Ubisoft is marking 25 years of the Ghost Recon franchise by letting PC players claim Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier without paying anything. The tactical shooter is available at no cost through Ubisoft Connect, and the promo lasts until August 13. Once you claim it within the promotion window, the game gets stuck in your Ubisoft library permanently, not just a temporary access situation.

Originally released in 2012, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is still one of the franchise’s most recognizable chapters. It mixes third-person tactical shooting with futuristic gear and squad-driven gameplay, so it feels more like controlled chaos, if that makes sense.

Not like a free weekend or short-term trial, Ubisoft’s newest deal really lets you keep the game for good after you redeem it before the cutoff date. To claim it, players just need a Ubisoft account and the Ubisoft Connect launcher. Once redeemed, the title is added straight to your library, and you can download it later or boot it up whenever you want. Ubisoft also says the offer ends on August 13 at 8:00 UTC; after that, it goes back to the usual store pricing. This promo is only for the PC version, and it’s distributed directly inside Ubisoft Connect, no extra steps elsewhere.

Made by Ubisoft Paris with help from a bunch of other Ubisoft studios, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier puts players in control of Team Hunter, an elite special operations group armed with advanced military tech.

The game brought in several systems that separated it from earlier games, like adaptive camouflage, coordinated squad takedowns, drone recon, and beefed-up battlefield tools. The campaign sends you across different global areas while leaning on teamwork and tactical prep more than nonstop run-and-gun stuff. Even though the online multiplayer services have been stopped since then, the single-player campaign is still playable, and it holds up well.

This free giveaway is tied in with Ubisoft’s wider celebration that marks 25 years of the Ghost Recon franchise, so yeah, it’s not just one random drop.

Along with the free PC title, Ubisoft also rolled out franchise-wide discounts of up to 95% across Ghost Recon games, added a new “Last Rites” mission for Ghost Recon Wildlands, plus performance improvements, including 60 FPS support for current-generation consoles. They even opened registration for the Ghost Recon Insider Program, which is basically for selected players to help test upcoming Ghost Recon projects.

The anniversary campaign also brings free play periods for Ghost Recon Wildlands and Ghost Recon Breakpoint. This gives players a chance to revisit the more recent games, or check them out if you somehow missed them.

Ubisoft has used free game promotions quite a lot to mark franchise milestones, but handing out a full premium Ghost Recon title means longtime fans get a solid reason to jump back in, and newcomers get a first look at one of the series’ defining tactical shooters.

It also lands while Ubisoft keeps putting money and effort into where the franchise goes next. During the anniversary celebrations, the publisher confirmed there is a new Ghost Recon game in development, while at the same time refreshing support for existing titles.

And for anyone who maybe missed Ghost Recon Future Soldier back when it first released, the giveaway is a chance to return to that tactical gameplay, or try it for the first time, the kind of experience that helped shape a lot of the later Ghost Recon entries.

So Ubisoft decided to make Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier free on PC, and honestly that’s a pretty big highlight for the Ghost Recon franchise’s 25th anniversary celebrations. It’s available on Ubisoft Connect until August 13, and you can permanently add the game to your library for free, no cost at all.  

And when you stack that with the franchise discounts, some extra free updates, and a few announcements about what comes next for Ghost Recon, the whole giveaway ends up feeling like both a commemoration of the series legacy and also a kind of invitation for new people to step in and play one of Ubisoft’s longest-running tactical shooter franchises.