Far Cry 5
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
It's funny when you look at my history of playing Far Cry games:
Far Cry Classic: 2015
Far Cry 2: 2022
Far Cry 3: 2023
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon: 2024
Far Cry 4: 2025
And now Far Cry 5 in 2026. Aside from that 7-year gap between Far Cry 1 and 2, I've been doing a pretty good job at consistently finishing one Far Cry game every calendar year. With this review, the pattern continues.
But this is actually a game I've been playing off and on since July of 2025. It seems like something always happened to pull me away from the game. I first tried to play a physical disc copy of the game, but then the PS4 stopped reading the disc midway through the introduction. I waited. I downloaded it on the PS4. I played it for a day or two and then decided to set it aside for a little bit to focus on finishing up a few other games I was playing. A "little bit" turned into months and months.
Before I knew it, it was 2026. I started the game again, but once again set it aside to finish The Legend of Dragoon and Ecco: Defender of the Future, which I'd also been laboring through. After I was done with those games, I tried playing this game yet again, only to put it down once more in favor of other things. I just wasn't getting into it like I was with previous Far Cry games. I was almost about to give up on it, to be honest with you.
Eventually I reached a point where I had beaten all the other games I was playing. I circled back around to Far Cry 5 one final time. If I still couldn't get into the game, I'd delete it off my PS4 and move onto other things. And wouldn't you know it? After months and months of unsuccessfully trying to get into the game, something finally clicked with me. Whatever it was that wasn't resonating with me suddenly vanished.
I was ready to dive in. Just like I am now with this review: ready to dive in. So let's do it.
Story:
Each Far Cry game has its own unique destination, and this one is set in rural United States. Montana, to be exact. You play as an unnamed rookie SWAT officer, who is part of a mission to arrest a cult leader named Joseph Seed. You land on his compound in a helicopter. His compound is creepy as all hell, but you get him back to the chopper okay. You are about to get out of dodge with prisoner in tow. And then all hell breaks loose.
The cultists swarm the chopper as it takes off, causing it to crash. Your team is scattered all throughout the land. You find yourself in a war between the normal folks living in the area and the cultists, who have taken over and are polluting the land with the drugs they are making. The cult is led by the aforementioned Joseph Seed, along with his siblings John, Jacob, and Faith. Each sibling is in charge of one region on the map. The long-term goal of the game is to conquer each region on the map, eliminating Joseph's siblings until only Joseph remains. The final area of the game then unlocks, and you take the battle directly to Joseph's compound for the final showdown.
Since this is a Far Cry game, expect to encounter a lot of wild and memorable characters. The Seeds themselves are massive characters and steal every scene they're in. Faith is my favorite. Some of the "rebel" NPCs send you on interesting missions, like collecting bull testicles for the local Testicle Festival. This game is meant to be a parody on American culture, and it isn't subtle about it. Guns, giant flags, fireworks, eagles bursting out of balls of flame, vehicles with tires that are far too big on them. The game takes many a jab at redneck culture, along with other topics like religion, drug manufacturing, doomsday prepping, and gun trafficking.
Gameplay:
This game is a little different from the past few Far Cry games, which I suppose is a good thing because they were starting to get a bit predictable. Instead of dropping you in a big open world with a bunch of objectives on your map, your initial path is much more focused. You move along the map, which is mostly greyed out because you haven't explored it yet. You meet people, you take on missions. Eventually things start to open up for you.
While there are elements of previous Far Cry games to be found here, this game does a good job at carving out its own unique identity. Things aren't so simple anymore. It's not just "climb watch tower, unlock map, raid enemy bases, pick up collectibles, hunt animals." I mean, these things are present in the game. But it doesn't feel like you're doing the same things over and over again. It's not as formulaic. I don't even know how to describe it, and I don't have any specific examples to give. But it's like these elements are incorporated into the game more organically than previous games.
Controls are fairly simple, once you get a hang of them. For some reason, I was a bit intimidated by them when I started playing. They just weren't clicking with me for some reason. Eventually I got used to what the L and R trigger buttons did, as well as the analog D-pad controls. Learning these are crucial, because if you hit the wrong button at the wrong time, it can have catastrophic consequences. I kept doing stupid things like accidentally throwing grenades in the middle of stealth sequences.
In general, I found myself getting killed left and right. It took me a long time to finally find my footing and get into the flow of the game. I don't know if it is because this game is different from other Far Crys, and I came in trying to play it like one of them - or if this really is a tough game to get into.
This game is filled with lots of "bad luck moments" which were part of the reason for killing my enjoyment early on in the game. I kept getting spotted by random airplanes flying overhead, which would promptly kill me. I remember a mission where you climb a tower, and a plane spotted me right before I could complete the mission. Shot me out of the sky. WTF? Enemies on foot would spot me seemingly everywhere I would go. It's like I couldn't do anything without constantly being under attack. Eventually, you start to understand how to navigate this game's world, but right off the bat, it's tough! Another particular moment that drove me away is when you have to destroy this big rig that has gone rogue. This was early in the game. I had a rocket launcher in my inventory and I defeated it easily. A plane comes by right afterwards and shoots me dead. The game reloads. But you know what? For some reason, it didn't count the mission as complete. I had to defeat the big rig all over again. But now I only had a handgun and a light automatic in my inventory. I tried to take on that big rig about 5 times and I was just getting annihilated by it. I was so mad, because I had beaten it already, but the game didn't save my progress. I didn't feel it was fair that I had to do it all over again. I ended up shutting the game off. And this turned into a several month long break from the game before I would return to it again.
Like I said, this game got off to a very rough start for me. But once it started to click, all those concerns I had went away. I just needed to power through the first few hours. It took me over half a year to put a few hours into the game, but eventually I got there.
