It's not the fact that you're revisiting Hope County, but rather how New Dawn sets up the pins. That sense of freedom has been diminished, however. New Dawn is a more concise game-the map is smaller than Far Cry 5 and there's less curated content to discover this time around-but the emphasis is still on staying out in the world and soaking up the environment. Earning perk points to improve your abilities is tied to your discovery of hidden caches and diversifying the activities you undertake. While main missions are mapped out for you, the discovery of side activities like enemy outposts, treasure hunts (formerly prepper stashes), and companion recruitment missions mostly comes from your own organic exploration. New Dawn features the same kind of forward-thinking approach to open-world exploration and progression as Far Cry 5.

That's Far Cry: New Dawn-despite a few new novelties and a great mechanical twist, New Dawn feels exactly like what it is: a direct continuation of Far Cry 5. Everything feels new and different-well, except for that fact that there's ruthless, tyrannical oppression taking over everything and it's up to you, and basically only you, to stop it.

The vegetation is more abundant, society has been reshaped, and there is a hell of a lot more duct tape everywhere. Seventeen years later, the region and residents of Hope County have endured and mostly recovered from the devastation anew.

Spoiler alert: At the end of Far Cry 5, the United States gets nuked.

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