The newest update for for Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is coming soon, and it looks like it could very well be gearing us all up for an impending sequel for the open world tactical shooter.
The 2017 game is getting a set of two new story missions called Operation Oracle, starring the excellent Jon Bernthal as one of the game’s Ghosts.You’ll probably know Bernthal best as the Punisher from Netflix’s Marvel shows, of course.
Operation Oracle will be added to Ghost Recon Wildlands tomorrow (May 2), and even if you don’t own the game you’ll be able to play through these new missions thanks to an upcoming free weekend.
Ubisoft says Oracle will begin as a rescue mission for an engineer being held hostage by Unidad, but things soon take a turn for the worse as Bernthal’s character joins the fray as Cole D. Walker, “a Ghost Team Leader on the hunt for the truth.”
Interestingly, a post on the game’s official site invites players to really dive into these new missions, as “what you will discover here might very well set the scene for the future.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds very much to me like a studio teasing a sequel.
As others have pointed out, Bernthal is an incredibly popular actor and he hasn’t exactly found himself out of work since Netflix shamefully cancelled The Punisher. As such, it’d be a weird move for Ubisoft to bring him for little more than a couple of free story missions.
If you’re interested, the free weekend starts at 3pm on May 2 and ends at 6pm on May 6 (UK time). Yes, that is more than a weekend. Don’t complain, just take the freebie and run.
The free weekend offers unlimited access to the base game, including single-player and online co-op. Any progress made will carry over to the full version, and the it’ll be available to buy at 70 percent off until May 13.
A popular star, a free weekend, a major discount, and talk of the future? It sounds very much to me like Ubisoft is indeed very cleverly setting the scene for a sequel reveal by drumming up new interest in the two year old game.
I’d imagine if we do see a sequel formally announced, it’ll be at E3 2019. Then again, there’s a chance Ubisoft could drop the reveal on whoever finishes the Operation Oracle content. Either way, we won’t have long to wait.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.