye, you will be able to call on him in battle and instruct him to fly overhead. This is great if there is a pesky machine gun nest that needs removing with a bomb or two. And if you would rather do the work yourself, you can borrow Nick’s plane and fly it.
If you need someone closer to the ground, then a character like Grace would be the best person to pick as your buddy. She is a good support sniper and can help you efficiently take down outposts. Most of the jobs and side missions will award resistance points with which you can build your standing and increase the strength of your noble band.
Fangs For Hire, meanwhile, returns from Far Cry Primal, and will allow you to tame wild animals and have them aid you in combat. Rather than saber-tooth tigers, though, it will be Montana wildlife, so expect to ally with bears and dogs on your travels.
Official Good Dog Boomer is a great addition to your offensive arsenal. You can send him into camps and tag enemies for you (no one will be bothered by him since he is a dog. Great cover!) With enemies tagged, you can then instruct Boomer to attack, and when he is finished mauling them he will even bring you their gun as a present. And if you are worried about him getting killed, fear not: Boomer cannot die, he will just get downed in combat. Hopefully this applies to your human buddies, too.
Some of Far Cry 5’s missions are anything if not imaginative: one mission has you hunting down a drug-fuelled moose and taking part in a festival devoted to testicles – ‘Testy Festy’ for short. However, others see you fitting bits of lost pipe and smashing a given number of boxes. We hope to less of the latter type of mission in the full game. If you want to get through the game quicker, however, you have the option to purchase time-saver microtransactions, and cosmetic ones if you fancy showing off some fun gun skins. In a hands-on session with the game we found a familiar Far Cry structure to this fifth entry which harms the potential of its open-world appeal.
In an expansion of the series’ traditional hunting mechanics, fishing is in the game. Ubisoft told us in an interview that playtesters have found the fishing so engaging that they would spend half an hour just catching fish, and even competing with friends to see who can catch the most. Along with fishing there are plenty of other side activites to get busy with, such as racing.
In a big change for the series, radio towers will not be anywhere to be seen on the Far Cry 5 map. The Assassin’s Creed mechanic that seems to have infiltrated every Ubisoft game has been surgically removed from Far Cry 5. There will, presumably, be tall places to leap from, however, since the wingsuit is returning.
Far Cry 5 season pass
The Far Cry 5 season pass will see you travelling many miles (and years) away from Montana. With a familiar tone to the irreverant retro-futurism of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the first batch of DLC, Hours of Darkness, sees players fight amid the napalm seared battlefields of Vietnam. Then, after the B-movie-style zombies horder mode, Dead Living Zombies, the season pass is rounded off with Lost on Mars, a space-based romp in which players have a scrap against Martian arachnids. Yeah, we don’t know why either, but it certainly sounds like fun.
Far Cry 5 Arcade
Far Cry 5 will also see an expanded map editor. While it has been a strong feature in previous games in the series, this time around you can effectively make your own Ubisoft game within Far Cry 5. Dubbed Far Cry Arcade, here you can go further than just desgining maps: you can make your own solo, co-op, and PvP levels using assets from the game as well as other Ubi titles such as Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs. Playing levels in Far Cry Arcade will also net you money and perks for the main game.
Far Cry 5 co-op multiplayer
The entirety of Far Cry 5’s story will be playable in co-op as part of the Friends For Hire system. It will work somewhat like Far Cry 4’s multiplayer, although it will allow for cooperative play of every mission in the game rather than just outpost quests. We went hands on with the game in co-op and it proved more chaotic and fun than solo mode.
You will be able to share health and ammo packs between you, but only the host will be able to accept missions, recruit and command Guns For Hire, and keep the progress gained in Hope County. Be sure to find yourself a selfless friend with which to buddy up.
Far Cry 5 system requirements
The official system requirements for Far Cry 5 are:
Minimum requirements (720p / low settings)
- OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
- CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.1 GHz or AMD FX-6300 @ 3.5 GHz or equivalent
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or AMD R9 270 (2GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
- RAM: 8GB
Recommended requirements (1080p / 60fps / high settings)
- OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 @ 3.2 GHz or equivalent
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD R9 290X (4GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
- RAM: 8GB
4K requirements (30fps / high settings)
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit version only)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 @ 3.4 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X @ 3.6 GHz or equivalent
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD RX Vega 56 (8GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
- RAM: 16GB
4K requirements (60fps / high or ultra settings)
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit version only)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.0 GHz or AMD Ryzen 7 1700X @ 3.4 GHz or equivalent
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 SLI or AMD RX Vega 56 CFX (8GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
- RAM: 16GB
Can you run it? Take the Far Cry 5 system requirements test at PCGameBenchmark.
Far Cry 5 trailers
In the Q&A trailer above you can see Far Cry 5 creative director Dan Hay and associate producer Philippe Fournier as they answer questions on the characters and vicious wildlife that will appear in the game.
In the above co-op trailer we can see Hope Country in all its glory – and you can tackle it all with a friend.
See a player take down a cult outpost in the E3 2017 gameplay demo, which shows off the Guns for Hire and Fangs for Hire systems. Plus there’s a healthy dose of heavy ammunition use.
A short cinematic showing off the terrifying cult leader Joseph Seed.
The reveal trailer gives us our first look at the Seeds and the ruthless methods they employ to help grow Project At Eden’s Gate.
The three short vignettes above introduce us to some members of the Hope County resistance.
That’s everything we know so far about Far Cry 5. For the latest instalment in the series, check our Far Cry 6 release date guide.