Kotaku Reacts To Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 came out last week, and most of Kotaku are playing it. Here's a collection of our best stories, tweets, and experiences.

Far Cry 5 is a fun, dumb time. While the story isn't all that deep, the gameplay is engaging enough that I accidentally played it until 6am.

Riley MacLeod has been having a good time with the game, even if he's a little bit confused on how to play:

Kotaku boss and side mission enthusiast Stephen Totilo has been singing the praises of the "Prepper Stash" missions, where you find stashes of supplies left by Hope County's doomsday preppers.

"I've spent so much time proselytizing about them that I think you could call me the Joseph Seed of Prepper Stash missions," he told me. "They are some of the best side-quests I've ever experienced in a Ubisoft game. They're all so different."

"One time I'm swinging under a bridge like I'm playing Bionic Commando 2009 (minus the wife-arm), the next I'm figuring out the steps to get into someone's 'Man-Cave' or exploring an actual cave or ziplining down the side of a mountain."

"I have to say I agree - I've been doing these missions non-stop. Stephen says the side missions themselves aren't as interesting. He did have a great tip to share about everyone's favourite dog, Boomer: "Play in co-op with Boomer at your side, then die, then you can watch the game from a wandering Boomer's perspective as you wait to respawn."

Here at Kotaku we have a lot of thoughts about Boomer. I'm pretty sure he's the platonic ideal of a dog. He's even got one ear that goes up, and one ear that's floppy, which is objectively the cutest thing in the world. Jason Schreier has this scorching take on the subject:

Luke Plunkett is a bonfide Far Cry 5 dog enthusiast:

Ethan Gach has also had a meaningful experience with a dog:

While Kirk Hamilton's interactions with the wildlife have been a little bit different:

Heather Alexandra, for her part, has been enjoying the Montana countryside. I think the game is gorgeous, and her screenshots really illustrate that:

Luke's been exploring the plant life in his own way:

Jason has his complaints:

As for the story? Well, it's kind of total nonsense, in my opinion.

Riley MacLeod had a similar reaction to mine:

Still we're all finding our own fun with the game. Ethan sent me this engaging tale of trying to track down some oil tankers for a mission in Holland Valley:

Turns out oil tankers are extremely easy to blow up, hence how they became my white whale. Dozens of explosions later I still needed to bring one more back to complete the mission, but it never seemed to work out. One time I was trying to rescue two civilians in the back of a van when I spotted the big rig out of the corner of my eye.

I immediately took off after it in the van with the passengers still tied up in the back. I tried ramming the tanker to run it off the side of the road. The civilians did not take kindly to this and died. The tanker didn't like it either and starting belching flames out the side.

With no time to lose I beat the driver with a baseball bat and took off behind the wheel. This is the kind of person Far Cry 5 turns you into. Did I manage to roll into town and complete the mission? Somehow, yes. Perhaps taking pity on me, the mission marker accepted the payload just moments before it blew up and set mainstreet ablaze. I might have died too but thankfully my dog, following just half a block down, was able to revive me. If only Ahab had had a dog like mine."

If only we all had a dog like yours, Ethan.


    Haha. Jason Schreier is the best gaming journalist in the business.

    Meanwhile at The Verge:

    "Far Cry 5's half-hearted attempt at politics ruins the fun."


      Turns out some folks thought it was gonna be a clearly defined LvR circle jerk/bash fest.

      Personally I think it's doing politics right in that outside the lazy pageantry of social media, that shit is simply unimportant and nonexistent.
      Honestly, in a setting like FarCry 5, how you voted last elections and the self justifying back and forth is quite literally the last bloody thing folks would be thinking about.

      The funniest part is the political aspect is actually lost on folks who need a clear artificial line in the sand and can't see that Eden's Gate represents the worst of both sides of that while "debate".

      Primal wasn't an open learning course on anthropology, 4 didn't explore sovereignty issues in central Asia, 3 wasn't an expose on piracy and human trafficking, 2 didn't open the world's eyes to conflict in Africa, and 1 wasn't able to make Hawaiian shirts fashionable again. Why did anyone really expect 5 to be an exploration of US politics?

    Bah....I think the story is Moreno than average, it’s pretty good. Sure there are some stupid bits, but most Hollywood movies have that stuff too.

    Just relax people and enjoy the game.

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