The concept of Far Cry 5 was the primary reason I picked up Far Cry 5 but a friend of mine recommended highly as well. I wasn't familiar with the Far Cry series but having played Far Cry 5, I loved the open world mechanics of it. I think it stacks up to the best in the genre (Rockstar's titles, Ubisoft's other franchises etc.). There's a chaotic nature to it that's a lot fun and there's always something going on. This is true of other open-world games, but I also loved the setting. Setting it in Montana, the lush forests and American Midwest setting offer a lot of unique wildlife and creative environments to travel through. It added to a different feel than other sandbox games I've played.
The plot of Far Cry 5 is best looked at one of two ways. The plot has a good setup, you're trying to dismantle the cult piece by piece (even if you have to ignore the plot hole that your character should be high-tailing it out of the state for help the first chance he/she gets) and take care of the villainous Joseph Seed and his lieutenants John, Jacob and Faith. You get the choice of which area to go to (its divided into 5 areas, each of the lieutenants controls a portion of the map then Dutch's island and the actual compound for Eden's Gate cult) and the game plays out in the same way no matter where you go. Other than taking these people out and saving your friends, there is no progression until you hit the ending conflict. This is too bad, but I think the game compensates by giving you interesting friends (my favourites being Cheesburger the bear, Peaches the cougar and Boomer the dog) and interesting villains. John, Jacob and Faith are all vile in different ways but they all suffered from various forms of abuse and Joseph preyed on that to indoctrinate them into his twisted way of thinking. You fight them, but I did find that I could either relate to them or sympathize with them even if it was just for fleeting moments. Joseph is a monster, but he was formed to be that as opposed to just being born that way. This is a trade off, but it was more than enough to keep me going.
The reactions to Far Cry 5 have been mixed and while some of that can be chalked up to the "politically" charged nature of it, I have to agree that the criticism of the ending is valid. The game offers 2 endings depending on a final choice (there's also a hidden ending that you can get at the beginning) and I picked the "true" ending. They leave you some bread crumbs to hint at it if you're listening to the radio, but I found it to be such a shock. I thought about it for a while and I do like the dark nature of it, but it doesn't seem to fit the rest of the game. It nullifies most of the story and while it didn't wreck the total experience, I didn't enjoy it and I agree with the negative reviews on this point. My final reaction was: "Did they really think this was the best way to end it?"
This is one of those games that comes down to a simple calculation for me. The pros outweigh the cons by a decent margin, even if it wasn't everything I wanted it to be. As someone who hadn't played any of the previous Far Cry games, this was fairly easy to pick up, it played in a different environment and gave me interesting friends and foes to bounce off of. The variation in the missions helped keep things fresh and I liked how I could do anything I wanted at any time. The trade off for the characters is that there isn't much progression in the plot and while I thought the ending is unique and very dark, it didn't work for me and I felt like I got sucker punched by it. I would still recommend this game, I'm going to be playing it again and while it wasn't the whole package, I'd grade it at around an 8.5/10. I'm rounding down because of the sour note it ended on.
