Rural America, particularly the idyllic Midwest, is often seen as serene, picturesque, a sign of a simpler life - the perfect place to settle down. It appears developer and publisher Ubisoft thinks so, too, but for vastly different reasons. Today, Ubisoft unveiled the first teaser trailer for Far Cry 5, which confirms that the game will take place in Montana. A spooky, fictional Montana, filled with dead bodies and the sounds of humans screaming.

Posted on the Ubisoft US YouTube page, the 42-second-long teaser gives fans more than a few sneak peeks at Far Cry 5. While the footage focuses on the game's setting, the fictional Hope County in Montana, rather than actual cutscenes or gameplay, what is shown is pretty intense.

The clip opens on a thickly forested valley, reminiscent of the Wyoming wilderness seen in Campo Santo's Firewatch. A pained scream shatters the silence, and a flock of birds flee from the safety of the trees. What follows is an equally charming-at-first shot: a flowing river that would be the perfect spot for a rafting expedition, if it weren't for the dead body floating in it. The teaser then shows a man, dressed in a sweat-stained white shirt, sprinting through a field of thigh-high grass. Before he can make it to his final unknown destination, he's gunned down.

The teaser wraps up with a panning shot of a white church, its roof tiles and shutters broken in multiple places. A man is seen in the church's belfry, ringing the bell. Only he isn't using a clapper or a mallet to ring it; he's using the head of an unconscious (possibly dead) man, who sits slumped at his feet. In the background, a choir sings an eerie rendition of "Amazing Grace." The final shot welcomes fans to Hope County, Montana, and then states that a worldwide trailer for the next Far Cry game will be released on May 26.

Earlier this week, rumors swirled that Far Cry 5 will focus on a "religious cult" comprised of "Doomsday-preppers bent on furthering their cause." Hope County, Montana in Far Cry 5 will apparently feature "various and sundry small-town folks" like an "an old burn-out hippie character." And while modern-day weapons (like the gun used to shoot the field-runner) and vehicles will be seen in the game, the cult members at the center of the game will also make use of the "hilly, mountainous Montana backdrop" to inch closer to their goals, whatever those may be.

This speculation, combined with the setting-affirming teaser, also squashes the previous chatter that Far Cry 5 would have a Western theme, potentially even taking place during the height of the American Wild West in the early 19th century. Ubisoft teased the impending Far Cry 5 news a few weeks ago, in a slightly cryptic tweet shared to the franchise's account. Now that fans have been given a concrete look at the game, it certainly seems the mystery surrounding Far Cry 5 will be cleared away soon.

Source: YouTube - Ubisoft US