Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness

1. AllenGaming

   Jul 12, 2018

   8

   Bottom Line Up Front: If you loved Far Cry 5 you will love the Hours of Darkness DLC.
   
   Let’s start off this review by level settingBottom Line Up Front: If you loved Far Cry 5 you will love the Hours of Darkness DLC.
   
   Let’s start off this review by level setting expectations for the consumer.
   A) Hours of Darkness DLC is only 1/3 of the scheduled content for the Far Cry 5 season pass that you can pick up for ~$30 US. The remaining 2/3rd of the content is schedule for release later in the year (Lost on Mars, and Dead Living Zombies). So if you are one of those bean counters looking to price the content on some superficial $/hour of gaming you should use the calculus of this DLC should reasonably be completed in ~6 hours of gameplay for a cost of ~$10. That is, if you focus on actually playing the game to achieve all of the objectives and not running straight to the extraction point to finish as quickly as possible. My recommendation is, if you want to enjoy this slice of content, take the time to bask in the level of detail and craziness awesomeness of this story. So back to those bean counters… this slice of content offers entertainment for less than $2 an hour if you play it once and never go back. Additionally, the season pass includes a digital copy of Far Cry 3. So, additional value there however you want to price that? For me that was nice but I already own on both PS3 and XB360, but I still think that is awesome.
   
   B) If you hated Far Cry 5 then you will probably not like this DLC or in general the Season Pass. The 3 DLC content releases in the Season Pass will provide you short Far Cry style stories. These stories have no real connection to the Far Cry 5 storyline; however, they add more content with a different story in a different setting. Hours of Darkness take you to the Vietnam War where you take on the role of a downed soldier making his way to an extraction point while performing side tasks along the journey.
   
   On to the review. Too be honest, of the three slices of season pass content, Hours of Darkness was the one that I was looking forward to the least. All of the Vietnam War games I have played in the past have left me jaded that any developer could deliver an implementation of the Vietnam War that provided immersive gameplay. By no means is Far Cry’s version of Vietnam realistic or attempt to capture the feeling of an American Soldier sludging through a rice patty. What they do capture is the shear craziness and capitalize on it by placing you in an action hero shoes. Every encounter provided builds up to the next by adding size, complexity, objectives and best of all bigger and better weapons to full fill the inner Rambo. Playing co-op I felt the sense of one-upmanship constantly trying to out awesome my co-op buddy with better kills and bigger explosions. The constant barrage of propaganda in broken English from Hanoi Hannah put us over the top with laughter. All of this leads to the bottom line of if you are a fan of Far Cry, loved Far Cry 5, and want more content you will love Hours of Darkness. For those of you that are counting hours in lieu of laughs, a technical elitist that can only appreciate “new” revolutionary gameplay, or an English Literature major that requires emotional involvement in a storyline you should probably pass on this one. But then if you are one of those people, what were you thinking anyways. This is Far Cry. In addition to the new storyline, the weapons and vehicles that can be obtained in the Hours of Darkness storyline can be obtained in the Far Cry 5 world of Hope County. This adds NEW vehicles and weapons in the mix that many people will be able to appreciate.
   
   Moving onto my complaints. Yea there are many but the most significant ones are the following:
   A) Just like Far Cry 5, poor design implementation of the co-op mode forced me to play twice in order to obtain progress/achievements for me and my co-op buddy. I still loved every minute of Hours of Darkness and I probably would have played twice anyways but forcing me to do so because of poor co-op design just sucks.
   B) Just like Far Cry 5, using the same button for looting a body and swapping weapons just left me pissed off every time I accidently swapped my good weapons for a crappy one unintentionally while trying to loot a body.
   C) I would have loved to see more engaging NVC. I envision horde stages where NVC come pouring out of the mountain side tunnels. I envision more engaging tunnel rat side quest with booby traps and knife fights. I envision hunting down Hanoi Hannah and shutting her up for good. Lastly, I envision a final sequence that is multiplied by 3x in every way.… Expand

   • 3 of 6 users found this helpful
2. virtualvince

   Jun 14, 2020

   8

   I feel this particular DLC has been underrated by many. I really enjoyed the setting and how it strongly favoured using a stealth approach aI feel this particular DLC has been underrated by many. I really enjoyed the setting and how it strongly favoured using a stealth approach a lot. If you're mainly a stealth player you should enjoy this one a lot because it incentivises it through earned perks for every stealth kill you make.
   
   The polar opposite of the stealth, this DLC also gives you air strikes which I found great fun, but are only of limited uses, so you can't just go crazy with it, you have to 'earn' using it through exploration and missions.
   
