As part of an anniversary celebration for the last great Far Cry game, Ubisoft has given fans what they've been most vocal about -- Far Cry 5 running at a native 60fps across all modes. And it's available now via a free update for the game.

Under siege and cut off from the rest of the world in rural Hope County, Montana, by a fanatical doomsday cult, players will need to join forces with residents to create a resistance and liberate the community and themselves. Players will take to the skies in dogfights against cultists across Big Sky Country; destroy cult supplies with vehicles, explosives, and more; and recruit Guns for Hire from a large cast of characters including Fangs for Hire, specialized animals like bears and cougars to complement players’ playstyles, whether they’re going in stealthily or forcefully. How players approach each situation and the chaos they create in Far Cry 5 is up to them.

In addition to the frame-rate boost, the new update will also allow the game to run in 4K on Xbox Series X, and at a native 2880p X 1620p for PlayStation 5. (Xbox Series S runs at 1920p x 1080p.)

If you've still never played Far Cry 5, Ubi has also offered it up as a free weekend play from March 23 - 27 across all platforms. For more on that offer and the discounted game, click here.

Like Destructible Objects which come in various shapes and sizes that shatter and break up when destroyed. Best of all creators have the option of selecting what textures to place on shapes. Or, the new Scripting Tool which lets you set triggers at various moments after certain actions are performed - ranging from simple things like removing objects to changing the time of day and introducing new gameplay elements.

Definitely cool stuff that makes the Far Cry 5 Arcade map-creation tool a game-maker in its own right.

Oh, and the new zombie-themed content looks cool too.



This final bit of DLC for Far Cry 5 also introduces a New Game Plus mode.

In that the conceit for the next bit of DLC coming to Far Cry 5 is players fighting hordes of zombies on movie-themed maps created by a fake movie director called Guy Marvel. From a basic setup point of view the whole fake B-Movie vibe is definitely Left 4 Dead, and in the teaser trailer we get to see glimpses of a few of the fake film scenarios in Far Cry 5: Dead Living Zombies.

Of course this is still Far Cry 5 we're talking about so the action will feel very different to Valve's classic - and in bringing zombies to the world of Hope County, well, this is probably the best way to go about it.

Far Cry 5: Dead Living Zombies pairs players with D-tier film director Guy Marvel as he pitches his vision for an epic zombie saga. On maps built from the powerful Far Cry Arcade Editor, players will explore seven different film scenarios as they face hordes of the undead across rooftops, farmlands, military bases and more. After completing each map, players can unlock Score Attack to achieve 3-star ratings, which will unlock weapons and gear to bring back to Hope County.

As per the description the new DLC also means a substantial free update to the Far Cry 5 map editor - which so far has seen some impressive creations. Far Cry 5: Dead Living Zombies releases August 28.

Where players leave Hope County and head to the red planet to face off against an arachnid threat. More a total conversion than more of the same, the Lost on Mars DLC will also introduce new alien weaponry in addition to Space Jets. And it's out July 17.

Also, we'll take full credit for this one.

The teaser trailer below ends with a look at Mars in the Far Cry 5 universe.

Lost on Mars transports the franchise’s insanity from Hope County to the red planet as Nick Rye is teleported to a hostile planet to help his buddy Hurk thwart an alien invasion of Earth. This adventure gives players a new arsenal of alien weaponry, including the Blaster of Disaster, Hellfire and Morphinator, while also introducing a new traversal tool with Space Jets. Humankind’s future is in the hands of the game’s most notorious guns-for-hire.

One of the cool additions of the update comes with the new Mars assets available in Far Cry Arcade, free to all users. A player-creation too that so far has seen some truly impressive creations - including someone recreating the entire island from Lost. The final of three planned DLC adventures, Dead Living Zombies, is due for release in August.

We've been playing Far Cry 5 for the past little while, and have also had premium developer access to the game for the better part of the past two years. So when we say this is not just a very good Far Cry, but one of the better ones, well you should probably listen up.

