Far Cry 5 was huge. It was loud, chaotic, and filled with enough American flags and cultist rhetoric to make your head spin. But then Ubisoft did something weird. They released Far Cry 5 Hours of Darkness, a DLC that essentially stripped away the bloated open-world fluff and dropped us into the humid, terrifying jungles of the Vietnam War. It was a tonal whiplash. Honestly, it’s probably the most focused piece of content the franchise has seen in a decade.
You play as Wendell "Red" Redler. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he’s the same old guy you meet in Hope County who asks you to find his old lighter collection. This is his origin story. It’s gritty.
The Stealth Mechanic That Actually Works
In the main game, stealth felt like a suggestion. You could go in quiet, sure, but the moment a cougar attacked a cultist, the whole camp exploded. In Far Cry 5 Hours of Darkness, stealth is life. If you get spotted by a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) patrol, you’re basically cooked. The game introduces this "Survival Instinct" mechanic where every stealth kill grants you temporary perks. One kill makes you move faster in crouch. Two kills make you quieter. Four kills? You’re basically a ghost with auto-tagging capabilities.
It's a clever loop. It forces you to actually care about the bushes you’re hiding in. Unlike the base game’s chaotic sandbox, the jungle here feels oppressive. You aren't a god-like deputy with a pet bear; you’re a guy with a knife and a dream of not dying in a bamboo cage.
I remember the first time I tried to sprint through a village near the starting area. Bad move. The AI in this DLC seems tuned to be way more aggressive. They use the foliage. They flank. It’s not just "shoot the guy in the red shirt" anymore. You’re hunting, but you’re also very much being hunted.
✨ Don't miss: Mass Effect Andromeda Gameplay: Why It’s Actually the Best Combat in the Series
A Map That Doesn't Waste Your Time
Let’s be real: modern Ubisoft maps are a nightmare of icons. Far Cry 5 Hours of Darkness gives you a relatively small, hand-crafted slice of Vietnam. There are no radio towers to climb. There are no repetitive side quests about collecting 50 herbs for a local herbalist. Everything on the map serves the singular goal of getting to the extraction point.
You’ve got downed pilots to rescue. You’ve got AA guns to blow up so you can actually use your air strikes. You’ve got NVA commanders to take out. That’s it. It’s lean. It’s mean. It’s what DLC used to be before everything became a "live service" nightmare. The lack of a traditional leveling system means your power comes from the gear you find and the perks you maintain through your own skill. If you get detected, you lose those "Survival Instinct" perks. The stakes are real.
Why the Permadeath of Squadmates Matters
One of the coolest—and most stressful—parts of this DLC is the rescue system. You find your old squadmates, Joker, Moses, and Dusty, scattered across the map. If you rescue them, they fight alongside you. They have unique abilities. But here’s the kicker: if they die, they’re gone for the rest of the playthrough.
Actually gone.
🔗 Read more: Marvel Rivals Emma Frost X Revolution Skin: What Most People Get Wrong
No respawning at a campfire. No "wait 10 minutes for them to recover." This adds a layer of genuine tension to every firefight. I found myself body-blocking bullets for Moses because his sniping ability was too valuable to lose. It creates a narrative through gameplay that the main game’s "Guns for Hire" system lacked. In Hope County, if Boomer the dog gets shot, he just goes for a nap. In Vietnam, if your buddy dies, you feel the weight of that failure for the next three hours of gameplay.
The Visuals and the Soundscape
The atmosphere is heavy. Ubisoft’s Dunia engine always handled lighting well, but here, the way the sun filters through the canopy is genuinely stunning. It’s beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The sound design leans into this. You’ll hear the distant thud of mortar fire or the chirp of birds that suddenly goes silent when a patrol is nearby. It’s immersive in a way that the main game’s constant rock-and-roll radio stations never allowed.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Length
A common complaint you’ll see on Reddit or Steam reviews is that Far Cry 5 Hours of Darkness is too short. People say you can finish it in two hours. Well, yeah, if you run in a straight line to the end. But that’s like buying a steak and only eating the garnish.
The real value is in the "Action Movie" and "Survivor" modes that unlock after your first run. Survivor mode kills your health and inventory space, making the game a legitimate survival horror experience. Action Movie mode gives you 4 weapon slots and infinite stamina, turning you into Rambo. The DLC is designed to be played three or four times, trying different routes and different squad combinations. It’s a roguelike-lite if you squint hard enough.
💡 You might also like: Finding the Right Words That Start With Oc 5 Letters for Your Next Wordle Win
Actionable Strategy for Your First Run
If you're just starting, don't rush. Seriously. The temptation is to head straight for the extraction point, but you’ll get slaughtered by the concentrated forces near the end if you haven't cleared out some of the AA sites.
- Prioritize AA Guns: You can’t call in air strikes while these are active. Air strikes are your "get out of jail free" card when a patrol pins you down.
- Keep Your Perks: Slow down. Use the lure (the rock throw) constantly. If you lose your stealth streak, your movement speed drops, and you become a sitting duck.
- Rescue Everyone Early: The more guns you have on your side, the easier the mid-game becomes. Just remember to tell them to "wait" if you’re sneaking into a high-security camp; the AI can be a bit suicidal if left to its own devices.
- Look for Lighters: It seems like a boring collectible, but finding the lighters provides actual backstory for Wendell that makes the ending hit a bit harder.
Far Cry 5 Hours of Darkness isn't perfect. The story is told mostly through notes and environmental cues rather than cinematic cutscenes, which might bore players who need a heavy narrative hand. But as a tight, mechanically sound tactical shooter? It’s arguably the best thing Ubisoft has put out in years. It takes the "Far Cry" formula, strips away the nonsense, and leaves you with the core fantasy: one person against an entire army in a place they don't belong.
To get the most out of your experience, play it on "Hard" from the jump. The "Normal" difficulty is a bit too forgiving and allows you to ignore the stealth mechanics that make the DLC special. Once you've cleared it, jump immediately into Survivor mode to see how the game was actually meant to be played. You'll find that the smaller map size is actually a blessing, allowing for a dense, high-stakes experience that doesn't overstay its welcome.