The more I look into the lore and inspirations of this game, the more fascinating and layered I personally find it. This is, without a doubt, my favorite Far Cry game.

The only potential "negative" is that you will only get the most out of the characters and setting by purchasing two other Far Cry games (those being New Dawn and Far Cry 6 - specifically the Collapse DLC). Personally, however, the investment was well worth it for me, and playing back through after playing those secondary games has given me a new and deeper appreciation for the characters (if you do go play the Collapse DLC after reading this, play it through mind level 5 to get a secret ending that is a real gut punch for Joseph's character).

Also, it is nice and sort of refreshing to see a game actually tackling the sort of religious fundamentalism that is really strikingly unique to the US, and to do so in a way that highlights the exclusionary hypocrisy of US-centric religious extremist rhetoric while still managing to show positive interpretations of faith.

Oh, and you can pet all the dogs that aren't hostile. 10/10 very good dog petting simulator.