And no, we're not yelling at you. We just want to make sure you're not missing out on the absolute chaos that is Far Cry 5 -- chaos you're right in the absolute thick of, and it's glorious. Here's why:

The changes here aren’t all that drastic either. Towers are gone. You’re not a voiced character anymore. You can be either gender. Support AI is back, only now as a bigger roster. And you can have your own dog, or bear. Honestly, it’s barebones, but how they’ve let the game play the player is the best part. I mentioned earlier that this is a chaos simulator, and that plays out moment to moment. Even if you’re trying to just trigger the next quest or side-mission, the game’s systems will come for you. But what this chaos does is push the player to look at the more uniform side of the game. Because Far Cry 5 is actually pretty difficult. So you’ll need to use that loot; use that money you keep finding. You’ll need to upgrade your weapons to reflect your playstyle and you’ll need to use those liberated towns and characters to your advantage.

And it’s honestly the only way Ubisoft Montreal could have handled their liberated gameplay experience. Tone sets up a lot of what this Far Cry is about; dark, realistic (at times), gritty, on-the-nose (at times); justfied -- this is first-person GTA done better than GTA because of its over-the-top nature. If you consider all of the big-bads and crazies in the Far Cry series before, and roll them all up into a single, tonal theme for a game, that’s what Far Cry 5 is. It’s silly. It’s fun. It’s brutal. It’s scary. It’s lost and found, both at once. And in many ways, because of all of this, it’s also America.

Click here for our full Far Cry 5 review.

Last year PlayStation Australia held a pretty fantastic series of competitions whereby they were awarding a real-life Platinum Trophy to the first players who managed to 100% complete a number of big titles. And now with the release of Far Cry 5, out today, the tradition continues.



Exclusive to Australian trophy hunters, PlayStation Plus Platinum Hunters is the sort of competition where the prize will go to a deserving winner. Because you'll need to unlock every in-game trophy to be eligible. Which is no small feat. The winner of the Far Cry 5 platinum trophy will join an elite group of five Aussies who took out the titles for Gran Turismo Sport, FIFA 18, Star Wars Battlefront II, Call of Duty: WWII and Monster Hunter: World.

That is to say, players will be able to create "bite-size Far Cry 5 experiences" that can be played Solo, Co-Op or Competitively, as created by you, the player. The mode is called Far Cry 5 Arcade and will feature heavily as part of the community experience, but will also feature official content made by Ubisoft.

The best way to describe this is the way in which the Trials series had a map-making mode, where players built maps that were then voted on by the community.

I also had a chance to trial this mode from our recent hands-on event in, well, "bite-size" form and can report that it does look like the possibilities here are very, very broad. It'll just depend on available assets for creative map-builders, and just how it will be handled by the community on the whole. Best of all -- it's completely free for every version of the game. Watch the Far Cry 5 Arcade video description below, and below that check out a trailer showcasing the post-launch content coming to the game by way of standalone Blood Dragon-like DLC. Vietnam, zombies and space. This game just keeps on giving.

We recently had a chance to take Far Cry 5 through its open-world paces with no direction. Just the game's intro and then our own gameplay take on what this new open-world space has to offer, and we couldn't have walked away more excited based on a number of design changes Ubisoft has made to their long-running series...

No towers is first (well, there's one). But the open-ended player-focused tilt on gameplay and game-design here really is a liberating standout point of maturation from the studio. Here's a snippet from my hands-on:

While Vaas was a straight-up crazy kind of cat, Joseph Seed is on another plane. He’s the Boyd Crowder of this here lil’ ditty, to continue the Justified references, but there’s no real good in him. He’s an integral part of that intro to the game, too. It’s powerful and he emerges a powerful man. A true big-bad. And while it’s quick, the game has set-piece reminders for you all over the place as to the level of his influence. This is a free part of the country, after all. It’s sort of written into the Declaration of Independence in real-life and this Canadian-developed bit of storytelling never lets you forget that -- an art imitates life kind of thing.

And how you’re here and just how crazy this whole situation is… well, it has a vein of truth to it all, is all I’m saying.

Click here for our full hands-on Far Cry 5 preview.

