Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 moved the series to the United States for the first time, specifically to the fictional Hope County, Montana, where the religious cult Eden's Gate, led by the charismatic Joseph Seed, has seized control of the entire county and is preparing its followers for an approaching apocalypse. As an unnamed deputy sheriff, the player must liberate individual areas controlled by Seed's siblings and gradually confront the prophet himself, whose calm, almost fatherly demeanor contrasts with the brutality of his cult.

The game kept the series' traditional open-world formula, this time without towers to unlock the map and with a greater emphasis on allies the player could recruit, including animal companions such as a bear or a cougar. The American countryside on Xbox One offered varied environments from forests and farms to lakes and cave systems, complemented by distinctive country and gospel music that underscored the unsettlingly ordinary facade hiding fanaticism and violence. Two-player co-op allowed the entire campaign to be played together, a first for the series.

Far Cry 5 earned praise for its bold take on religious extremism and for its commercial success within the series, even though the story's ending divided both players and critics with its controversial resolution. Even years later, the game remains notable for how it transplanted the series' proven formula into an American setting and how it handled themes of manipulation and fanaticism, and it ranks among the best-selling Far Cry titles ever, confirming that the brand can work outside the exotic destinations of previous entries. Thanks to its finely detailed depiction of American rural life and the disturbingly convincing cult characters, Hope County kept its reputation as one of the strongest settings the series has ever offered, and even years later it is cited as one of the franchise's bolder entries in terms of how it handles its theme and its willingness to portray a society collapsing from within.

Why play it: Its bold take on religious extremism and the convincingly rendered Hope County make it worth your attention, even though the story's ending divided players.