DLC Special: Far Cry 5 – Hours of Darkness – For its games, Ubisoft almost always releases downloadable content that is in line with the original game. You would expect that with Far Cry 5, but for this game the developer takes a different route. With the basic gameplay you’re used to from the franchise, you get three separate adventures that take place in Vietnam, on Mars and against zombies. The first adventure – Hours of Darkness – is available from tomorrow and we travel to Vietnam where we have to survive.
From A to B
The situation in Hours of Darkness is that you are sent on a mission with your team, but that does not end well. The helicopter where you are in is under heavy fire and to make matters worse you crash down. You survive it together with a colleague, but the enemies have caught you. After this introduction the adventure starts in a bamboo cell where you are trapped and in front of you your colleague is executed. A bad thing, but an air strike causes the enemies to be killed and you barely escaped and that is when you get control over Wendell “Red” Redler.
He sneaks to the crashed helicopter and knows the get radio that enables him to contact his colleagues. They tell him he has to go to a certain point where he will be picked up. That point is not around the corner, but on the other side of the map and thus you start a tough journey through the jungle of Vietnam. You can choose to walk directly to the end point and ignore the rest. At that endpoint you will be presented with some goals, such as turning off enemies, collecting documents and more, but it does not really matter. Once you have fulfilled all these assignments, you will be picked up and the mission will be completed.
Save your measurements
The trip through the jungle of Vietnam will lead you through all sorts of settlements and although you can skip everything, it is up to you recommend to take a look. These settlements often have something you have to do. This varies from propaganda speakers to breaking down a commander and from rescuing prisoners to blowing up guns. There are also three prisoners of war that you can liberate and if you have done so, these soldiers will join you as a buddy. They will help you in the battles that are coming, but pay attention. If they go down you have to revive them quickly, because if you are not on time they will die. Once dead, you will not get that buddy back.
What is also advisable is the disabling of the guns. They ensure that jet fighters can not get close and you therefore only stand for it. If you have turned off the guns, however, it is safe for the hunters to support you. Every time you complete an objective, you get a token with which you can invoke a jet fighter for dropping a bomb. Pretty handy when you approach a base full of enemies. You pick up your binoculars, point to the point where the bomb should fall and a few seconds later a hunter comes by who drops a big bomb, resulting in fewer enemies you have to face.
DLC Special: Far Cry 5 – Hours of Darkness – A nice walk
If you go straight to the goal, you can be finished with an hour. The expansion is not that long, but the goal is of course to tackle all the things that you encounter along the way. Do you do everything the expansion has to offer? Then you will soon be busy about three o’clock and it is fun enough to do everything. After finishing, you also unlock two new options to continue the DLC. The first option is ‘Overlever’, where you have less health and more resistance. The other option is ’80s action hero’ and that gives you more freedom in the weapons that you can take with you (read: more guns and fighter tokens). They are two nice extras, but it does not add very much.
The gameplay remains mostly the same, only the challenge increases or decreases, depending on the mode you have chosen. If you are a fanatic Trophy hunter, then you will use these extra options, as Trophies are connected to this. If you do not care about that, you will be ready with this extension after three to four hours. One of the reasons that it has that playing time is that vehicles are pretty scarce. So you are mainly running a lot and that stretches the playing time just a bit. Walking through Vietnam is not a punishment, because it is a pleasant world to be in. Typical bamboo settlements you come across, here and there you will find wild animals, as well as ruined areas through napalm and of course you will encounter patrols that can bother you.
Conclusion 0f DLC Special: Far Cry 5 – Hours of Darkness
The first extension for Far Cry 5 brings us to Vietnam for an independent adventure. The whole adventure is quite fun to play and the three to four hours it takes you will not get bored. However, we can not deny that it feels a bit redundant, because there is hardly any question of a story – apart from the introduction. You can go straight to your goal and then you will be ready in an hour. The world is beautifully designed and the action is familiar and entertaining, but it is not all that special. If you are a die-hard fan, then it’s a nice change from Far Cry 5 in a somewhat limited form, but you do not miss much if you decide to skip it.
