SPOILER WARNING! I cannot emphasize this enough. I will be discussing the multiple endings of Far Cry 5 and my personal thoughts on all 3 of them. I highly recommend playing the game first. It is a wonderful game up until the ending. Don’t blame me if you’ve been spoiled. Read at your own risk.
OK. Warning issued.
The first ending I want to talk about is what is commonly called the Easter Egg Ending. First popularized in Far Cry 3 and 4, we get the opportunity to walk away from the start of the game. At this point, one can say that it’s part of the Far Cry experience. So, in Far Cry 5, when we have been ordered to arrest Joseph Seed. We can choose to ignore this command, and stand there looking like we’re questioning all our life choices… like what Sheriff Whitehorse is doing. Eventually, the sheriff’s will buckle and we are then ordered to leave. Marshall Burke threatens our arrest us in protest, but Whitehorse knows better than to get involved with Joseph Seed. He proclaims, “Sometimes, it is best to leave well enough alone.” The screen cuts to black and the credits roll.
And this is the most POSITIVE ending. I am not joking. Just wait till we deep dive the other 2 endings of the game. These are my personal thoughts on the Good? Ending.
it starts with me, the deputy, finally settling the score with Joseph Seed after killing his family. I set off to the church from the beginning of the game. At this point, I was expecting a fight along the way… but the complete opposite happens. The compound was completely devoid of enemies. I knew something was wrong, and when I approached the door, Joseph Seed greets me. Joseph starts telling me that it’s all my fault: the people, the calamity, everything. He turns me around and lo and behold, it’s all 3 members of my team… being held at gunpoint by the very people I was trying to save, now Joseph’s flock. The Bliss had taken over their minds. That was one hell of a gut punch. He gives me 2 options: to resist or to walk away.
I chose to resist.
He tells me that John was wrong, and our sin is not wrath, but pride. To some extent, that is true. I didn’t to believe a single word he said. I wanted to see justice through. To see him pay for all the suffering the county has gone through. This pride that was going to get my friends killed on the spot, and I was going to point my gun at the good people of Hope County. It was already too late, the dye was cast and there was no way I was going to give them up to this psychopath.
He kicks up the Bliss and the final fight begins.
When the bliss clouds blew over, I was standing in front of a defeated Joseph. He starts talking about the final seal just as the Sheriff Whitehorse comes in for the arrest. But, at the very last moment, when we were taking him away, a thought crept into my mind… what IF he was actually right?
I didn’t wait long for the answer. A nuke was set upon the valley. The explosion forced all of us into a truck and make a speedy getaway. Leaving everyone else behind to face the fire. As the world burned before us, questions started forming in mind, who set off the nuke? Why? Does Joseph Seed know more than he’s letting on?
The final sequence sees us reaching the bunker only to have a burning tree fall on us. From the outset, it looks like me and Joseph were the only survivors. I woke up and see Dutch dead before my feet. All this just so he could say was that he was right all along. I killed his family, he had every reason to kill me. But I was all he has, that makes me his child, and him, my father. Cut to black.
This ending gets mixed reactions from me. I liked it because it’s sort of fresh. Not the happy ending everyone was expecting. At the same time, I didn’t like it because at no point in the game there was a foreshadowing of an actual threat of a nuke in the valley. It just happened. And there’s this part of me that doesn’t accept that. Maybe I missed it along the way or dismissed it as another form of Doom’s Day talk. I don’t know.
The last ending I want to talk about is the Bad Ending. The one where you choose to walk away – leaving everyone at the mercy of Joseph Seed. Personally, I had no real reason to pick this option. But for the sake of this opinion piece, here are my thoughts on it.
Joseph Seed forgives us and allows us to walk away. Deputy Hudson protests but is quickly shut down by the Sheriff. We ride out of the compound. But we had no intention of leaving everyone with Joseph. The sheriff wants to reach the nearest town, gather the National Guard and bring down Seed for good. He then turns on the radio, and the song “Only You” starts playing. The borders of the screen turn red and suddenly cuts to black.
I can already tell that this does not end well for everyone. This is the song that we had been conditioned to attack anyone and everyone. Joseph knew this and intentionally left it to play in the truck. I probably killed everyone present and walked back to Joseph for further guidance.
I also think the nukes probably go off at this point. So, Joseph has a flock to lord over including myself. And is probably building a new society upon the ashes of the old world. Yeah… that went downhill fast.
This has been my 2 cents on the endings of Far Cry 5. Let me know in the comments section of what you think happens after the 2 endings of the game. Do we fight back from the brink? Or does Eden’s Gate become the new world?