Continuing to look beyond our own gaming backyard for the same old collectibles when it comes to CEs, Ubisoft has revealed a crossover with art collective MONDO to help create unique editions for their newly-announced Far Cry 5 x Mondo Edition.

For Mondo, this capsule collection with Ubisoft was an exciting challenge. “Over the years, we have done pretty much everything related with film collectibles and this collaboration represents the next step: with gaming you’re lot more open, to interpret. It’s a bigger story,” said Jay Shaw, Creative Director of Mondo. “We are very happy to collaborate with an extraordinarily creative company like Ubisoft!”

The Far Cry 5 Mondo edition is limited to 4000 units worldwide and is already available for pre-order for consoles and PC exclusively on the Ubisoft Store. Players, who will pre-order the Far Cry 5 by Mondo capsule edition, will receive the unique Doomsday Prepper Pack and the Chaos Pack, which include a set of cosmetic and consumable items to be used as players lead the resistance against The Project at Eden’s Gate.

To learn more about what MONDO is, watch the video embedded below, and here's what you can expect in this unique edition of the game's release:

• Far Cry® 5 Standard Game
  
  
• A unique, exclusive and limited SteelBook® X Mondo designed by Jay Shaw, Creative Director of Mondo
  
  
• A vinyl record, featuring Far Cry 5 original soundtrack
  
  
• A code to download the digital version of the vinyl tracks
  
  
• A unique box featuring Mondo drawing of FC5 villain

Not specifically a "collector's edition" as much as a "collector's item", Ubisoft has revealed a highly-detailed figure of the game's main antagonist (and cult leader), The Father. And it's available to pre-order right now.

Designed by Ubicollectibles, the Joseph Seed "The Father figure will be available for collection (and purchase) on March 22 for AUD$89.95 and given the detail of their most recent collectibles around Assassin's Creed: Origins and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, it might be worth checking out if you're into videogame collectibles.

n order to properly embody the charismatic leader of the game, Ubicollectibles has teamed up with Ubisoft Montreal studio to create this finely-detailed 32cm PVC figurine. They have chosen to represent The Father in his iconic pose: calling to his believers to defend his project. The Father’s Calling figurine includes a removable gun from Joseph’s hand and a removable sceptre on its base.

It's an interesting move to sell a collectible outside of a CE, but could be one punters -- and eventually other publishers -- adopt given the seriously high price and pre-order pandemonium around CEs.

There's also a weird kind of irony attached to immortalising a character via effigy that feels (or is written to think) they're in the "Hey, Zeus!" camp (get it?).

One of our mainstay wordsmiths, Adam "Griz" Mathew, was sent out to Ubisoft Montreal not so long ago for a lengthy, in-depth behind-the-scenes look at Far Cry 5's development. Today he's emerged with a piece describing aggro and dangerous turkeys that are only trumped by (literal) ball-biting wolverines.

Here's a snippet of what he got from this particular part of his time with the team at Ubisoft Montreal.

“We weren't sure what we'd find in Montana, animal-wise,” says Fournier. “When we went out driving at dusk, we saw green eyes popping out at us from everywhere. I got scared, to be honest. Especially because earlier that day I'd been taking photos of these special bins designed to keep bears out. That's when you know you need to be careful of where you are and what you're doing.

“Obviously [bears are in this] along with aggressive wolves and more placid creatures like ducks and trout. For me, the one that will surprise most players is how aggressive the turkeys are. It's super vicious and is going to attack you. It knows thanksgiving is coming. Skunks are also interesting as they'll spray you in your face, which will limit your vision and affect your shooting.

“King of the beasts, in my mind, is the wolverine. It's the most vicious thing ever and can really, really do a number on you. I mean, when you look at them, they're a 20 to 15 pound animal, but it's the only carnivorous animal out there that has to eat meat every day. So it will seriously go one on one in a face-off against a bear for one little piece of meat. It just doesn't care.”

Click here for our full Far Cry 5 'Making Montana' interview feature.

When it launches next year Ubisoft's Far Cry 5 will debut with an online co-op mode called "Friends for Hire", where players can team up and tackle any of the missions available to free Hope County from the Project at Eden’s Gate cult. All player experience and data will be tracked in the mode, but only the host's single-player story progress.

