Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 is a PC open-world first-person shooter set in Hope County, Montana, where a customizable deputy builds a resistance against The Project at Eden’s Gate. Current Steam and Ubisoft storefronts still use the Far Cry 5 name, with Standard and Gold editions available rather than a renamed or rebranded successor edition.

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Red Storm, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Toronto, and Ubisoft Kiev, the game combines open-world exploration, stealth, vehicle combat, hunting, fishing, and explosive sandbox firefights. Its defining idea is flexibility: most problems can be approached quietly, tactically, or with overwhelming firepower.

A resistance sandbox in first person

Far Cry 5 places you in a first-person perspective across three connected regions of Hope County. Instead of following a rigid mission order, you earn resistance points by completing story missions, liberating outposts, rescuing civilians, destroying cult infrastructure, and investigating activities scattered across the countryside.

The central progression loop is simple but effective. Explore a valley, discover a hostile location, choose an approach, collect weapons or resources, and push back the cult’s influence. The world can interrupt that rhythm with patrols, hostage situations, aerial attacks, roadblocks, and random encounters.

Outpost liberation remains one of the strongest recurring activities. You can mark enemies with binoculars, disable alarms, move through vegetation, use suppressed weapons, or attack directly with explosives and vehicles. The game does not require a single correct solution, so the same compound can play very differently on separate visits.

Hope County is also built for roaming between objectives. Players can travel by road, river, aircraft, or off-road vehicle, while the landscape supports hunting, fishing, wingsuit travel, and impromptu combat. The setting is rural rather than urban, giving the map a strong focus on forests, farms, mountains, lakes, and isolated settlements.

Companions, perks, and combat choices

The Guns for Hire system lets you recruit resistance members who provide specialized battlefield support. Some companions favor assault rifles, some use stealth or long-range attacks, and others bring unusual tactical abilities that can change how you enter an enemy position.

Fangs for Hire extend that system with animal companions. Boomer can scout and distract enemies, while Cheeseburger the bear is built for direct disruption. These allies are more than cosmetic followers because their behavior can create openings, draw attention away from the player, or turn a difficult encounter into a manageable one.

Your character develops through a Perks system rather than a traditional experience-level structure. Perk points unlock additional weapon capacity, improved movement, extra health, wingsuit options, companion abilities, and other practical advantages. This encourages players to shape a build around stealth, mobility, heavy weapons, or companion-based tactics.

Combat supports pistols, rifles, shotguns, sniper weapons, explosives, melee tools, and launchers. The weapon wheel makes switching between firearms and utility items quick, while the open map creates opportunities for ambushes, sniping, vehicle attacks, and improvised chaos.

The game’s dynamic AI also reacts to the player’s growing threat. As resistance activity increases, the cult sends more pressure into the world, creating a more active relationship between exploration and story progression. This system can produce unexpected encounters instead of leaving the map feeling like a collection of isolated missions.

Hope County’s story structure

The campaign is divided among the territories controlled by Joseph Seed’s Heralds. Each area has its own local resistance figures, mission threads, strongholds, characters, and escalating conflict. You are free to decide which region to challenge first, although the story still uses forced narrative encounters as resistance progress reaches certain thresholds.

That structure makes Far Cry 5 less linear than a chapter-based shooter. Side activities are not merely optional distractions because they directly contribute to regional resistance. A player who prefers exploration can advance through discoveries and rescues, while a mission-focused player can concentrate on story objectives and major cult operations.

Outside the main resistance campaign, hunting and fishing provide alternative activities and connect to the game’s broader resource economy. These systems are lighter than in some survival-focused games, but they add variety to the travel between combat zones.

The game also includes a character creator for the deputy, allowing players to choose appearance and presentation without giving the protagonist a conventional voiced identity. That design keeps the focus on player expression and cooperative play rather than on a fixed hero personality.

Far Cry Arcade and additional content

Far Cry Arcade is the game’s built-in creation and challenge platform. It combines a map editor with a library of community-made and developer-created scenarios, including solo, cooperative, and competitive experiences. The editor uses assets associated with Far Cry and other Ubisoft properties, giving creators a broad toolkit for building unusual combat spaces.

Arcade matters because it gives Far Cry 5 a second identity beyond its Montana campaign. Players who enjoy experimenting with level layouts, enemy placement, objectives, and themed environments can spend time creating or browsing scenarios instead of returning only to the main story.

The Gold Edition includes the Season Pass, while the standard version focuses on the main campaign and the base game’s built-in modes. The Season Pass adds Hours of Darkness, a Vietnam-set standalone adventure; Lost on Mars, a science-fiction campaign involving alien arachnids; and Dead Living Zombies, a series of stylized zombie scenarios.

