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:

Far Cry 5 is my first Far Cry! I have hidden a truck in the bushes so I can listen to the religious radio station but jerks keep shooting at me. I assume this is the correct way to play?

— Riley MacLeod (@rcmacleod) March 29, 2018

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:

Some thoughts on Far Cry 5’s multicultural gang as it connects to Trump, nihilism, and the anguish of rural America… (1/45)

Just kidding. My take is that Far Cry 5 is really dumb and really fun, which is about what I expected. My other take is that I wish Boomer was real

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) April 1, 2018

Luke Plunkett is a bonfide Far Cry 5 dog enthusiast:

Why Far Cry 5 Is Game Of The Year pic.twitter.com/bwSJ4qz4dt

— Luke Plunkett (@LukePlunkett) March 28, 2018

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

this went on for several minutes pic.twitter.com/ZQcaQLbpan

— AmericanTruckSongs8 (@ethangach) March 27, 2018

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

As this video clearly shows, the bull started it. pic.twitter.com/3ZPG57yTmk

— Kirk Hamilton (@kirkhamilton) March 28, 2018

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

Some Far Cry 5 pictures tonight. pic.twitter.com/pmbUi4Mtek

— Heather Alexandra (@transgamerthink) April 1, 2018

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

high as fuck rn pic.twitter.com/psymVzfAk5

— Luke Plunkett (@LukePlunkett) March 30, 2018

Jason has his complaints:

Far Cry 5 is a gorgeous video game (and runs great on PC) but apparently Hope County imports its apples from the PS1 pic.twitter.com/Npt3ot4q9P

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) March 29, 2018

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

Does Far Cry 5 exist in universe where ruby ridge and the branch davidians never happened because as far as I can tell, law enforcement’s entire plan was to bring 5 people to arrest a cult leader, at their compound where they were stockpiling guns, in front of their followers

— Gita Jackson: disaster bisexual (@xoxogossipgita) March 31, 2018

Riley MacLeod had a similar reaction to mine:

Not enough theology in this Far Cry. The cult keeps coming to capture me and I’m like “ugh finally! Just tell me what you believe, cult!” I’d say I’m not the intended audience here, but there’s religion and dogs, so…

— Riley MacLeod (@rcmacleod) April 1, 2018

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.