Fans of squad-based games with Tom Clancy’s name printed all over them rejoice, because Ghost Recon is returning – and it’s gone full Ubisoft and got itself an open-world setting and everything. But when is the Ghost Recon Wildlands release date? What can you expect the gameplay to be like? And will your PC meet its system requirements? We’ve created this helpful guide to keep you well informed on all things Ghost Recon ahead of its release.
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It’s been four years – 2014’s free-to-play Ghost Recon Phantoms aside – since the last major installment in this tactical third-person shooter franchise. While some developers spend that time refining and upgrading, Ubisoft Paris have chosen to overhaul some of the core features of Ghost Recon with Wildlands, bringing an open-world setting, RPG character customisation options and side missions to the series. Wildlands is also set to bring the franchise back to the present day, dropping the futuristic setting of recent titles for one more similar to the original 2001 game.
Details on the narrative of Wildlands are still not concrete. What we do know is that players will, as ever, take control of an elite unit of soldiers, this time sent to Bolivia with the general task of stopping baddies from selling illegal drugs to other baddies, saving the world in the progress.
Ghost Recon Wildlands release date
Ghost Recon Wildlands will release March 7, 2017. After a year of guessing games, the date was finally announced at Ubisoft’s E3 2016 show, along with a wealth of new information about the game. You can see the full mission they demoed in the video below. For full release times, check that link.
Ghost Recon Wildlands gameplay
The above video from E3 2016 gives you a great sense of how Wildland’s open world approach will work, showcasing a mission played in co-op.
The leap to an open world marks a massive departure for the Ghost Recon series. Gone are the narrative-driven missions of the past, replaced by side quests, greater player freedom and a whole heap of running helpless villagers over, GTA-style. It’s also one of Ubisoft’s most ambitious open-worlds to date, with a full day/night cycle, unscripted AI and nine types of terrain among its sandbox bragging rights.
That shift in setting will most likely translate to gameplay that’s a little more forgiving and a lot more fun. The tactical shooter elements Ghost Recon is known for appear to still be there, but they’re dialed down dramatically. Likewise the chronological step backwards for the series is also bound to limit the options for bonkers tech, though drones will remain a mainstay.
Ghost Recon Wildlands trailers
If you want to get right into the meat and bones of Ghost Recon Wildlands, your best bet is the Accolades trailer. It’s brimming with gameplay snippets, which makes it a brilliantly concise showcase of what you’ll actually be doing when you finally get your hands on the game. There’s a bit of showboating about how well received the game was at E3 though, so hopefully you can stomach that.
If you’d like some narrative with your squad-based tactical gameplay then the initial E3 2015 Reveal trailer provides both story and gameplay by the bucket-load in order to sufficiently whet your appetite. Be warned though, it also features far too much broody monologuing.
This trailer is all about the music of Wildlands, created while the musicians were watching the game on-screen and reacting to the action. Watching footage of the open-world landscape, battles and more, they put together different sounds to fit the mood, from sorrowful strings to upbeat action.
The more recent Mission Briefing trailer concerns the premise, explaining your squad goals, so to speak. It also allows us a view of the game’s larger structure, showing off the fact that you’re free to tackle targets in any order – and take them out however you want.
There’s also the We Are Ghosts trailer released just before E3 2016, with a slightly more serious tone. It doesn’t show any real gameplay, but does give further glimpses of the diving out of planes and killing druglords you’ll get up to.
Ghost Recon Wildlands beta
With a massive world comes a massive need for testing. The first closedbeta ran between February 3 to 6, and a second, open beta is due to run before the game launches on March 7.
The closed beta took place in Itacua, one of the many provinces you’ll be able to explore in the final game, and the closed beta will offer an even larger chunk of the open-world with an additional province.
Ghost Recon Wildlands system requirements
Nvidia have released the minimum and recommended specs for Wildlands. As expected, they’re practically identical to Ubisoft’s previous open-world Tom Clancy game; The Division. Both feature richly detailed environments and plenty of shooting. If you ran The Division perfectly, you’ll likely have no issue here. Since it’s Nvidia that have spilled the beans the suggested cards are GeForce, so consider the competing card if you’re an AMD user.
MINIMUM
- OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
- CPU: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-4320 @ 4 GHz or equivalent
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660/GTX 750Ti/GTX 950/GTX 1050 or AMD HD 7870/R9 270X/R9 370X/RX 460 (2GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
- RAM: 6GB
- Resolution: 720p
- Video Preset: Low
Tom Clancy himself would (probably) suggest the following settings:
RECOMMENDED
- OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4 GHz
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970/GTX 1060 or AMD R9 290X/R9 390/RX 480 (4GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)
- RAM: 8GB
- Resolution: 1080p
- Video Preset: High
Ghost Recon Wildlands multiplayer
Wildlands will also feature a strong emphasis on multiplayer, with up to three players able to join you on your cartel-slaying crusade in Bolivia – on and off missions. Keeping your friends coordinated won’t be easy, but fortunately if you’re playing alone you’ll be able to command your squad with a series of commands. The E3 2015 trailer also confirmed that missions and objectives could be completed from a number of different approaches, from night-time stealthing to guns-blazing mayhem.
Ghost Recon Wildlands season pass
The existence of a season pass for the next Ghost Recon has been revealed via pre-orders, and a vague chart detailing what it contains can be found on the official Wildlands site. There will be two ‘expansions’ to the game, but exactly what they will feature, or when they will be released, isn’t known. The norm would have them be one smaller, one larger, released over the course of the year, and based on pre-order pricing it seems like the season pass on its own will be $30 / £25.
Ghost Recon Wildlands pre-orders and price
Pre-orders for Ghost Recon are now available. There are four separate versions of the game available on uPlay, and they break down like this in the UK:
- Standard – Just the game for £39.99. A physical version will set you back £49.99.
- Deluxe – Includes the digital deluxe pack, which comes with a series of Huntsman in-game items. Also £39.99.
- Gold – Includes the digital deluxe pack plus the season pass. £64.99. There is also a physical version for £69.99.
- Collector’s Edition – see below. £114.99, not available as a download.
In the US, things are slightly different, including a wholly seperate collector’s edition that looks like this:
The standard version of that will set you back $119.99, while a Deluxe will be $129.99 and a Gold goes for $159.99. This corresponds to the standard, deluxe and gold versions of the base game, which are $59.99 / $69.99 / $99.99. They come with the same benefits detailed above.
Pre-ordering at all will give you access to The Peruvian Connection, a bonus mission “in which you will embark on a perilous journey through the high mountains of Bolivia to break the alliance between the Santa Blanca and the Peruvian Cartels.”
That’s all we know for now Ghost Recon Wildlands. As soon as our reconnaissance operatives pick up some more information on the game we’ll be updating this page, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you’re looking forward to giving drug cartels a good hiding, let us know in the comments below.