Far Cry 5 Became Way More Political Than Intended

Far Cry 5 has plenty of political and controversial themes tied into the game's plot, but even the game's creators didn't expect some of the game's topics to be intertwined with real-world discussions to the point that they are today.

From guns to religious cults to white nationalist concerns, Far Cry 5 has put itself out there as a controversial game before it's even been released. Set in the fictional Hope County, Montana, the themes of the Far Cry games that are usually pushed into some far-away land hit a bit too close to home for some. It also didn't help that the themes the game incorporates can be seen both in the game's advertising as well as the real-world news, depending on where you look.

"Sometimes you're working on a game with dragons or robots, and you go for a slice of pizza, you go for a break or a beer, and a lot of the conversations that you hear are completely different from what you're making - that's not the case with this game," Far Cry 5 director Dan Hay told PCGamesN. "With this, you go out for a slice of pizza and it just feels like people know some of the different things that we are making. That is a strange feeling, and it's why we build that separation, it's why we make it ours, because it is a work of fiction."

The team behind Far Cry 5 has said it before, but they started working on the game several years ago, long before it was considered that some of the game's elements might be relevant closer to its release.

"We started building this game three years ago," said Hay. "We could have never imagined, and to be honest I wouldn't have wanted to... that in some ways, it's echoing out in the real world."

But even with all of the controversial themes and the familiar setting, there's some reassurance in knowing that the game's setting is made up, no matter how realistic it might seem. That goes for the characters inside of it as well – no matter which real-world personalities you might connect the cultists to, they're not real.

"I think the key for us is to make sure that we remember as we're building it, that it is a game, it is a piece of entertainment," Hay reflects. "We made our own cult, we made our own leader, you can't meet these people in the real world."

Far Cry 5 is scheduled to release on Feb. 27.