The additional adventures are deliberately different from the main Hope County campaign. They reuse the game’s shooting foundations but shift the setting, tone, enemy types, and mission structure. Far Cry 3 is also associated with the Season Pass and Gold Edition offering, while the three Far Cry 5 adventures are the main original expansions.

Solo play and two-player co-op

Far Cry 5 is fully playable as a solo campaign, with recruited companions filling the support role when you are alone. Their abilities make solo play more flexible, especially when a mission rewards scouting, distraction, long-range coverage, or aggressive pressure.

The full campaign supports two-player online co-op. A friend can join as a Friend for Hire and participate across the campaign’s missions, exploration, combat, and activities. The host controls the primary story progression, while the visiting player keeps earned cash, weapons, perks, and loot, with mission-unlocked items treated differently.

Co-op is designed for friends rather than open matchmaking. The game also keeps partners within a practical distance during play, so wandering too far from the host can trigger repositioning. That limitation is worth knowing before choosing Far Cry 5 specifically for unrestricted cooperative exploration.

There is no local split-screen campaign on PC. Competitive and cooperative scenarios are instead handled through Far Cry Arcade, while the main story remains a solo or online two-player experience.

PC features and storefront details

The PC version supports keyboard and mouse controls alongside gamepads. Ubisoft’s PC development notes specifically describe support for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and DualShock 4 controllers, with the interface switching between mouse-and-keyboard prompts and gamepad prompts during play.

Mouse-focused options include customizable sensitivity and a weapon-grid input layout designed around keyboard and mouse selection. Menus can also be navigated with a gamepad, making the PC edition suitable for both traditional desk setups and controller-based play.

The Steam listing identifies the game as Far Cry 5 with Ubisoft as publisher and lists the multiple Ubisoft studios involved in development. Steam features include single-player, online co-op, achievements, trading cards, captions, in-app purchases, HDR support, and the level editor.

Steam users must also connect the game to Ubisoft Connect. The PC storefront listing identifies Denuvo as third-party DRM, so the launcher and account requirements are part of the official PC ownership experience. No separate anti-cheat system is prominently identified in the current storefront information.

Localization covers interface and subtitles in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Full audio is available in several of those languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Russian.

Who should play Far Cry 5?

Far Cry 5 is a strong fit for players who want an open-world shooter with multiple approaches, recruitable allies, vehicle access, and a steady stream of optional activities. It works particularly well for players who enjoy creating their own combat stories rather than moving through a purely linear sequence of set pieces.

It is also a good choice for two friends looking for a cooperative campaign with shared firefights, exploration, and improvised vehicle disasters. The combination of human companions and animal allies gives the game more tactical variety than a standard solo shooter.

Players seeking a tightly authored stealth game, deep survival simulation, or highly structured competitive multiplayer experience may find the systems comparatively light. The story progression can also interrupt free exploration, and the campaign’s open structure means not every activity has the same narrative importance.

For a more tactical open-world approach built around squad coordination, vehicles, stealth routes, and cooperative planning, open-world military co-op shooters such as Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands offer a useful comparison, although Wildlands uses a third-person perspective and a more explicitly squad-focused structure.

Far Cry 5 FAQ

Is Far Cry 5 currently sold under a different name?

No. Current Steam and Ubisoft storefront listings retain the Far Cry 5 name. The available PC editions are presented as Standard and Gold editions rather than as a rebranded or renamed version.

Does Far Cry 5 include the complete campaign in co-op?

Yes. The campaign supports online two-player co-op from its main story missions through open-world activities. The invited player retains many forms of personal progression, while the host remains responsible for the primary campaign state.

Does Far Cry 5 have split-screen multiplayer on PC?

No. PC multiplayer is online rather than local split-screen. The main campaign supports one player or two-player online co-op, and Far Cry Arcade adds solo, cooperative, and competitive custom scenarios.

What does the Far Cry 5 Gold Edition include?

The Gold Edition includes the Season Pass in addition to the main game. The pass covers Hours of Darkness, Lost on Mars, Dead Living Zombies, and the associated Far Cry 3 offering described by Ubisoft for the edition.

Does Far Cry 5 support controllers on PC?

Yes. The PC version supports keyboard and mouse input as well as Xbox 360, Xbox One, and DualShock 4 controllers. It can switch interface prompts between control methods during play.

What is the real gameplay loop in Far Cry 5?

The core loop is exploration, resistance-building, mission selection, outpost liberation, recruitment, gear improvement, and open-ended combat. It is not built around a short linear campaign alone; the map’s activities and Far Cry Arcade provide additional ways to keep playing after the main story objectives are available.