Finally, we’ve had our first look at Far Cry 5, and it looks bonkers. Set in Montana with a crazy cult militia as the bad guys, we’ll be heading into territory much closer to home than most Americans are used to.

But as the sixth game (don’t forget Primal) in the series, what is Far Cry 5 doing that sets it apart from the rest? Based on my preview late last week, a chat with creative director Dan Hay, and from scrutinizing every bit of media released so far, here’s everything we know about Far Cry 5 so far.

It’s set in a fictional county in Western Montana

Which is also where I grew up! Expect mountains, rivers, and fly-fishing. And bears! There are bears there. I doubt we’ll be able to befriend and ride them like in Far Cry: Primal, but my Uncle Rod tells me stories...

The bad guys are crazy cultists this time around

And they’re led by this wacky family. Joseph is the ‘Father’, though I think the name is just symbolism considering he doesn’t look much older than the rest of the bunch. Jacob is the oldest, John is the youngest, and Faith is the half-sister. We don’t know much about them yet, but chances are, they’re a bit off the wall.

You get to customize your character, a Deputy Sheriff

How this deputy Sheriff ends up at odds with the cult and to what extent you can customize them is uncertain. We know you can pick a gender, but not much else. Don’t expect anything as deep as Black Desert Online. It’s a first-person game after all, and you’ll spend most of your time in other people’s faces while they espouse their wacky virtues. I’ll hold out hope for a deep fingernail polish menu though.

You’ll be partnering with some bizarre characters

There’s a preacher that hides a gun in his bible, a guy that looks like someone I went to highschool with attaching a minigun to a crop duster, and a nostalgic bartender hungry for revenge. Just regular Montanans.

You can drive (and shoot out of) tractors

Vehicles are likely to be a big deal in Far Cry 5. Montana may be big, but it’s dotted with small towns from tip to toe and cars are necessary for getting around. I imagine we’ll see a variety of trucks and old beater sports cars. We’ll also be getting the aforementioned planes with miniguns attached to the bottom, which sound rad. Motorcycles, four-wheelers, and boats aren’t confirmed, but I’d be surprised if they weren’t included. I knew people nearly raised on the damn things.

Hunting returns and fishing debuts

Expect to hunt again. It’s a Far Cry game, and without weird upgrade trees, it wouldn’t feel right. That said, we don’t know the specific uses we’ll make of animal skins other than that they’ll be in the game and that you can, indeed, shoot them with guns. Same goes for fish! OK, so we don’t know if you can shoot the fish (my friend David used to do it with a recurve bow), and we don’t know if you’ll get a fly-rod to take on whatever river runs through Far Cry 5, but we know you can kill fish and turn their carcasses into something useful. How you get the fish out of the water and make them dead is a mystery.

Melee weapons are back

In the trailer, the player makes creative use of a pitchfork and sledgehammer to take out some cultists. After featuring so heavily in Far Cry Primal, it makes sense that the melee system returns for Far Cry 5. What blunt instruments does Montana have waiting for us, I wonder?

You can hire dogs to steal guns

It’s not clear to what degree you’ll be teaming up with animals this time around, but we do know that you can hire dogs to work for you. And that those dogs are capable of stealing guns. Incredible news, really.

You can hire people to shoot guns

I’m not sure how the system will work, but you’ll be able to recruit your own militia to fight back against cultists. Don’t get it confused with Far Cry 2’s buddy system, where you could bring distinct characters into battle. In Far Cry 5, you’ll be able to hire folks to fight alongside you. It implies a step away from stealth and towards small scale conflict.

There is a bar called Spread Eagle in it

There is a bar called Spread Eagle in it.