Far Cry 5’s DLC Lost On Mars is like a whole new game

Far Cry 5 may have run the gamut on its reviews (we loved it), but one thing’s for sure – the DLC for the title is unlike most games’ offerings. In the first one, Hours of Darkness, players were transported back into the Vietnam War. It was a solid side story, which lasted a good amount of time and offered a unique take on the FC formula. But its second DLC, Lost On Mars, is something else altogether. You play as the pilot, Nick Rye, sucked up onto the titular planet by Good Ol’ Boy Hurk – he’s there because he told a sentient AI from Mars that he was Earth’s Mightiest Warrior… because he thought the AI would then have sex with him. Yes, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. Lost On Mars is a cross between Far Cry, Borderlands, and a bit of Metroid, and it’s awesome.

Yes, that’s Hurk’s floating head.

Lost On Mars is basically a hybrid between Far Cry, Metroid, and Borderlands. It’s a wonderful mix, and though the consequences of failure are great (the damnation and invasion of Earth), the characters, including the AI, never seem to take things very seriously. Ubisoft clearly knew the DLC was goofy as a premise and just went with it. It’s like a B-Grade SyFy network movie and it’s lovable because of this, not in spite of it. It also does some classic “Tremors” takes, in so much that you can’t walk on the bare sand of Mars or the spider-like monsters will hear you and spring up on you. There are plenty scattered about the surface of the planet too, so it’s not just those underground you have to contend with.

Throughout the Mars adventure, there’s a Triforce-esque collection quest too – only instead of Hyrule’s magical talisman, you’re collecting Hurk’s body parts for him. Because without them, he’ll be trapped as a floating head forever. Yeah, like I said – it’s ridiculous and it owns it.

Hurk wears his heart on his butt.

Along the way, you’ll collect the Mars version of money, and unlock new and better technologies to make life easier on the planet. I won’t spoil the ending, but things get more and more outlandish before the end and eventual return of Nick Rye to his wife and newborn daughter. You’ll also get the Brobot, among others, as a companion to follow you around and help you out. Brobot is, as you guessed, the literal consciousness of Hurk put inside of a floating gun-wielding American-painted robot.

If you’ve loved the gameplay of Far Cry 5 so far, and would like to see it in other locations than Montana (or the Vietnam jungle), then Far Cry 5 is for you. It gives it back a little bit of that Blood Dragon flair, though it’s admittedly not as bold as what eventually became a standalone game. Still, “Far Cry In Space” is an awesome idea, and one I’d love to see done proper. Much like the amazing Far Cry Primal, I’d take a real “Far Cry Mars” to see what the lads and lasses at Ubisoft could do with the premise.