On the occasion of Far Cry 5âs fifth anniversary, they played the game live on Ubisoftâs Twitch channel. The stream was hosted by Chris Watters and featured Drew Holmes, the lead writer, as a special guest to talk about the game and answer a few questions. Here is a summary of what they said.
Drew Holmes explained he started working on Far Cry 5 around January or February 2016. He had played the previous Far Cry games but it was his first time working on one. Heâs never been to Montana, but a large portion of the team visited the state before he joined Ubisoft. When asked what his feelings were, five years ago, when they were about to release Far Cry 5, he said launching a game is always weird because you work on it for years and, when itâs finally âout in the wildâ, you suddenly have no control over it anymore. As a developer, you hope players will like it, but you are never sure⊠Thankfully, in this case, the reception was great, and it was even the best launch for a Far Cry game at the time.
As the lead writer, his job was to write, of course (mostly the cutscenes), but he was also involved in the casting process, supervised the performance capture shoots, and worked closely with the writing staff (which was âhugeâ) as well as all the other teams to make sure everything was âcohesiveâ. Each region had its own main writer so communication was essential, especially on a game as big as this one.
It was important for them that the story wasnât just told in main missions and cutscenes; the world had to feel alive and believable. Information can be gathered through talking with NPCs, playing side missions, and reading documents, so everything moves the story forward. They also wanted the charactersâ personalities to feel real and made sure each of them was clearly part of the gameâs world, even the Seeds, whose impact on that county theyâve been living in for years had to be tangible. When they created the Guns for Hire, they wanted them to have strong personalities and unique abilities. These characters have all grown up in Hope County, know each other âto varying degreesâ, and have a history with the locations, so everything they say had to reflect this.
They recruited Sharky during the live stream so they talked a bit more about him. Drew Holmes said they imagined this character before they got the idea of bringing âlong-time Far Cry superstarâ Hurk back in Far Cry 5. When they decided that they were cousins and what their relationship was like (Sharky admires his older cousin, the âworld travelerâ), it became easier for them to write him and for Dylan Taylor, who plays both characters, to get inspired. He ended up improvising about 75% of Hurkâs lines⊠which was great but would sometimes become a problem because missions are written and designed a certain way.
As he had already revealed recently, Drew Holmes had âno ideaâ all the Guns for Hire could hang out at the 8-Bit Pizza Bar. He even initially wondered if people on social media were âlyingâ about this because, although the team did want to create a place for these characters to meet and talk to each other (because many conversations were written and recorded), they had been told including that in the game wouldnât be possible. But it turns out one of the devs did it in secret anyway, much to everyoneâs surprise and delight.
Drew Holmes particularly enjoys the Prepper Stashes because they all have âa great puzzle designâ thanks to âsmart level designersâ, and because they also give information about the world. They are an opportunity for players to âbreatheâ and experience âcontemplative explorationâ.
In Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4, he thought the story was more linear, while in Far Cry 5, they needed to have âa 360 approachâ and think about all the ways players could play the missions. In previous games, he also thought the cutscenes were mostly people talking and that players were just spectators, and he said thatâs one of the limits of first-person games. In Far Cry 5, the goal was to make players feel like they were part of the action and not just the camera. This is why we carry crates to help Mary May after liberating Fallâs End, for example, or fly with Faith the first time we visit the Bliss.
Speaking of this scene, Drew Holmes said they wanted Jenessa Grant to actually âflyâ so the cutscene would have a âweird ethereal qualityâ to it. To achieve this, they didnât tie her to a rope⊠but hired ballet dancers to carry her around! This scene, which he remembers writing at 3 am one night, took about half a day to rehearse, but it was worth it.
There were other stunts in the game that forced the team to think of creative ways to shoot the scenes in performance capture and achieve the results they wanted. They built a fake helicopter for the opening mission and flipped it over with everyone inside, including âthe Randycamâ (Randy Yuen, camera specialist, who âplayedâ the Deputy), so they really were upside down. And when the Marshal swims out of the car at the end of the prologue, they made a stuntman âswim through the air on a rigâ. Drew Holmes gave a shout-out to David Footman, cinematic director, for all his âcrazy ideasâ.
When Chris talked about how cool he thought the opening cinematic was because learning about Edenâs Gate through interviews and from other charactersâ points of view was a great idea, Drew Holmes explained that what they say is inspired by how real-life cults operate. Usually, at first, a few people move in, buy some land to âget a footholdâ, and are joined by more and more people until they can be âthe majority on the city councilâ and start passing laws. Then, they basically own the town, and other people either join them or go live elsewhere, but those who want to leave canât sell their properties because the cult has driven the prices down⊠Thatâs basically the stories the team heard when they did research and worked with cult advisors.
Chris also asked about the Seed family and why they are always so close to the camera (and the player). Drew Holmes said there are several reasons. First, because they wanted the game to be immersive, they needed other characters (not just the Seeds) to have this proximity with the Deputy, to engage the player as a person and make them feel involved. Second, they had a very talented cast, so the closer the camera is, the better you can appreciate the âstrong performancesâ they all delivered. And finally, when villains invade your personal space, you âtense upâ and itâs âuncomfortableâ, and the dev team wanted this too. In video games, he said itâs important to think about âwhat you want, emotionally, from the playersâ.
When asked who he thought the âmost twistedâ Herald was, he initially answered it was âa tieâ between John and Jacob because the former tortures people and the latter âate his friendâ (which âsets you on a weird pathâ in life). At first, he said that, compared to her brothers, Faith was âmore of a victim of Josephâ, but on second thought, since sheâs âtaken and run with itâ, and because of the way she used the Deputyâs friends and killed âpoor Virgilâ as well as Burke, he concluded she was, in fact, as twisted as the other two. In the end, he thinks they are âall pretty badâ.
He was also asked about the Deputy and who they were as an individual. He sees them as someone who would always do whatever they can to help the people around them but who suddenly finds themselves âthrust into this insane situationâ. They are a young, normal person in âa crazy contextâ, but also the only one who can truly do something about it and make a difference. But because they are a silent protagonist, making them feel like a real person was challenging, and this is why the rest of the cast had to be âvery fleshed outâ. Other characters had to be able to give some perception of what the Deputy would say if they had a voice.
Itâs hard for Drew Holmes to pick a favorite mission or storyline in Far Cry 5, but he would probably choose one of Hurk Drubman Seniorâs missions⊠even though he admits heâs a âvery divisive characterâ and even a âpiece of crapâ. He also thinks Kim Rye is great, and the âButch and Sundanceâ joke is one of his favorites.
Fun fact: they used the same animation for when the Deputy is on fire and when they are attacked by bees. He humorously called it âefficiencyâ and said that, when you tell people to act like theyâre âputting out fireâ or âswatting beesâ, they do the same thing anyway.