In any event the open world of Far Cry 5 looks incredible and will no doubt provide a tonne of fun in co-op. Check it out.



Far Cry 5 will be available February 27th, 2018.

Recently AusGamers was invited out to Ubisoft Montreal to get some serious behind-the-scenes development access to Far Cry 5. We spoke with the game's audio lead which we've already shared, but we also spoke to a cult expert (who has some incredible stories to tell), about how his consultation on the game is helping shape the game's fictional Project at Eden's Gate cult as very real.

AusGamers: You've studied cults around the world. Why is America such a great fit for Far Cry cult?

Rick: I think the biggest thing that makes the U.S. 'the cult capital of the world' is, number one, the constitution and the first amendment that gives groups special protection. And you could argue that this happened because Europe once said to all of the groups that it didn't want “ok, you guys are certifiable, so bye, you're going to the American colonies”. The US was lumped with all these disparate groups who don't want to get kicked out again, and when the constitution was penned they asked for special consideration for the rights of free expression, tax exemption,etc.

That said, there have been plenty of cults in the UK, like The Jesus Army, which was a big deal for years. I could go down a list. I've worked in Ireland, in Europe with The Solar Temple, and of course Asia and Africa are rife with cult activity, too.

AusGamers: What about where I'm from, Australia?

Rick: Oh yeah! Been there five times to work; I was there in the last 18 months to do an intervention. So you guys have the outback, [which means] isolated compounds. You've also got this one guy who says he's Jesus, reincarnated, A.J. Miller. His wife/girlfriend is Mary Magdalene, if you believe that. But yeah, he's rich, and Mary Magdalene is kinda hot – he's, like, 20 years older than her. I mean, Mary Magdalene could have been reincarnated as an overweight, kind of older woman, but no, no, no, she's a young hot lady.

Click here for our fascinating interview with cult expert and deprogrammer Rick Ross.

Recently we were invited out to Ubisoft Montreal to get an in-depth and varied look at the world of Far Cry 5. We sent Adam "Grizz" Mathew who returned a little darker and deeper inside, and wouldn't stop whistling an angelic yet nefarious little diddy. So, we asked him to write about it, with him having also chatted to Far Cry 5 audio director Tony Gronick on what it takes to create a soundtrack -- and hook -- for an out-there prepper-ish cult.

Here's a slice of the informative interview we got in return for Grizz's soul:

Tony: We knew the cult needed its own sound, but we honestly didn't know what that was going to be. My initial approach was post-rock, but it proved to be a little too 'droney', especially on an in-car radio that went against the drone of the engine. Christian rock didn't match the visuals of the characters either. Likewise, traditional hymns seemed to fit, though the lyrics didn't suit what this cult was about. These songs needed to match the manifesto that the cult believes in. But, most important of all, even if you were a listener with no knowledge of the cult, you'd need to find the music beautiful. Once you swallowed that lure and entered into the cult, those lyrics would then start to take on a double meaning.

Click here for the full Q&A with Tony Gronick -- it's an insightful and fascinating read.

First off, sorry for getting that song stuck in your head on this fine Friday afternoon. Secondly, remember Bloodhound Gang? Anyway, in a new behind the scenes video for Far Cry 5 which focuses on the companions in the game -- including everyone's favourite dog Boomer -- you can see the bespoke carnal act hinted at in the headline occur for the briefest of seconds.

Which means that nothing has been lost in a transplanting Far Cry to the rural U.S. of A. Yeah, the introduction of a crazed religious cult couldn't stop the unexpected, weird, and funny.



Note: The animal business is at the 2:06 mark.

In other Far Cry 5 news it has been confirmed that the wing-suit is also making a comeback and that it will tied to a story-line based on a famous stuntman from the '70s who we assume was the talk of Montana.

Out at a pre-E3 press event, Ubisoft gave AusGamers a world first hands-on with Far Cry 5 where we patted our Blue Heeler, flew a plane, rode a tractor, mounted a machine gun, took on crazy cultists and, most importantly, took in a spot of fishing. Yep, fishing.

