If You’re Just Starting Far Cry 5, Do This First

Far Cry 5 is easy to waste time in.

The opening is strong, the map looks full of things to do, and the game immediately starts throwing prepper stashes, hostage rescues, outposts, cult convoys, fishing spots, and side characters at you. If you’ve got a free weekend, fine. If you’re squeezing this into a few nights after work, you need a plan or you’ll spend your first five hours bouncing between icons and wondering why the story still feels stuck in first gear.

The good news is that Far Cry 5 is very playable if you approach it the right way. The bad news is that its structure encourages a lot of side activity that feels productive but doesn’t always move your experience forward in the best way. I’ve played enough of it to say this plainly: your early hours go better if you focus on a few systems, a few companions, and one region at a time.

If you’re just starting Far Cry 5, do not try to clear the map. Build momentum instead.

Why your first few hours matter more here than in most open-world shooters

Far Cry 5 has one of those open-world loops that can either feel efficient or really scattered depending on how you start. Every region has a resistance meter, and almost everything you do feeds it. Blow up a silo, save civilians, take an outpost, complete a story mission, destroy a cult shrine, and that meter climbs. Once it climbs enough, the game pushes you into major story beats with John Seed in Holland Valley, Faith Seed in Henbane River, or Jacob Seed in the Whitetail Mountains.

That sounds flexible, and it is, but it creates a weird pacing problem. You can trigger story progress almost accidentally while still feeling under-equipped or disconnected from the people in that region. Or you can spend too long doing low-value busywork because the map keeps offering one more small distraction.

For busy players, the goal is simple: get strong enough to have fun, unlock the right tools early, and make sure the stuff you’re doing actually improves the next session.

You want fewer restarts, less menu fiddling, and less “wait, why am I doing this again?” energy.

Start in Holland Valley and get your basics sorted

If you want the smoothest opening, start in John Seed’s region, Holland Valley. It is the best tutorial zone even after the formal intro ends. The roads are easier to navigate, the outposts are straightforward, and the tone of the missions does a better job of easing you into the game’s systems.

More importantly, the early resistance-building tasks in Holland Valley are practical. You’re not just doing story for story’s sake. You’re learning how outposts, cult property destruction, and companion support actually fit together.

Don’t overthink region order. Just start there.

What to do first in Holland Valley

• Recruit at least one strong Guns for Hire companion as soon as possible
• Take a couple of outposts early for fast travel and cash
• Do a prepper stash or two for perk magazines and useful loot
• Buy or unlock a solid rifle and a suppressor setup if you like stealth
• Start unlocking your core perks instead of spreading points everywhere

This gives you a stable base fast. That matters more than chasing every mission marker.

The early unlocks that are actually worth your time

Get Boomer early. He’s useful the entire game.

Boomer is one of the first companions you should recruit, full stop. He’s not a gimmick pet. He spots enemies, animals, and vehicles, which makes stealth easier and cuts down on the annoying scan-the-hillside routine the game can fall into. In outposts especially, Boomer saves time.

For a first-time player, that’s huge. He makes the whole map more readable.

If you like a slower, sneakier style, he’s probably your best early partner. If you just want chaos, switch later. But get Boomer first.

Nick Rye is worth it if you enjoy air support

Nick Rye is a good early-medium term unlock because the plane support is genuinely helpful when you’re clearing roadblocks, chasing convoys, or just trying to cross a region without getting bogged down in every roadside fight. That said, this is only worth prioritizing if you like using aircraft. If flying annoys you, don’t force it.

Far Cry 5 wants you to engage with planes and helicopters more than some players really want to. You can do that. You don’t have to make it your personality.

Take outposts early, but don’t obsess over perfect stealth

Outposts are still one of the best uses of your time because they give you cash, resistance points, and fast travel. They also break up travel in a useful way. If an outpost is near where you’re headed, do it.

But don’t waste 25 minutes resetting an outpost because one cultist spotted a body. The no-alarms and stealth bonuses are nice, not essential. If you can clear it cleanly, great. If things go loud, finish the job and move on.

That is the better use of an adult evening.

Prepper stashes are better than random errands

If you’re choosing between a prepper stash and a generic roadside distraction, do the stash. Prepper stashes usually give you perk magazines, cash, and a short environmental puzzle or traversal setup that feels more distinct than another random fight with peggies on a road.

They also tend to be compact. That’s important. A stash can feel complete in one sitting. A chain of open-world interruptions usually doesn’t.

Not every stash is amazing, but as a category they are one of the best early-game activities.

Buy utility, not novelty

You do not need a giant stable of weapons in the first few hours. You need reliable coverage.

A good early loadout is simple: a rifle or assault rifle for general use, a sidearm you actually like, and either a bow or a sniper rifle depending on whether you prefer stealth flexibility or safer ranged picks. Add explosives when you can, because cult vehicles show up a lot.

Don’t burn cash on stuff that looks funny unless you know you’ll use it. Far Cry 5 has plenty of novelty weapons and goofy options, but early money is better spent on weapons that solve problems quickly and on attachments that make your preferred style easier.

The perk picks that save the most time

The perk system can become a mess if you treat every point as equally valuable. They aren’t.

For your first few hours, prioritize perks that reduce friction. Extra holster slots are worth it because weapon flexibility matters in this game. Carry capacity upgrades are useful because crafting and loot pickup happen constantly. More health can help, but I wouldn’t rush pure survivability over quality-of-life unless you’re really struggling in fights.

