Far Cry 5: Dead Living Zombies

Far Cry 5 was a game that bridged a lot of crazy ideas with a realistic, flowing world. The crazed cultists, the vast Montana wilderness teeming with life, and a surprisingly enigmatic antagonist that kept you playing out of both love and spite. These are the facets that have made up a majority of Far Cry titles; its impossible to think about Far Cry 3 without first remembering Michael Mondo’s performance as Vaas. Far Cry 5, improving greatly from its predecessors in terms of gameplay and graphics, had become my favorite Far Cry to date because of the satisfying combat, harrowing story, and the ensnaring beauty of a mountainous rural America. Even the following DLCs, Lost on Mars and Hours of Darkness were unique additions that improved gameplay. Unfortunately, the last full DLC, Far Cry 5: Dead Living Zombies, was not quite like its siblings.

Fend off the Living Dead

The issue with this DLC doesn’t lie in any new gameplay mechanics or even the addition of zombies, really. Primarily, the problems with this DLC stem from the short, linear level designs and the overabundance of annoying narration. Level design is probably my own personal gripe because Far Cry 5 is an open world FPS title.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t take some creative liberties with their DLC though, look at the success of Blood Dragon for Far Cry 3. You can even take Fallout 4, a somewhat similar atmospheric RPG, and its Far Harbor DLC that was mostly the same as the base game, but included an extensive first-person puzzle solving section. At first I was a bit put off, but I grew to like and appreciate that the designers tried something new for the series. FC3’s Blood Dragon worked so well because it was a synthwave arcade style DLC that stayed true to the base game while adding its own twists.

Dead Living Zombies simply takes Far Cry 5’s fun gameplay and shoehorns it down to rushing through levels killing zombie AI. Honestly, if that core aspect were kept, the DLC would be fine. Sadly, the open world aspect was almost removed entirely, which could have been a huge asset instead of being ignored entirely.

Set in the Movies

I did enjoy the actual progression of this DLC all shortcomings aside. Zombies in the Far Cry universe seems like a step in the right direction for entertainment. I normally kind of like games that have levels that are ‘a movie within the game’ and that whole spiel, but the presence of Guy Marvel turned me off pretty quickly. The voice actor did a great job for what its worth, but the terrible writing truly comes out when it comes to this character. I barely liked helping him in the base game, so hearing that he was essentially the entire focus of a DLC almost inclined me to pass it. Its decisions like this that could have created a silver lining for Dead Living Zombies, but ended up making the entirety of it less enjoyable instead.

Bottom Line

I wasn’t kind to Dead Living Zombies here, but that’s only because it’s a weak finish to an otherwise stellar game. The core gameplay, using weapons to mow down Zombies on a film set, is genuinely likable.

Pros

• Zombie modes are always fun
• Has some arcade elements
• Meta (movie in a game, if you like that sort of thing)

Cons

• Weak, linear levels
• Guy Marvel ruins theatrical portion of DLC
• A bit pricy for the amount/variety of content