Ghost Recon turns 25 with a free Wildlands overhaul, Future Soldier giveaway, and a new game confirmed

Ubisoft marked Ghost Recon's 25th anniversary with a livestream that delivered a major free update for Ghost Recon Wildlands, a handful of freebies across the franchise, and a brief but official confirmation that the next Ghost Recon is in development.

The headline addition is Last Rites, a standalone story mission set after Wildlands' main campaign in a darker, more oppressive Bolivia. Players hunt down La Llorona, leader of a fanatical cult called Los Penitentes, through dangerous swamps and dense forests with low visibility and limited support. Alongside the new mission, the update brings 4K resolution and 60fps gameplay to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, plus improved rendering distance, enhanced lighting and shadows. Gameplay customization gets a serious overhaul too — you can now set time of day and weather per mission, tune individual difficulty parameters like enemy damage and durability independently of the overall difficulty template, choose to run with one or two primary weapons, enable authentic reloading that penalizes emptying a mag early, and toggle optional friendly fire. Several features previously locked to Ghost Mode and PvE modes are now available broadly. The Predator mission is also back. On top of all that, Ubisoft is dropping unreleased camos, previously Mercenaries-exclusive items, and 25th anniversary cosmetics for free. Wildlands creative director Olivier Leonardi said the team wanted Last Rites to honor the community's passion over 25 years.

Wildlands launched in 2017 and remains the most fondly remembered entry in the modern Ghost Recon era — its follow-up, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, shipped in rough shape in 2019 and was poorly received at launch despite significant post-launch improvements. That history likely explains why Ubisoft chose Wildlands for the big anniversary treatment rather than Breakpoint, though Breakpoint players will get a free 25th anniversary bundle in September. Kotaku noted that Ubisoft has made a habit of going back to older titles and delivering current-gen upgrades for free, which stands in contrast to several other publishers who charge for similar patches.

Both Wildlands and Breakpoint are free to play in full until August 10, and the entire franchise is 95% off on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and Ubisoft Connect — Wildlands sits at $2.49 and Breakpoint at $3 on Steam. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier from 2012 is free to claim on Ubisoft Connect until August 13. As for the new game, live producer Irina-Gabriela Popa confirmed the team has been building it for several years and is now ready to test it with players. Ubisoft launched a Ghost Recon Insider Program at ghostrecon.com/insider, offering fans early access to a closed test and a channel to provide feedback — though no title, platforms, or release window were announced.