If you’re driving and looting a lot, repair torch and utility-focused upgrades are good picks. If you’re leaning stealth, prioritize anything that supports cleaner outpost play and takedown consistency.

The broader rule is this: buy perks that improve every session, not perks that only matter in a specific edge case.

The settings I would change right away

Far Cry 5 plays better when you remove a little friction up front.

• Turn on subtitles if you’re playing in short sessions and may be distracted
• Adjust aim sensitivity before you settle in, because the default can feel floaty depending on platform
• If available on your platform, tweak aim assist to where it feels helpful, not sticky
• Lower motion blur or similar visual clutter settings if they bother you
• Check audio mix early, because radio chatter, gunfire, and companion callouts can get noisy fast

Nothing here is glamorous, but this is exactly the kind of thing that causes an unnecessary restart or a bad first impression. Fix it on night one.

What you can safely skip or deprioritize

This is where you’ll save the most time.

You do not need to clear every map icon

Far Cry 5 looks like a game that wants full map cleanup. It really doesn’t need it. Because resistance progress comes from so many sources, you’ll naturally outpace the need for completionist behavior. If you try to vacuum up every icon in a region before moving on, you’ll feel the repetition hard.

This is a game that starts strong and gets more samey the longer you insist on seeing everything.

Fishing and hunting are optional, not essential

Fishing is decent if you enjoy it. Hunting can be useful for money. Neither should be a priority for a busy first-time player unless you actively like those loops. They are not the best route to momentum, and they won’t make your main progression feel dramatically better early on.

Do them if they sound relaxing. Skip them if you’re here for the campaign and outpost rhythm.

Do not chase every random firefight on the road

One of Far Cry 5‘s biggest time sinks is the endless chain of emergent chaos. A cult truck shows up, then a plane strafes you, then a hostage event appears, then a wolverine joins the conversation for no reason. It’s funny at first. Later it starts eating sessions.

If you’re on your way to a specific mission, keep going unless the interruption is directly useful. Not every explosion is content worth your time.

Not every specialist is an urgent unlock

There are several Guns for Hire and Fangs for Hire options, and many are fun. But fun and urgent are not the same thing. Boomer is high priority. Nick Rye is conditionally worth it. The rest can wait until you know your style.

If you unlock everyone immediately, you’ll spend more time sampling than progressing.

The most efficient way to approach Far Cry 5 session by session

The best way to play this game with limited time is to set a purpose before you leave a safe point.

Pick one of these for a session:

• Advance one region story thread
• Take one or two outposts near each other
• Do two prepper stashes
• Recruit a specific companion
• Clear a route to unlock better fast travel options

That structure works because Far Cry 5 is loose enough to support it, but messy enough to punish wandering.

Also, try to stay in one region until you’ve made meaningful progress there. Constantly bouncing between Holland Valley, Henbane River, and the Whitetail Mountains makes the story feel thinner than it is and makes travel less efficient. The region arcs are already a little fragmented. Don’t make that worse on yourself.

And one more practical tip: when the resistance meter is getting close to a threshold, assume a story capture or major event is coming. Don’t start a long detour right then. Push the main activity you’re on and let the game trigger its next beat. Fighting the pacing only makes it feel clunkier.

Playing Far Cry 5 on handhelds and remote play

Far Cry 5 works better on handhelds and remote play setups than you might expect, mostly because the game breaks into clean chunks. Outposts, prepper stashes, and short resistance-building tasks are good fits for 20 to 40 minute sessions on a Steam Deck or through something like a Backbone One with remote play.

The catch is readability and aiming. Enemy spotting at medium distance matters a lot in Far Cry 5, so a smaller screen can make stealth and hillside combat a little sloppier. Boomer helps here more than usual because he reduces the need to manually scan every patch of trees.

If you’re playing handheld, lean into activities with clear boundaries. Prepper stashes are great. Outposts are great. Free-roaming across roads full of random encounters is less ideal, because that’s where the game can spiral into low-value chaos and chew through battery while not accomplishing much.

Also, if you’re remote playing, test input latency before you commit to aircraft sections. Flying is manageable, but it feels worse than on a TV or monitor, and that can turn a quick objective into an annoying one.

If You Only Have 20 Minutes, Do This

Open the map, choose the nearest outpost or prepper stash, and commit to only that.

If neither is close, push one story mission step in the region you’re already working on. Don’t spend that short session driving across the county for something that looked important from the menu.

The best 20-minute Far Cry 5 session has a clear start and finish. Capture an outpost. Finish a stash. Recruit a companion if you’re already nearby. Cash in perk magazines. Save. Done.

The worst 20-minute session is aimless travel, three random road fights, and ending farther from your actual objective than when you started.

The short version: build tools first, then follow momentum

Far Cry 5 is at its best when you’re moving with purpose. Take the game on its terms too literally and it turns into icon-chasing. Approach it like a toolbox and it becomes much easier to enjoy in limited bursts.

Start in Holland Valley. Get Boomer. Take nearby outposts. Do prepper stashes over filler activities. Buy practical weapons and perks. Stay focused on one region at a time. Ignore the urge to answer every explosion.

If you do that, your first few hours will feel sharp instead of scattered, and you won’t hit that common midgame problem where the map is huge, the story feels oddly thin, and you can’t remember what actually mattered.

Far Cry 5 has plenty of fluff. You do not need to eat all of it to have a good time.