I’ve seen a lot of reviews from gaming magazines and pundits complaining about the ‘soft’ story of FarCry 5. Generally the complaints are that the game doesn’t take a political stance, specifically that it doesn’t paint the cult as extreme right wing outright. And the other most common complaint is that the cult includes all races and also women. Several outlets have complained outright that the story is ‘soft’ and attempts to be ‘inoffensive’ because the cult isn’t white supremesist and sexist. As if all extremist religious cults must be those things. As an American, where fundamentalist christianity is common (not saying it’s a cult, just saying that the terminology and certain stances used in game strike home for people familiar with the terminology and stances of American Christianity.) the story, especially the beginning, was very creepy and unnerving. It was really enjoyable in that aspect for me. But I think it is also obvious that the cult is heavily based on the People’s Temple cult, which if you’re familiar with the events of Jonestown, you know what I’m talking about. The name of the cult in game even borrows slightly from the name the cult in Jonestown used, ‘The People’s Temple Agricultural Project’. This cult buys up an entire county, is pro racial equality, believes in a coming cataclysm, and are ultimatly drugged under duress of their leader. Even a senator was in on jones town which may be hinted at when the dispatcher in the chopper after the crash turns out to be a cultist (gov infiltration). Sounds a lot like the cult in game doesn’t it? I think the Dev did well in choosing this as their basis of the cult, probubly mixed with a bit of the Branch Davidians, because instead of trying to stay that all cults are supremesist, or sexist, or right wing (Jonestown was left wing, Branch Davidians right wing, so a mixture of both for the in game cult to bring them centrist) it try’s to show that anyone can be lured into a cult and made to do crazy things under pressure. Sure they didn’t focus on how cults usually lure in their members by praying on individual issues and promising a solution, but the Dev needed a LOT of cultists to make the game work. Which is why they went with the overreaching fear of a catastrophe with the leader offering protection (like in Jonestown and Waco). The fear of this was rife in the county which is evidenced by the shear number of bunkers and stashes throughout the game. And that’s what the leader latched onto. I think this approach makes the game hit closer to home for all players, not just a select group. That’s my thoughts on it anyhow.