Far cry 5 sold over 20 million copies, suggesting people loved the nightmarish first-person shooter about rural cultists preparing to inherit a post-apocalyptic United States. Maybe that’s why, half a decade later, Ubisoft just gave it an unlikely “next-gen” upgrade for the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Released in 2018 on PS4, Xbox One and PC, Far cry 5 sets the players loose in a modern-day simulacrum of Montana, where a group of religious terrorists prepare white poppies to dose the local population and try to bring their disturbing prophecies to fruition. Often shocking for shocking’s sake, though occasionally beautifully subtle, it’s also filled with vehicular mayhem, unhinged NPC simulations, and lots and lots and lots of clearing baddies out of bases.
Now gamers can enjoy all that at 60 frames per second on both PS5 and Xbox Series X/S using a free update that went live today to celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary. It’s an unusual move for such an old game. Then again, Ubisoft has been updating all kinds of older stuff recently.
To narrow things down, Far cry 5 will be free on console and PC on the last weekend of the month, from March 23rd to March 27th. That’s plenty of time to finish the game and experience all its nervy horrors, earned and otherwise. Take my advice and don’t bother with the DLC. It is superficial at best and boring at worst.
Read more: Every Far Cry Games, ranked from worst to best
As hard as I’ve been Far cry 5 previously for, among other things, pulling punches when it comes to actually trying to make a cogent argument about the divisiveness of American society and the political forces seizing on its unraveling, I still have a penchant for for its open world. When it gives you a break from shooting people in the face, there’s plenty of midwestern beauty to chew on.
Its conifers, old country roads reminded me of New Hampshire summer vacations from my childhood, as vividly as any dream ever did. But if you’re just there for the deck full of icons to reveal and checklists to complete, it’s got all that, too.