The game that has been all over the media these days has been Far Cry 5, and it seems that people either think it is the best game in the series, or the worst one. What seems to be swaying people one way or the other is how they respond to the main story. The marketing made it seem like it would tackle America’s hot button issues, but the actual game goes out of its way not to say anything about anything, and since this is a Far Cry game, this shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Top brass isn’t going to take a chance offending anyone’s political or religious beliefs with a game this big. They need Far Cry 5 to move a lot of copies to keep the company in the black.
However, I do understand that this can be disappointing. Especially to players from United States. To use our problems as marketing, and then not say anything about them is a tough pill to swallow. It would have been nice to have a major game have an actual point of view. Any point of view. Even one a lot of people disagree with, but apparently Far Cry 5 goes out its way to not have one.
Does the Seed family’s religious symbology look a lot like that used by white nationalist extremists? Yes, but the Seeds have multiple African Americans in their ranks, so it is just a coincidence the imagery looks similar I guess? Do they Seeds seem to worship guns? Yep, but they are being taken down by a bunch of gun loving rednecks all around them. It almost makes people wonder how the Seeds took over in the first place. Oh, they are drugging people. Sure, that is fine. So it is cool if I, as the player, murder a bunch of drugged up people? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There doesn’t seem to be an alternative.
Here is the rub. All Far Cry games are zany and crazy, but this time the craziness has hit our shores, and the story is just an excuse to let loose in Montana with a rocket launcher and a weaponized bear. If you are okay with that, apparently Far Cry 5 is great. If the use of current political goings-on for cool posters makes you a little teed off, maybe skip this one, but at least now we know how Bolivia felt when Ghost Recon: Wildlands hypothesized what it would be like if their country was run by a Mexican drug cartel (they threated legal action).