Far Cry 5 DLCs Review
There’s a lot more in store for those who enjoyed the madness involved in Far Cry 5, and if you’re into ridiculous moments that make you raise your eyebrows in amusement, you might want to stick around.
It’s been a fair amount of time since Ubisoft released their latest and greatest version of Far Cry, and we’ve seen the effects of it many forms. Many players have gone for the completionist route, and still enjoyed exploring the various endings, but fortunately, for those who aren’t quite as dedicated, there is more to Far Cry 5 than simply completing additional and ridiculous challenges within the original game. Ubisoft has released three DLCs for this already great game, and if you thought you experienced some ridiculous moments there, then you’ve seen nothing yet!
…I’m not kidding.
Hours of Darkness
The first DLC we were treated with had a more serious overtone on it. It was a lot more serious than the game even, which I honestly enjoyed. Hours of Darkness takes place during the brutality of the Vietnam War, where you play as Wendell Redler, one of Hope County’s finest, as he recounts the tale of how he was shot down behind enemy lines and had to survive as he rescued his other team members, and made his way back to the Extraction Point. We get treated with many new mechanics as well as a completely different map to play on than the one we are used to. Running around in a jungle map was a refreshing change of pace and quite enjoyable, as this DLC had you focusing on stealth, emphasising its importance by way of introducing a new Perk system. You activate perks based on the amount of kills you make during stealth, one such being increased movement speed, automatic tagging of enemies in the area, etc. However, you lose these perks as soon as you get discovered, which means you’ll need to start again as soon as you start stealth-killing again. This provides a unique challenge, because you can really feel the difference between having the perks active, and being perk-less.
What shocked me the most in this DLC was the way they changed how the Guns-For-Hire worked. The companions that you rescue are able to join you in the fight on the way back to extraction point, but are not able to take a respite when they’ve been downed to come back and join the fight again later. When they’ve been killed, they’re gone, and there’s no way to get them back up. This was a shock, especially when you accidentally drove over one of them (…cough). I wasn’t even given the opportunity to revive them, like you usually do if they’ve taken a little too much damage. Either way, this makes you play a lot more carefully, which helps in the long run with the game emphasising stealth so much. There are also other side missions can you take part in, such as taking out enemy Generals, destroying radios that are spreading Propaganda, freeing Vietnamese hostages, collecting Dog Tags, etc. I naturally went for the completionist route, finishing all side-missions before heading to the extraction point, which took a decent amount of time, however, if you play this DLC casually, it won’t take you very long to complete it at all, which gives this DLC a few minus points.
Lost on Mars
Next up, we have Lost on Mars, which was quite a quirky yet extremely fun experience! Even when I launched the DLC, I was thinking to myself how ridiculous the notion is of a Far Cry game taking place in space. Well, now you’ll get to see exactly how ridiculous it is by accompanying good ol’ Nick Rye (my favourite pilot from Hope County) on his adventure with his good buddy Hurk. Hurk’s love for all things out-of-the-ordinary has landed him into some real trouble. The game start off with a comic-strip type of cutscene, showing us how Nick Rye ends up being abducted to join Hurk on Mars, who has been there for quite some time already with his AI “girlfriend”, ANNE; only he is missing every other part of his body, save for his head. He ends up being a severed head sidekick, up to a certain point, on your quest to prevent an invasion of giant insect-looking aliens that remind me a little bit of Antlions. In fact, they behave similarly too… Burrowing beneath the sand and reacting to the vibrations on the surface as you trudge along it, unless you manage to land on the rocky outcrops atop the sand, with the help of your trusty “gravity-belt”, which is actually a jetpack.
The DLCs from here are a hundred percent goofy and down-right silly, with Lost on Mars, in particular, showcasing some real hillbilly humour. I often found myself cringing at Hurk’s terrible jokes, and I realised the only thing he loves more than beer and explosions, would be a very particular body part of his, which you need to go looking for, as the aliens were responsible for him losing his body-parts in the first place. That is one of the side-missions of this DLC as well, gathering up all of Hurk’s body parts in order to reassemble him into a human being, although ANNE often shares how she disapproves of this decision, and encourages Hurk to take on a robotic body to extend his life indefinitely. Her tone during these dialogues is quite ominous, leading me to be suspicious of her on more than one occasion and causing me to wonder whether or not even she could be trusted… but then again, I could also just have been paranoid!
The main focus of the DLC is to bring the various stations on the Mars Base back online with the use of Power Crystals. You collect these crystals by exploring the dunes of Mars and by beating different objectives found on the vast Mars map, such as taking down Alien Queens. You get multiple types of the aliens, the most annoying type being the flying types. Fortunately, you are equipped to handle these situations, because every weapon you can make use of has been turned into a laser; Laser Pistols, Laser Shotguns, Laser Rifles, you name it. There is no stealth mechanics unfortunately, which means you’ll have to run-and-gun. You even get some really whacky grenades. I’d definitely recommend taking on every side-objective, because I can guarantee you won’t have a single dull moment.
Dead Living Zombies
If anybody came across the hilarious movie director, Guy Marvel, on their adventures through Hope County, be sure that you haven’t seen the last of him, as he returns in this DLC. We find the same silly humour that we found in Lost on Mars, only it takes on a more ironic tone. Guy Marvel is pitching 7 of the most ridiculous scripts for zombie movies to Hollywood’s celebrities, each one with more whacky and fun elements than the last. Naturally, while you play, you have Guy Marvel narrating, and you can just imagine the chaos, as we’ve already seen how out-of-the-norm his brain works. One moment in particular, Guy Marvel made the scene change from night to day and back again close to 6 times in 10 seconds. We get taken back to Montana, but it isn’t the same one we know, as the map has been turned into a nightmarish landscape riddled with the undead.
I quite looked forward to this DLC as well, because seeing new things added to what we already know and are comfortable with is refreshing, especially when you get to mow down a couple of zombies. The most underwhelming thing is that we don’t get any new weapons to assist in this venture. We have the same loadout selection as we were given in the original game, which isn’t all that bad, though I feel that, with the insane stories we get exposed to, there could have been some absurd machine gun or overpowered shotgun somewhere to make use of. That being said, shotguns are the star of the show here, especially when you can get a few lined up in a row.
Much of the landscapes are the same as Hope County, only repurposed for the story, though we do get some other new level additions to mix things up a bit, and fortunately the levels don’t take too long to complete, the only catch being that if you die, you start from the beginning. Objectives are a bit repetitive unfortunately, even though the stories differ. We get treated to some really crazy boss-fights though, one in particular will bring nostalgia to those who have played Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. After completing the stories, you get the opportunity to go back and play either Single Player or Co-Op Score Attack stages, which will offer new gun loadouts and other helpful perks depending on how many points you earn.
Conclusion
The Far Cry 5 DLC has been an interesting adventure, throwing us many curve-balls the likes of which defy the laws of physics, surprising with the ridiculousness of most, and the clever execution of another. All three DLC has been fun, although I was the least impressed with Dead Living Zombies. Others might find it funner than I did, but my favourite has to be Hours of Darkness, despite the fact that it doesn’t take long to beat on a casual play-session. Though, it is well worth doing all of the objectives. Lost on Mars had many great moments, but I cringed at Hurk’s jokes a few too many times. I admit, I admire his positive outlook despite being a disembodied head. All-in-all, the DLCs are fun, and it is worth buying the Season Pass, in my opinion!
