Far Cry 5 – Refusing its own politics

Who gets to be the hero?

The Far Cry series are action-packed, FPS adventures set in exotic locations that are fictional analogues to formerly colonized cultures. While previous entries to the Far Cry series have you take on the role of insurgents and guerrillas, fighting against an oppressive authority, in Far Cry 5 you play the opposite. You are a police deputy, an enforcer of authority, tasked with defending the local population and the status quo, rather than liberating them. The play-action is the same as in previous games, but the motivations and the message behind them are dramatically changed.

The player is supposed to take on the role of the hero, but Far Cry 5 shows that there are limits to who the series will allow to wear the mantle of ‘hero’. And that perpetuates an occidental vs colonial paradigm, of the oriental/colonial as less than the occidental/colonizing. In a western setting, being the hero means you play the part of the authorities. While in a colonial setting, the hero can never represent the authorities.

In previous games the player takes on the role of part Indiana Jones, part colonel Walter E. Kurtz, travelling up the river into the Heart of Darkness to escape the savage lands and return to civilization. The status quo of the oriental settings in the Far Cry games is always one of chaos and conflict. One which the player, as a representative of the occidental, must escape or dominate. Peace and stability can only be achieved by subjugating the local culture through violence.

Political reality

Far Cry 5 makes heavy use of the discourse, humor, aesthetics and tropes of American right-wing conservatives, rednecks, hunters, doomsday preppers and MAGA devotees, and plays heavily into the political landscape of the United States. But refuses to comment upon or challenge the beliefs that are put into context through this use.

The game does not overtly make racist or right-wing statements, but through the use of these aesthetics, cultural identity markers, and the discourse of the groups used for inspiration, it does so by omission. This makes it stand out that much more. It is akin to building a house and forgoing to build the walls, hoping it won’t be noticed and refusing to admit there is something missing when it ultimately is.

The chatter of the locals reflects negative attitudes towards left-wing and progressive beliefs and promote propaganda and conspiracy theories. Statements like «They earned every inch of this land with blood and sweat, and now I gotta lose it to some man-buned little twerp and his posse of inbreeds?», show disdain towards cultural markers that are attributed to the American left-wing demographic,  and hints at the sovereign citizen movement’s beliefs. And «Yeah, it takes a certain kind of man to defend his home», showing admiration towards a right-wing view of masculinity. “If the liberals couldn’t take my guns these Peggies sure as hell won’t!” (Peggies being in-game slang for the game’s antagonists; the Project at Eden’s Gate cult) perpetuates the American right-wing belief that liberal and democratic voices are coming for their guns. And we are directly told the enemy is “hunting people just like you” (i.e. preppers and sovereign citizens), that American liberals are after their guns and the government is lying to the population.