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If Ubisoft were to give another one of its franchises a bit of a break and a slight reboot, the Far Cry series has to be a prime candidate. Despite entry numbers three and four being fairly high in quality, they followed the Ubisoft open world formula to a tee, with only a radical setting change being the main differentiator. If you were hoping that Far Cry 5 would dramatically change those blueprints, you may want to look elsewhere.

An expanded version of the E3 2017 on-stage demo opens with a teammate selection, and it’s this that will have the most dramatic effect on your liberation of the town that stands between you and a little bit of freedom: Falls End. As you choose to either assault the settlement all guns blazing or stealthily pick off targets, Nick Rye can aid you from the air with a plane that will drop bombs on targets, Grace can pick enemies off from a distance with her sniper rifle, and Boomer patrols the battlefield for ammo like any man’s best friend should.

Upon taking the fort, the zone becomes a home base with new characters to interact with, more quests to take part in, and shops to upgrade your loadout. Missions undertaken here lead to another encampment takeover and conclude with a flight in Nick Rye’s very own plane as you hunt down enemy silos. It’s a fairly fun series of missions that stay true to the Far Cry mythos, but series improvements are mostly found off the beaten path.

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Fishing is one new addition, with the ability to cast a line restrained to certain bodies of water within Hope County. This will surely funnel into the crafting upgrades that have become a staple of the franchise, along with road signs that give you an idea of what wildlife can be found in the immediate area.

One of Far Cry 5’s sticking points is of course its political and racial undertones, but we’re yet to see any hard evidence that this will amalgamate into something meaningful. The game’s debut trailer conveyed a world full of unrest, with the father figure at the top trying to forge a better future for his people in a community cut off from the rest of the world, but this vibe only went so far in ours hands on time. Words like “sinner” and “sloth” can be found gratified throughout the environment alongside phrases such as “The father is a lie”, and enemy reinforcements will fly the flag of the father, but that’s as far as it went. Let’s hope Ubisoft are holding this side of the game back so we can experience it in full for ourselves next year.

For what seems like the series’ biggest switch up in five years, this fifth entry on the whole feels like more Far Cry. Indeed there are welcome enhancements in the form of the AI buddy system and more things to do in the open-world such as fishing, but at the end of the day it’ll still come down to annihilating an army of enemies. Right now, Far Cry 5 feels like more of a stronger party majority following an election than a political revolution.

Are you concerned Far Cry 5 may be playing things a little too safe? Would you like to see Ubisoft get a little controversial with the narrative, or are you hoping the publisher keeps things light? Kick back with a cold on in the comments section below.