Ghost Recon: Breakpoint now has a free trial edition and Friend Pass

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint looked like it was going to really good: It built on Ghost Recon: Wildlands, which is really good, it had Jon Bernthal, and it even had Jon Bernthal's dog. And then it came out, and it really was not. Ubisoft took a stab at fixing it but realized in short order that more drastic measures were required, so in October 2019 it committed to a significant overhaul that it said would deliver a "more radical and immersive version" of the game.

After a bit of a delay, that more immersive mode, called Ghost Experience, arrived last week, along with a free weekend that ended today. It must have gone reasonably well, as Ubisoft seems eager to continue showing it off: Today it unveiled a new Friend Pass that will enable people who own the game to play online with up to three friends who don't, as well as an ongoing trial period that grants full access to everyone for six hours.

In order to take advantage of the Friend Pass, you'll need to install the Ghost Recon Breakpoint trial, through the Epic Games Store (although it's not listed there just yet) or the Ubisoft Store. That will enable you to connect with owners in order to play online, and will also grant six hours of solo play. The timer only counts playtime, so you can hop in and out as you like until you hit the cumulative limit, and playing through the Friend Pass also doesn't count against it—you can play your face offline and still have the full six hours to go solo.

Unlike the Friend Pass, the trial mode will be a permanent thing. The only catch is that the free weekend that just finished up does count against it, so if you sunk more than six hours into the weekend freebie, you won't get any more solo play through this trial edition. You can still use it for Friend Pass play, though.

TOPICS

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.