   A few negatives: you can work toward a 3 man roster. If you un-assign them they basically don't un-assign. It seems to be a bug. If you want to stealth through a mission and you un-assign your roster just before, you'll be screwed unless you save and restart. At least, this was my experience. One other thing is the game has you collecting cigarette lighters from downed US pilots. I could see no actual reward for having done so outside a graphic at game completion. I mean, really? They're really just there because .. 'collectibles'.
   
   You can also finish the story in 30 mins by rushing to the extraction at the end if you're that kind of player. However, playing this through properly which you need to for all the trophies, it'll take up to 5 hours.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
4. GetBreadDuck

   Aug 26, 2022

   8

   Vietnam was a great setting for a Far Cry game. Hopefully it's something they'll expand on in the future.

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
5. raccoondaddy

   Aug 14, 2019

   3

   Hours of Darkness barely adds anything to Far Cry 5, save for a jungle setting. The really isn't a story, just a rescue mission and a bigHours of Darkness barely adds anything to Far Cry 5, save for a jungle setting. The really isn't a story, just a rescue mission and a big battle at the end. (Which had only a slight challenge)
   
   Honestly, it doesn't even scratch that itch to play a good game in a Vietnam War setting.… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful
6. Invidious25

   Apr 1, 2022

   3

   Hours of Darkness (3/10 Dud): I enjoyed this much less than the base game. The DLC is very short and not really worth the effort. It focusesHours of Darkness (3/10 Dud): I enjoyed this much less than the base game. The DLC is very short and not really worth the effort. It focuses on the in-game stealth mechanics which honestly are not that good. The few fun mechanics thrown in such as airstrikes are hamstrung by restrictions such as needing to clear anti air camps to use them, being unable to use them for fear of killing rescue targets, and limited uses. I often remarked that I was playing a walking simulator as the map has long stretches of terrain with no vehicles available until about halfway through the entire DLC.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
7. Chowjust

   Feb 20, 2019

   2

   Bottom Line: If you enjoyed Far Cry 5 you won't like Hours of Darkness. You might, but I bet you wont. It's very short, feels dull and isBottom Line: If you enjoyed Far Cry 5 you won't like Hours of Darkness. You might, but I bet you wont. It's very short, feels dull and is pretty much Far Cry but set in Vietnam, and doesn't take anything good from Far Cry 5 apart from the coat of paint. It's really up-to you if give it a chance, to make up your own mind. Otherwise if you brought the season pass like I did, you may as well get your monies worth.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
8. Professorfett

   Jul 1, 2018

   2

   I love the smell of burning garbage in the morning. Alright Far Cry 5's first DLC isn't complete garbage, but it is also worth zero of theI love the smell of burning garbage in the morning. Alright Far Cry 5's first DLC isn't complete garbage, but it is also worth zero of the monies. I'm not kidding if you do everything, and I mean everything you are looking at max 2.5/3 hour experience and for around $12 you are looking at a complete rip off. That money can get you a good meal at Taco Bell, or a great indie game like Bastion, or a very cheap hooker. Regardless any amount of money for this is too much.
   
   The story is a barely there it is more of a premise. You are Cowboy a gruff marine who was ambushed and captured by the Vietcong. You must reach the rendezvous to escape... that's it. There is no Deer Hunter scene where you play Russian Roulette, and there is no scene where you see your commanding officer running to the helicopter just to be shot into swiss cheese. The game wants you to dive into the premise and I don't know imagine the rest of the story, Funny enough unlike the main game of Far Cry 5 your character actually talks; so I guess that is one complaint they fixed.
   
   However the game plays somewhat different than the main game. Unlike the main game where you can level up to be a badass, this game lets you gain perks that make it easier to stealth kill. So if you are like me and are about as stealthy as a deaf person walking through leaves then it is fairly pointless. I do have a theory why they decided to make it stealth and it is not for any type of immersion. They did it so you had to play the DLC longer otherwise it'd be an hour long. Now I might say it is short but I does have other modes that play exactly the same way so you can play through normal mode, action mode, and survival mode with almost zero changes to how it plays. If you add that up instead of a 3 hour DLC now you have a 9 hour DLC. That's almost a reason to...still not play.
   
   Overall Ubisoft is starting the DLC at a sour note, and it makes me less excited for the next one. If you bought the gold edition then you have already played it. For those of you who haven't seriously skip this and save your money. It is worth nothing I can't say it enough. I say it is SOME OLE ****… Expand

   • 4 of 6 users found this helpful

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