'Far Cry 5' Protagonist: Ubisoft lets you choose the main character's sex and race

Ubisoft blew the lid off of Far Cry 5 today, revealing that the next game in the open-world shooter series is about right wing extremists in Montana. When I saw the game at an event a couple of weeks ago, they didn't say anything about who you actually play as. Thankfully, Kotaku's Stephen Totilo asked the question.

Far Cry 5 main character: Choose your own your sex and race

Creative Director Dan Hay confirmed to Kotaku that players will be able to choose to play as a man or a woman and choose their skin color. This is a series first, as every other Far Cry game put you in the shoes of generic video game dudes, save for Far Cry 2. That one had nine playable characters to choose from, but all of them were men — there were also a few female characters, but you couldn't actually play as them in the game.

Regardless of what your Far Cry 5 protagonist looks like, they will have the same backstory: a new junior deputy on Hope County, Montana's police force. Hay told Kotaku that your reason for coming to Hope County is a secret, but there's no indication that will change based on your character's appearance.

Hay also didn't say one way or another if your sex and race choices will affect other parts of the game. Mafia III's enemies and random civilians would be rude to black protagonist Lincoln Clay at best or yell slurs at him at worst. Maybe Far Cry 5, given its premise, would do something like that, but we'll have to wait and see. 

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