Much of the reason this blog was first created was because of the lack of material that was found on the Internet that offered a deeper sense of game review for games that are more than just about kill ratios and fast-paced shoot ‘em ups. When game developers design an intricate story with multi-layered themes and incredible characters, it deserves a different kind of review. That’s exactly what The Game Analyzer wishes to provide. Farcry 5 was a homerun for Ubisoft. Although it didn’t win any awards (yet), it has been nominated several times--primarily for Best Game and for Best Music. In this video game analysis and game review, we’re going to dissect the game based on story, characters, and experience as well examine any themes or Big Questions that Ubisoft may have been trying to ask its audience. In this first part (of two), we’re going to focus simply the story and characters. The game may have been out for a year since the time of this posting, but let’s take a quick trip back to Hope County, Montana before the Collapse.
The Story
At The Game Analyzer, we love games rich with story. It doesn’t have to be this winding 40-hour experience. Some of the best stories are told in a simple six-hour game. However, Ubisoft manages to do something extremely well where other big game developers are still struggling. Lots of gamers enjoy big worlds with lots to do in it. However, a lot of gaming companies struggle to put in solid side quests that actually have any meaningful impact on the overall story. It’s all just filler. For those gamers who love story, this filler can sometimes be frustrating and even annoying.
Farcry 5 showed game developers how it’s done. Their side quests were essentially meeting up with the residents of Hope County and performing odd tasks for them. Some of them aided the Resistance directly and others were a bit more for that completionist run. Even those completionist runs, however, were designed in such a way that made you want to complete them. Too often, games simply tell you to collect this or that item for no real reason other than to do it. Players may receive a unique weapon or an achievement but that’s it. Farcry 5 offers a story and a reason for their completionist missions that drives you find those items in order to help the person who wants them. It’s personal.
Perhaps this attention to detail is what makes the overall story of Farcry 5 amazing. In its overview, the story is quite simple. You’re the essential muscle for taking down the three tyrants in their respective regions in order to take down the big boss. Yet it’s the details that sets Farcry 5 apart from the others of its franchise and many other games like it.
Instead of simply telling you through personal anecdotes based on conversations with this or that NPC, you learn about the main antagonists in the game via phone voice messages, written messages, the music in the game, and even just in casual eavesdropping when you pass by a third-rate NPC. Big information drops are still attributed to small pow-wows with Joseph Seed after you kill a member of his family, but how much you understand of the characters is really up to you. And I think this is important.
How many games are there where you just charge into a war zone and start killing everyone off without a second thought? What would happen if you actually took the time to know your enemy? Would it be so easy to kill them? Granted, those gamers who received the pre-order bonus of The Book of Joseph were able to receive a better understanding of the entire Seed family before they played the game. For the rest of us, we had to learn through the game.
Besides just getting to know the characters, there are also small bites of lore dotted throughout the game that aren’t necessary at all to do in order to finish the game, but add just one more dose of enriched storytelling to the experience. I’m talking about the Path. You hear about it discussed frequently among the Children and from the Seed family. Did you know that you can actually walk the Path? It isn’t a quest. You don’t even receive an achievement for completing it, but you can walk it. The starting point begins near a cabin in Faith’s region close to the Father’s statue. It takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes to complete. As you walk the Path, you’re met with plaques that each give a verse or two about the Word. It explains how Joseph came to hear the Voice and the formation of the Project at Eden’s Gate. It even discusses the Collapse and what will come after.
This is essentially a little detail that adds to the storytelling for those who play their characters close to their own heart. Can you say that your Deputy walked the Path? Did anything change in their perspective? Granted, this is asking you to fully invest in your character. Some gamers don’t do that and that’s fine. Each gaming experience, after all, is a personal one.
Simply, what I’m suggesting here is that Ubisoft created an incredible and enriched world and story that can go as deep as you let it. Each NPC is given a personality of their own--and there’s a lot of NPCs in this game.
