PlayStation Plus Subscribers Can Now Play Controversial Game for Free

PlayStation Plus subscribers can now play one of the most controversial games of the previous console generation -- the PS4 generation -- for free, or at least some PS Plus subscribers can. As you may know, PS Plus is divided into three tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. This new free game is limited to the Extra and Premium tiers, the middle and most expensive tiers, respectively. If you're subscribed to Essential, the basic and standard tier, you're out of luck. Or maybe not, because the game in question isn't liked by everyone. 

Alongside a couple of other games in the series, Far Cry 5 is now available via Extra and Premium. Released in 2018 by Ubisoft, the game earned Metacritic scores ranging from 78 to 82, depending on the platform, putting it somewhere in the middle tier for the series, below the highs of Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4, but above low points like Far Cry New Dawn and Far Cry 6. 

As you may remember, the biggest talking points surrounding the game at release and before it had nothing to do with the quality of the title, but its theme of religious fanaticism and the connections some tried to make between it and far-right political movements and Donald Trump. On one side, there were petitions against the game for its depiction of American Christians. On the other side, others thought the game was too apolitical and didn't do enough to build on the imaginary connections made between its location/subject material and modern America. If you played the game, you'll know it's nothing more than a social commentary on cults, but this was ignored. 

Context aside, it's now available to play, for free, to all PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium subscribers. How long it's available via the two tiers of the subscription service, we don't know. 

"Far Cry comes to America in the latest installment of the award-winning franchise," reads an official elevator pitch of the game.  "Welcome to Hope County, Montana, land of the free and the brave but also home to a fanatical doomsday cult known as Eden's Gate. Stand up to cult leader Joseph Seed, and his siblings, the Heralds, to spark the fires of resistance and liberate the besieged community."

As noted, this isn't the only Far Cry game that has been added to this tier. The aforementioned, underwhelming Far Cry game, Far Cry New Dawn, has also been added, in addition to Far Cry Primal.