Here's a snippet:

It’s been an annoyance to me for a while, especially in the Far Cry series. Primal could be forgiven because of the period in which it’s set, but ancient peoples had unique fishing traps and the like to use, so it doesn’t get off completely. But Far Crys 2, 3 and 4 had no excuse.

At any rate, because there is other game to talk about here (see what I did there?!), I just want to point out you can go fishing in Far Cry 5. You ‘borrow’ a spare rod from a fellow angler, and the fishing I got to do was of the fly kind -- simply aim your rod in the direction you want to cast, then hold down the right trigger and our Rex Hunt wannabe will skilfully fly cast three times before you let go and hit the water. From here, it’s a matter of massaging your line back in while watching the surface of the water for ripple evidence of eager fish eyeing off your lure. Feel a nibble in the rumble feature on your controller (not sure how this will work on PC), and hit a button to snag the fish and once you’ve hooked him, you’re up for a decent fight to land it.

What’s cool here is you need to play with the fish in realistic ways. You can’t reel in too fast or you’ll lose him, fight him too much and your line with break. You need to pull in the opposite direction he’s pulling away while teasing tension on the line; giving him some freedom here and there before reeling in harder and faster. The whole idea, if you’ve never fished before, is to tire him out so you can bring him to the bank and pull him in. It’s an exhilarating mini-game that is very quickly going to become a fan meta experience, so evidenced by the whiteboard in our demo room with the names and weights of the biggest catches so far during the pre-E3 hands-on experience. The biggest was 59 pounds, but I was told there are some monster fish out in the Big Sky country game-world Ubisoft has created here.

Click here for our full Far Cry 5 hands-on preview.

Enough said really. You'll definitely want to check this out, and see for yourself what Far Cry set in the deep south of the U.S.A looks like in motion. Spoiler alert, it looks fantastic.

Check it out.

Ah, sweet music to our ears. After the excellent trailer that dropped over the weekend it looks like more details about Ubisoft's upcoming Far Cry 5 are beginning to emerge. Like a protagonist (male or female) that you can create from scratch, and a campaign that can be played in its entirety with two players. Set in a fictional Montana U.S.A the game will center around the rise of a doomsday cult known as the The Project at Eden’s Gate.

A setting that Ubisoft chalks up to that time in the '80s where the future was uncertain, thanks to a pair of superpowers known as the United States and the Soviet Union. A concept that unfortunately feels all the more relevant today.

“I remember sort of this crushing weight. This feeling like the titans of the US and the Soviet Union could basically erupt, and that something catastrophic would happen,” says Executive Producer and Creative Director Dan Hay. “I remember growing up under that, and feeling the weight of it and being scared all the time. I remember watching movies like The Terminator or War Games, and it was sort of out there in the ether that people were feeling like we were on the edge of something.”

In Far Cry 5 the doomsday cult is led by the enigmatic Joseph "The Father" Seed, who are hell bent on saving as many souls as possible -- whether they like it or not. With such an evocative setting and story how well Far Cry 5 is received will ultimately boil down to how far Ubisoft are willing to go. And based on early word, it looks like the team are putting a lot of emphasis on story, which is great to hear.

“Games are maturing, and we’re getting closer and closer to films and television in terms of the stories we can tell,” Hay says. “And I think it means we can start to tackle situations and characters that are a little more complex. And so when we look at The Father, this guy who believes that the end of times is coming, and has built his own religion, it means that we can tackle that. Even though it’s a tough subject, it works in the game, and we feel like we can own it.”

Far Cry 5 will launch on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on February 27. Expect to see a lot more on the game at E3 next month.

Set in the fictional Hope County of modern day Montana, U.S.A, Far Cry 5 will pit players against a doomsday cult known as the Project at Eden's Gate. After teasers earlier in the week and the release of some truly impressive artwork the other day today we get our first look at the game with a cinematic in-engine trailer. You'll definitely want to check this out.

Because, well, it looks great. Cult members, off-road vehicles, slices of Americana, farm-lands, rivers, and even giant bears chasing people.



Far Cry 5 will be available on PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 27th, 2018.