Far Cry 5 is free to play this weekend once again

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

I like Far Cry 5 for a couple of reasons. For one, it's the game Ubisoft used to brutally own James, an incident that I will never get tired of mentioning every time Far Cry 5 comes up. (Sorry James.) It's also a really good sandbox shooter, not quite up to its early potential but still interesting enough to bring me back to the series after skipping 3, 4, and Primal. It's big, sprawling, and silly; if you get tired of the story about rampaging cultists and preppers, you can just pile into a jacked-up shitbox with Hurk and a rocket launcher and spend your day bombing around the back roads.

If you haven't tried it yet, this weekend is your big chance to see what you're missing, as the Hope County showdown will be fully free to play. Any progress you make in the game will carry over should you choose to purchase it, and to that end it's also on sale for 75 percent off the standard and Gold editions—that's $15 and $22.50 respectively. The Complete and Ultimate Editions, which include the semi-sequel Far Cry: New Dawn, are also on sale, as are the season pass and individual DLCs.

The Far Cry 5 free weekend will begin at 6 am PT/9 am ET on May 29, and come to an end at 1 pm PT/4 pm on May 31. Preloading is live now at ubisoft.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.