**Far Cry 3 endgame guide: Hoyt's poker game, Riley's rescue and both endings**
**Full ending spoilers.** This covers Aced in the Hole, Betting Against the House, The Doctor Is Out and Hard Choices.
Restock before accepting Hoyt's poker invitation. Starting Aced in the Hole closes off ordinary free-roam activities until the ending is finished. It is a temporary commitment to the final sequence, so handle shopping and any upgrade you want for the rescue beforehand.
Keep a separate pre-finale save if your version's save options allow it. That is useful insurance if you want to revisit the final choice. Do not overwrite your only earlier save on the assumption that the ending screen will offer a convenient rewind.
**Aced in the Hole: the poker losses are scripted**
Meet Sam at Hoyt's compound and proceed to the poker game. Hoyt knows who Jason is. He kills Sam, forces the game to continue and eventually takes one of Jason's fingers before the knife confrontation.
The losing hands are part of the scene. You cannot rescue Sam by finding a clever betting strategy or winning a better hand. Let the sequence play out and keep your attention ready for the combat prompts.
During the knife fight, respond to the buttons shown on your own screen. Different platforms and control layouts make a memorized list of somebody else's inputs a poor substitute. Watch for the next prompt rather than repeatedly pressing the last one.
If you fail an input, focus on where the timing went wrong. Were you watching the animation instead of the prompt? Did you press too early? Was a controller button different from the one you expected? Fixing that specific problem is more useful than trying to attack faster throughout the entire scene.
Hoyt's death leads directly into the urgent rescue of Riley. Be ready to move when control returns.
**Betting Against the House: get out of the compound**
The journey to the airstrip begins with a **12-minute timer**. The first job is finding a safe way out of the compound, not killing every privateer still inside it.
One quieter route starts by leaving the building's front door and turning left rather than taking the main stairs. Stay low and follow the wall toward the gate. The gate is defended; use an explosive if you need to break through, then take a vehicle outside and drive to the airstrip.
Keep the distinction between necessary and optional fighting clear. An enemy blocking the vehicle or exit needs dealing with. Someone firing from a distant angle may be easier to leave behind once you have solid cover between you.
On the road, favor a controlled drive over an improvised shortcut. A crash into a tree or rock costs both time and attention, especially if you have to abandon the vehicle under fire. Follow the objective, keep moving through clear stretches and heal before a small mistake becomes fatal.
**Find Riley, then make the helicopter escape**
The travel timer stops when you reach the airfield. Use that breathing room to clear your approach rather than carrying the same panic straight into every building.
Riley is inside a building guarded by a heavy. Follow the mission marker to his door, deal with the guard and free him. Clear the route to the helicopter and follow the escape objectives.
Once airborne, Riley flies while Jason uses the mounted gun. Concentrate on threats to the helicopter, particularly rocket troops. Explosive fuel structures and vehicles can remove clustered enemies quickly, so look beyond individual soldiers when a useful target appears.
Keep sweeping the next stretch of the route while firing. The scenery is moving, which means an enemy can become dangerous before you finish staring at the place where the last truck exploded. When a hostile helicopter enters the fight, keep fire on it until it is actually destroyed.
A few habits make the turret section easier to read:
- Track a target through a burst instead of dragging the sights randomly across the whole screen.
- Move to the next threat once the current one is destroyed.
- Listen to the dialogue and watch the objective cues when the route slows or changes.
- If a retry is needed, remember the direction of the attack that caused trouble. That gives you a useful head start without requiring an exact script for every enemy.
**The Doctor Is Out: return to Earnhardt's house**
The return to Earnhardt's burning home reveals that Jason's friends have been taken to Citra's temple. Follow the story onward with Riley. There is no additional open-world shopping break to plan around here; this remains part of the finale.
By this point, the physical rescue has exposed the larger problem. Jason has become extremely good at fighting his way through the island, while the people waiting to go home have become increasingly distant from the identity he is building there.
**Hard Choices: what each option actually does**
The final decision asks Jason to save his friends or join Citra.
**Save your friends:** Jason cuts Liza free and rejects further bloodshed. Dennis attacks him, Citra intervenes and receives the fatal wound. Jason's final reflection recognizes the violence he has committed while leaving room for the possibility that he can be more than it.
**Join Citra:** Jason kills Liza and gives up his friends. After their sexual encounter, Citra kills Jason as part of her plan for a child she believes will become the perfect warrior. Choosing her does not lead to a lasting life together on the island.
Make the selection with those consequences in mind. If your aim is to bring the captured group home, choose to save them. If you want to see the darker conclusion to Jason's fixation on becoming Citra's warrior, the other choice shows where that path ends.
The story finishes, then ordinary island play becomes available again. Treat that return as the game's opportunity to finish remaining activities. It does not undo what the ending you selected just showed.
**Far Cry 3 endgame guide: Hoyt's poker game, Riley's rescue and both endings**
· Games / Far Cry 3