STACK #161 Mar 2018

GAMES

FEATURE

"The idea to introduce it was borne out of a desire to let the player be themselves this time around.We didn’t want a specific character’s experience to drive the narrative, we wanted the PLAYER’S experience to drive it – the entire structure of the game is built around this idea: give players as much freedom as possible to experience the world and story the wayTHEY want, as opposed to imposing a specific character and linear path through the game." Far Cry 5 Customisation

woman and her son at E3 played the game and made a point of saying how much the world looks and feels like their home, which is exactly the response we want.” If you’re not familiar with the Far Cry 5 narrative, a tyrannical preacher called Joseph Seed has laid influence over Hope County. Adopting the name

...he’s more than just a colourful psychopath

of ‘the Father’, Seed has assembled a doomsday cult known as Eden’s Gate. Assuming the role of Sheriff’s deputy, players

their Far Cry games, and from what we’ve seen of Joseph Seed, that trend is set to continue. “We knew from the start that we would have a cult leader as the main villain and we had the basic idea of what he believed, but WHO that guy was and HOW those beliefs manifested themselves in the game took some time to solidify. It was very much an evolutionary process. We started by researching a bunch of different cult leaders – from famous to obscure. You look at how they present themselves, how they exert their control, what their backgrounds were… and then you start to take pieces of that and mould a character. “The first thing I wrote for him was a story he tells about the first time God tested him – it was a way to show what his values were, how far he’d go to achieve his goals… but it was really just a character sketch. It wasn’t until Greg Bryk (the Canadian actor who played Seed) came in and

become embroiled in the fight to take Seed down and restore law and order to Hope County. When you think of cults in this

read the scene that I started to really be able to understand Joseph. Greg brought gravitas to that character. He brought empathy. I could suddenly hear Joseph’s voice as I wrote him, and the collaboration we had on set continued to flesh this character out into someone who felt real. “Joseph is much different from Vaas or Pagan Min in that he’s more than just a colourful psychopath. He has a purpose he believes in. He’s driven. I think it gives his scenes more meat than the previous Far Cry villains – he’s trying to convince you that he’s right.”

context, David Koresh’s Branch Davidians and Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple (that led to the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, in which over 900 followers committed mass suicide) spring to mind. According to Holmes, Ubisoft Montreal turned to leading authorities on cults for advice on narrative specifics. “We had a couple of 'cult experts' – Rick Ross and Mia Donovan – that we consulted with during development, as well as doing a ton of research ourselves,” notes Holmes. “We would have periodic meetings where we could say, 'based on our research, here’s what we’re thinking – does this make sense?' And they could help us tweak based on their knowledge and experiences. It really helped us build a cult that was our own creation, but still held true to

the common traits seen in cults.” As far as memorable video game antagonists go, the Far Cry series has a reputation for creating convincing and formidable characters. From Vaas Montenegro to Pagan Min, fans now expect these towering adversaries in

• Far Cry 5 is out March 27

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