Perhaps even more impressive, however, is the ending. While bad-ending games aren’t exactly new, Ubisoft managed to pull this one off incredibly well. For one, they hint to the truth of Joseph’s words almost from the very start. If you take the time to drive a car and switch to the normal radio instead of the cult music, you can sometimes hear news reports. During these reports, the news just get worse and worse. Riots, biological warfare, seaboards being shutting down, evacuations, it’s all right there, and it’s so easy to miss if you’re not driving cars and listening to the radio. Again, this is such a bit of subtle storytelling that is so easy to miss but shouldn’t be because it just enriches the entire experience as a whole.
Ubisoft’s canon ending for Farcry 5 proves that Joseph Seed was right. That your character was, at least in some part, wrong. Perhaps I haven’t played enough games where my character was proven wrong by the game’s antagonist, but the way in which Ubisoft did it still gives me chills.
Characters
While the NPC characters were briefly discussed before, they need their own spotlight. Ubisoft does NPCs and their side quests extremely well. Each one has their own personality and drives. Some of them may be caricatures or stereotypes, sure, but they’re enjoyable. You have to give credit both to the writing and the talent of the voice actors for that one. First, let’s begin with the NPCs. These are the guys with the little stars over their heads who need your help doing this or that. While you may only interact with them once or twice, you can typically learn a lot about their life from those simple interactions. You can also typically find notes or voicemails that further develops these small-time characters.
The reason I want to shine a quick spotlight on these unsung heroes of Hope County is that it shows the stark difference between a good game and a great game. Make us care about your NPC characters, game devs, exactly like Ubisoft has. Instead of feeling annoyed about helping an NPC out like I typically did, I was so engaged with the character that I had fun completing their missions rather than feeling like it was just busy work. That right there is the secret to a great gaming experience.
Next, we should switch our focus to the Guns for Hire. These are the characters that are essentially part of your party. There is quite a large number of them and this can make getting to know them all quite difficult, especially if you have a specific method in which you play like myself. For example, I typically like to go stealth as much as I can. So, my big party members were Boomer (for his tagging abilities) and either Jessica Black or Peaches (for some silent takedowns). That all being said, I tried to use each Gun for Hire here and there solely because I wished to know more about them.
Again, I was thoroughly pleased by the depth of character build that the devs provided. Each one felt like an individual and many of them had contrasting viewpoints. Although none of them exactly develop as characters (at least here in Farcry 5), I don’t believe that is necessarily their point. The point of the Guns for Hire is simply to grow those attachments. Not only do they serve a practical purpose in helping you take down the enemies in Outposts and in other missions, but they serve an excellent story point as well. I’m talking about the ending where your friends turn on you because they’ve been influenced by the Bliss.
My gut absolutely dropped when I saw some of the people who had been fighting alongside me suddenly turn my enemy. I am forever grateful to Ubisoft for letting me have the chance to save them--and for not including Boomer in that mess (although if he died during the Collapse, so help me Ubisoft, I am coming for you). It’s such a powerful move. These are guys you’ve bled with. Guys you likely helped heal and save when they went down. To suddenly have them facing off against you is chilling and wonderful.
Finally, we can’t go on without reviewing the characters of the Big Bads. John, Jacob, Faith, and Joseph Seed are perhaps the most enigmatic antagonists of any Farcry game ever. As mentioned before, you don’t receive a lot of their backstory unless you take the time to listen to NPC conversations, voice messages, read documents, or read The Book of Joseph. When you do, you quickly come to understand that all of these characters stem from an abusive childhood. From there, each had their own experience which further shaped their character and nature.
This blog has already dug into each of their characters individually (with the exception of Faith) and what we believe they represent in the game, but briefly, their backgrounds are such an integral part of understanding why they do the things that they do. Once more, it begs the question. Would we be able to so easily kill them if we knew more about them? While their past experiences may not necessarily excuse their actions, it should, I think, cause us to at least hesitate on the trigger. Violence doesn’t always have to be the solution.
It’s interacting with these four characters where development for your character truly occurs. While your character never speaks a word, I don’t think you’re involving yourself as a gamer enough if you didn’t develop through your Deputy while playing Farcry 5. It’s this development as the gamer that makes Farcry 5 one of the best games that I have ever played in recent history.
In part two of this Game Analysis, we will continue to break down the game into its overall gaming experience and the Big Questions that Farcry 5 may be asking of its players. What do you think about Farcry 5? What were some of your favorite parts of the game? Let us know in the comments!
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