Players control an unnamed junior deputy sheriff who becomes trapped in Hope County and must work alongside various resistance factions to liberate the region from the despotic rule of the Seeds and Eden's Gate.

Developed and published solely by Ubisoft, its competitive multiplayer mode was also created in-house, with the company's worldwide studios gaining more creative input for Far Cry 5.

Similar to its predecessors, Far Cry 5 is a first-person shooter set in an open world environment which the player can explore freely on foot or via various vehicles.

[5] In addition, Far Cry 5 features a new weapons ballistics system that includes elements like a bullet dropping over a distance to increase realism.

The outposts were designed with multiple approaches for the player to take and it was this element that the development team tried to recreate in the wider game world of Far Cry 5.

The game is set in the fictional Hope County, Montana, where a preacher named Joseph Seed (portrayed by Greg Bryk)[13] has risen to prominence.

Seed believes that he has been chosen by God to protect the people of Hope County from "the Collapse", a global catastrophe that will see the collapse of society, and has established a congregation called the Project at Eden's Gate in order to lead the people to salvation;[14] in reality, Seed is a radical preacher and Eden's Gate is a militaristic doomsday cult.

Under his rule, Eden's Gate has used both coercion and violence to forcibly convert the residents of Hope County, and intimidation to keep them from contacting the outside world for help.

Seed has assumed the title of "the Father" and maintains control over Hope County with the aid of his Heralds: Jacob, "the Soldier" (Mark Pellegrino), Joseph's older brother and a former United States Army sniper who oversees the training and deployment of the cult's armed soldiers; John, "the Baptist" (Seamus Dever), Joseph's younger brother and a lawyer who has been able to acquire much of the land in Hope County for Eden's Gate and leads the forcible conversion of residents; and Rachel Jessop, also known as Faith or "the Siren" (Jenessa Grant), a botanist who acts as a pacifist to bring the people to trust in Joseph, but uses a powerful hallucinogen called Bliss to run forced work camps for residents who resist the cult.

The residents of Hope County opposed to Seed and his followers (whom they derogatorily refer to as “Peggies”) include a cast of characters who join the fight with motives ranging from altruism to revenge, profit, and boredom.

[15][16] They are aided by Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt (John Tench), a local survivalist with a deep distrust of government and a history of anti-social behaviour.

Characters from the Far Cry series who return in Far Cry 5 include Hurk Drubman, Jr. (Dylan Taylor), a dim-witted though well-intentioned redneck party boy with a love of high-powered explosives; and Willis Huntley (Alain Goulem), a sociopathic CIA agent and self-proclaimed "patriot bastard" in the habit of recruiting civilians for dangerous clandestine missions.

In late 2018, a joint operation between the United States Marshals Service and the county sheriff's department—consisting of Deputy Marshal Cameron Burke (Doug Hutchison), Sheriff Earl Whitehorse (Christopher Heyerdahl) and his deputies Joey Hudson (Luisa D'Oliveira), Staci Pratt (Julian Bailey) and the player character, an unnamed Junior Deputy—arrive at an Eden's Gate church to detain Joseph Seed with a federal arrest warrant on charges of kidnapping with the intent to harm.

[14] The Deputy survives and escapes with the help of Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt, a local survivalist and Vietnam War veteran who explains that the cult has interpreted the attempt to arrest Joseph as the fulfillment of his prophecies.

Joseph's younger brother John lures the Deputy to Holland Valley by broadcasting a message showing Hudson as his captive.

John indoctrinates residents to the cult's beliefs by subjecting them to a forced baptism to "cleanse" them, tattooing their "sins" onto their bodies, and carving out the marked skin as part of their "atonement".

A counterattack by the local Resistance prompts John to flee, leading to the Deputy engaging him in an aerial dogfight and mortally wounding him.

Jacob subjects the Deputy to the same conditioning and successfully breaks them, hypnotizing them into killing the Whitetail's leader Eli Palmer (Patrick Garrow) to cripple the resistance.

The hallucinatory effects of Bliss puts its victims in a trance-like state and staying under its influence for too long makes them vulnerable to Faith's hypnotic manipulation.

Nick is introduced to ANNE (Erica Lindbeck), a millennia-old artificial intelligence who warns that a hostile alien race called the Arachnids are putting together the final preparations for an invasion of Earth.

Nick grows suspicious of ANNE's intentions while experiencing a series of apocalyptic visions involving his newborn daughter and Hope County.

The two manage to fully restore power to ANNE, but doing so allows her to ready her own invasion of earth as she sees humans as inferior lifeforms.

Dead Living Zombies follows Guy Marvel (Giles Panton), an auteur film director who has a reputation for being impossible to work with.

The style and tone of Dead Living Zombies are very different to the main story campaign and other downloadable content episodes, relying on parody, meta-humor and irreverence over plot.

[27] Far Cry 5 was announced by Ubisoft during the company's financial call, alongside two other major titles, The Crew 2 and Assassin's Creed Origins, which were released in fiscal year 2018.

Free skin packs were made available for PlayStation 4 players at launch due to a marketing deal between Sony Interactive Entertainment and Ubisoft.

Hay started writing the story in late 2014; in February 2016, he investigated the details of the occupation and standoff of a wildlife refuge in Oregon, as he wanted to look for evidence that can show the rise of separatism.

[42][41][40] Daemon Hatfield of IGN gave it an 8.9 out of 10, saying "Far Cry 5 is another wide-open playground with all the necessary ingredients for causing a real ruckus: loads of enemies and allies, temperamental wildlife, and plenty of explosions.

[57][58] Responding to the criticism, game director Dan Hay revealed that the story was written to discuss the consequences of beliefs and ideologies being taken to their most extreme form rather than as a response to a particular political event.

[62][63][64] Conversely, after the game's release, some outlets criticized it for opposing reasons, for trying to be inoffensive and apolitical rather than directly engaging with contemporary political issues.