When Ubisoft originally announced Far Cry 5 earlier this year, it received for more than just the normal reasons;. The games premise, which sees players exploring a town in Montana and battling against a religious, extremist cult, hit hard during the political tension in the country.
Speaking on the game and the initial response to it to GamesIndustry.biz, creative director Dan Hay revealed that since development on the game started months prior to any reveals on it, the subject wasn’t as hot as it was when it came time to announce the game. “When we were building Far Cry 5 and its themes… sometimes I get asked the question ‘well, how did you know?’ and obviously we had no clue,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
Hay went on to describe the experience as “strange” due to the content of the game. “Typically when you work on games, you go outside for a smoke break or to have a beverage and you chill out, and you end up hearing conversations in the world that are nothing like the spaceships you’re making or the dragons you have in your game.” he said. “ It’s really strange working on Far Cry and to hear people talking about stuff that could be in your game. It’s bizarre.” Of course, while this likely wasn’t planned by Hay and the team, it’s something he said makes for a “unique experience.”
Typically, the Far Cry series has taken players to tons of various exotic locations, including Nepal, war-torn African nations, and even back into the Stone Age. However, Hay said that he’s been trying to bring a version of the game into America for some time. “When we finished working on Far Cry 3, we were thinking about where we wanted to set the next one…”We were kicking around the idea of setting it in the United States, but we didn’t know what to do in terms of themes and locations.”
When it came down to picking the location for the game, Hay and the team thought about what place in the country can be considered a modern day frontier, and when thinking of a possible Western setting, they settled on Montana. Being from Edmonton and Calgary – which is just 500 miles from Montana – Hay was fairly familiar with the area, but after a couple of days of investigation, he was sure it was the right spot. “… some people had actually moved to Montana to get away from the prying eyes of the government. There was this flavour, this feeling, and it felt very Far Cry.” There’s a ton more information to be found within the discussion that GamesIndustry.biz had with Hay, so make sure to head over and read up on the process of the game.
Far Cry 5 is set to launch on February 27, 2018.
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
