I like Far Cry 5 (opens in new tab) for a couple of reasons. For one, it's the game Ubisoft used to brutally own James (opens in new tab), an incident that I will never get tired of mentioning every time Far Cry 5 comes up. (Sorry James.) It's also a really good sandbox shooter, not quite up to its early potential (opens in new tab) but still interesting enough to bring me back to the series after skipping 3, 4, and Primal. It's big, sprawling, and silly; if you get tired of the story about rampaging cultists and preppers, you can just pile into a jacked-up shitbox with Hurk and a rocket launcher and spend your day bombing around the back roads.
If you haven't tried it yet, this weekend is your big chance to see what you're missing, as the Hope County showdown will be fully free to play. Any progress you make in the game will carry over should you choose to purchase it, and to that end it's also on sale (opens in new tab) for 75 percent off the standard and Gold editions—that's $15 and $22.50 respectively. The Complete and Ultimate Editions, which include the semi-sequel Far Cry: New Dawn (opens in new tab), are also on sale, as are the season pass and individual DLCs.
The Far Cry 5 free weekend will begin at 6 am PT/9 am ET on May 29, and come to an end at 1 pm PT/4 pm on May 31. Preloading is live now at ubisoft.com (opens in new tab).
