Ghost Recon's 25th Anniversary Celebration Brought Us Mainly a New Major Update for Wildlands

It's hard not to describe this as a missed opportunity

This past weekend, Ubisoft celebrated the 25th anniversary of Ghost Recon, one of the company's strongest franchises. Personally, I came to this celebration with high expectations that we'd finally get the reveal of the new game in the series we've been hearing about for quite some time under the name Project OVR. Unfortunately, my hopes didn't materialize when the event, which ran for over an hour and a half, focused primarily on a new update that Ghost Recon Wildlands is set to receive. Yes, the surprise was ruined for Ubisoft a few days before the event, and the 9-year-old game is getting new content as part of a free update called Last Rites.

So what's new in Last Rites? On the technical side, we're seeing 4K support and 60FPS along with various graphical improvements. The update's content is actually more interesting, as we're getting a new mission that will follow a new villain named La Llorana. According to the game's director, Llorana is on his way "to redemption" as he embarks on a revenge campaign against the cartels, the CIA, and La Unidad. Beyond that, we're getting a comeback of the Predator mission. Originally, the mission was added to the game in 2017 but was removed in 2020 when the license to use the brand expired. If you care about cosmetic items, you'll be happy to hear that Last Rites will add quite a few of them, including ones that were available for limited times in the past, alongside several customization options for gameplay in PvE mode, such as changing the time of day, Friendly Fire settings, and more.

But maybe hope for the next game isn't lost yet? Ubisoft confirmed that a new game is in development and revealed a new program that players can sign up for right now to be part of testing phases for the game "and help shape it." The good news is that we've finally received official confirmation for the next game coming sometime, the bad news is that we have no information about it at all except for a statement that it remains true to the core of Ghost Recon with large-scale operations, a blend of action and tactics, and military authenticity. And as a sweetener, Ubisoft also announced that Ghost Recon Future Soldier is available for free until August 13th. The offer is only available for PC through Ubisoft Connect, and whoever "purchases" the game will be able to play it whenever they want. Additionally, there are massive 95% discounts on Ghost Recon games through the end of the weekend, so if you've always wanted to try the games, now is the cheapest time to do so.