Tourism group harnesses Far Cry video game to attract visitors to southwest Montana

A man is running through a field, out of breath and seemingly panicked. The camera pointed at his face cuts in and out of static as he says something about Hope County, Montana, and mutters, “They’re real. … Eden’s Gate is here.”

This is how the first 30 seconds of “Inside Eden’s Gate,” a short-action film created by Ubisoft, a French video game company, starts. The film was a teaser and live-action version of the company’s “Far Cry 5” game, which is set in fictional Hope County, Montana, and centered on a religious cult responsible for forcefully taking over the county, as has been previously reported in the Missoulian.

“Whenever we can get someone to come here, chances are they will return because they love it,” said Sarah Bannon, executive director of Southwest Montana, an organization that provides regional tourism information.