Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness DLC Review

Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness
DLC Mini Review
Score: 5/10 -
Bare Bones Warfare



      Vietnam is a fairly unused topic in video games. There’s a sizable list of lesser known games, but mostly the war is kept to bigger games such as Battlefield: Bad Company and other big names. Far Cry 5 figured it could try to fill this gap with its first DLC pack, and honestly, I’ll keep waiting for a solid Vietnam game to come around. If you take the bare essentials of Far Cry 5, strip some away, and give the protagonist a voice, that is Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness.

        Fresh off the heels of the solid Far Cry 5 experience, This DLC features a solid 3 to 4 hours of gameplay set during the Vietnam War. The player takes the role of main game NPC Wendell Redler (nicknamed "Cowboy") who is separated from his squad after their helicopter is shot down. From there Cowboy must travel through the Vietnam jungle, find his squad (or not its optional), and reach the extraction point to go home.
        There are some interesting concepts put into play in Hours of Darkness. Cowboy has no weapon or supplies to speak off. You are fully reliant on your ability to take down enemies and steal their stuff or go without anything at all. There are also no vehicles until the later part of the adventure, causing you to have to walk almost the entire way to the extraction point. This throws in a nice survival theme into the game, that I feel could be the basis of a solid Far Cry game down the road. The game also replaces the core games perk system with a series of perks that you gain as you complete stealth kills. This amps up the need for stealth greatly. These perks are useful since if you are caught at any point, Viet Cong will stream out of the trees to take you and your squad out in almost endless numbers.
         Now for what didn’t go over so well. The map is sizable but really devoid of life. The animals that do show up are limited to cows, panthers, wild hogs, and crocodiles. When killed, they give you bait for attracting the same kind of animals to take out camps. There are “challenges” to complete just like in Far cry 5, but in Hours they are just a road map of what you should do before getting to the main goal. You can skip them and make it to the end of the game in less than an hour. The Guns for Hire system returns and is just as crap as Far Cry 5, with the AI of your companions being next to useless. Finally, after all your effort, the finale is a bust, with no real pay off for your efforts other than a neat explosion or two.
            Overall this is not a strong start for Far Cry 5 DLC content. When I heard that the guy who was made Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was making these packs I was very excited. Hours Of Darkness doesn’t leave me with much hope, though. Next up is an adventure on Mars and a Zombie pack, so hopefully, those will deliver more hits. Hours of Darkness is an okay diversion for a couple hours, but I don’t feel drawn to try again anytime soon.

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