Far Cry 5 - what happens when you mix a doomsday cult with the spirit of the frontier? You get a "magnet for crazy"
Montana's landscape and residents provided the Far Cry 5 development team with plenty of fodder for the next entry in the series.
In the developer video, executive producer Dan Hay discusses how the Far Cry 5 development team came up with the idea of a doomsday cult in the rural west of the US. He said the studio had always wanted to use a US setting in the Far Cry series.
The idea of bringing players to a place they kind of know already, a place that could very well be in someone's back yard, seemed just as exotic to the team as any other setting depicted in previous Far Cry titles.
According to Hay, when the team went to Montana they met quite a few people who "didn't want to be messed with, they wanted to be left alone."
"It created a sense of this frontier and a remoteness that really resonated with us," he said. "What was cool about some of the language we were hearing was sort of, maybe don't trust the government and we can do it ourselves."
Hay said the team met "some really interesting people" while while scouting, that he imaged "could take really good care of themselves."
Using this background, the team mused upon what could happen when these attitudes and opinions became mixed with the appearance of a charismatic individual.
"What happens, when someone else shows up and says 'I agree with you - don't trust the government. We can do it ourselves and I will provide,'" said Hay. "All of a sudden you create this petri dish, a sort of magnet for crazy, which is where Eden's Gate goes."
This is where the siblings in the game come into play: Joseph, John and Faith who collectively call themselves The Heralds. Each family member has their own personality and agenda - but so do the townsfolk.
Players will come across Hope County residents who are more than just AI characters doling out missions. Each have a part to play in the resistance against Joseph and the Eden's Gate cult, and there are more NPCs the player will interact with than just Mary May, Pastor Jerome and Nick Rye.
As the local deputy charged with arresting Joseph, players will meet up with these various NPCs, who may not trust them right away, but if they can form a deal with them, they will join the resistance along with the player. Now, the player will have guns for hire who come along for the ride.
You can watch the entire development diary above, check out the reveal trailer here, and read John's impressions of what he saw during the Ubisoft press showing.
Far Cry 5 will be released on February 27, 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.