The game really blossoms when the map opens up. It's one of those games where there is something to do every ten steps you take. Stop at this small little town and see what this guy on the map wants? Or how about raid the nearby doomsday prepper bunker for supplies? Maybe do some racing? Raid an outpost? Rescue civilians from this cultist van that just popped up on my radar? Destroy a shrine? Look for collectibles like comic books and music records? Maybe do some hunting or fishing?
There are a ton of different vehicles which make the map very accessible. Boats, cars, helicopters, etc. I enjoyed cruising around in the helicopter and just taking in the sights (in addition to showing me all the things on the map). Weapon selection is normal for a Far Cry game. Handguns, bows and arrows, sniper rifles, machine guns, RPGs, etc. You also have a nice variety of throwing objects like knives, grenades, and sticks of dynamite to chuck around.
Stealth plays a big part in the game, as usual. But in this game, it doesn't quite seem to matter. Enemies go down easier than normal - at least it seemed that way to me. Maybe I'm just getting better at Far Cry. But never once when I tripped an alarm did I think "oh no, I'm fucked." I always knew I could fight my way out of trouble fairly easily.
Missions in the game are full of some nice variety, although there's nothing really here we haven't seen before. They mainly consist of going to a location and collecting something (and then escaping), annihilating a target, rescuing hostages, destroying the rampaging animal, or blowing something up. There are some unique missions here and there, like the whole Testicle Festival thing. There's another mission where you burn greenhouses full of illegal drugs. There are some nice flying stages where you either dogfight other aircraft or destroy transmitters on top of broadcast towers. I finished the game a few weeks ago. I should have been quicker writing my review because now I can't remember a lot of the missions or what you had to do in them. Some reviewer I am.
It all circles around to the game being fun. I love the map, the location, and how there is always something to do. This is one of those games that kept me up for hours past my bed time. I just wanted to collect one more thing or do one more mission. Or just get to a nice, convenient place to save. And then I would keep going.
A few more miscellaneous tidbits. You earn experience points as you play. You use these points to level up character attributes. Increased health, increased ammunition storage, extra slots on your weapon wheel - that kind of thing. You can also unlock abilities for your companions. You unlock these companions by helping people on the map as you make your way through the game. Each one has a special ability (sniper, explosives master, melee fighter, etc). My favorite was the dog. His sense of smell automatically highlights everyone on the map, and I found that to be more invaluable than anything that a more combat oriented partner could bring to the table.
One last thing before we move on. I guess my main criticism of the game would be in its story progression. Once you reach a certain level of completion percentage in each region, the game's bosses start coming for you, and you enter an automatic battle segment against them. You don't get to choose when you go into combat against them. You could be out fishing and those MFs will come for you. I would have liked the ability to head to an icon on the map to initiate a boss mission instead of being forced into one. Also, the boss segments are very repetitive, with the same level layouts and combat sequences repeated time after time. I understand that you are supposed to be drugged and these levels are supposed to be psychedelic and dream-like, but come on. Do we really need to play through the same part four times? I thought I was doing something wrong when I noticed these stages start to repeat themselves.
Graphics:
This is an awesome looking game. I have literally no complaints about the way it looks. The scenery steals the show, with its beautiful forests, cliffs, lakes, and rivers. Previous Far Cry games have had a more exotic feel, whereas this one is set in a much more recognizable locale. It feels very much like areas "up north" in Wisconsin and Michigan where I've stayed. In fact, the whole vibe of the game also feels a bit like Days Gone, which is another game I enjoyed.
The characters look great as well. The satirical American theme runs through the game's blood. The American flag clothing, the trailers, the hillbillies, the explosions and the fireworks. But also the beauty of the nation's natural landscape. It's very impressive that this is an 8 year-old "previous gen" PS4 game. This looks like it could have been done on the hardware of today. Games like this are another example of why I'm in no rush to make the move from the PS4 to the PS5. The technological leap just isn't the same as it was back when you were moving from 8 to 16 bit, or 16 to 32 bit.
Sound:
Far Cry games always knock it out of the park in the sound department. The music is probably the best in the series to date. There's lots of different things to listen to on the game's radio stations. Even the choirs singing church music and remixes of old Gospel songs are nice to listen to. Then there are popular songs you'd hear on the radio. I have to say that the Creedence Clearwater Revival songs fit the theme of this game like a glove. Expect to hear other rock classics. I'm not going to list them all here, but I haven't seen a video game soundtrack with this many bangers since the GTA series.
The voice acting is also top-notch. Far Cry always sells its villains extremely well, and it begins and ends with the voice acting. The Seeds are so charismatic and interesting. They always steal the scene when they are on screen. The monologuing can get old, I suppose. They do tend to ramble on a bit. But they give the game so much personality. I always enjoyed the way the game's drug (Bliss) affects the audio quality when your character is exposed to it. It gives the game a bit of an otherworldly quality for a while.
I really, really liked this game. It may even be my favorite Far Cry title now. Or maybe I say that every time I review a Far Cry game. But really, I liked this! It's a bummer it took me so long to get into the game. I started playing it in July of 2025, and it took me months and months of off again/on again playing to finally become invested in it. I feel like the game is much better than that. I wonder if my experience is unique, or if other people have struggled out of the gate with this one as well?
Once this game got its claws in me, all I wanted to do was play play play. I fired this up nearly every day, using up nearly every second of my free time for several weeks in a row, until I was done playing the game. I didn't collect 100% of everything. I rarely ever do in these games, unless you can earn an easy platinum by getting everything. But there's too much to do here. I beat the game twice, earning both endings. I had seen all I needed to see.
I can easily recommend Far Cry 5 to you. The games in this series just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to play more! See you in 2027 when I play through Primal or 6.
THE GRADE:
A-
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