The next Ghost Recon game is a 100-player free-to-play shooter

The next Ghost Recon game from Ubisoft is something different: It’s a free-to-play, player-versus-player-focused first-person shooter with support for 100-plus players. It’s called Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Frontline, and it goes into testing next week in select territories.

Ubisoft Bucharest, which developed the Tom Clancy’s HAWX games and co-developed other Tom Clancy titles, is leading development of Ghost Recon Frontline. The studio aims to combine the tactical military action of the nearly 20-year-old Ghost Recon franchise and the massive engagements of the battle royale genre.

Ghost Recon Frontline will feature multiple game modes, but Ubisoft is specifically highlighting one, called Expedition, that will feature 100-plus players fighting as teams of three. Players will need to work together to complete dynamic objectives on a massive open-world map set on an island called Drakemoor, which is home to a variety of biomes.

Players won’t just be tasked with eliminating each other in Expedition, but will instead gather and protect intel. They can even interrogate downed enemies to learn the location of enemy teammates. After accomplishing their mission, they’ll fight to survive as they call in an extraction team to escape with said intel.

Image: Ubisoft Bucharest/Ubisoft

Players will have a variety of tactical tools at their disposal, and Ubisoft Bucharest says that there are different paths to victory. Players will be able to “reshape” the battlefield, calling in vehicles, auto turrets, and dynamic cover — including on-demand sniper towers — via airdrops. Frontline is “built on core Ghost Recon values,” developers said, letting players create their own solutions to solve situations.

Ghost Recon Frontline will offer a variety of player classes, known as contractors. Ubisoft hinted at three contractor types that will be available at launch: assault, which offers great sustainability in close-range fights; support, which offers protection with fortification abilities; and scout, which can recon areas to reveal and pester enemies.

Ubisoft said that other “quicker” modes are coming to Ghost Recon Frontline, as are additional contractors, as part of a planned, ongoing seasonal update model for the free-to-play game.

Image: Ubisoft Bucharest/Ubisoft

Ghost Recon Frontline does not have an announced release date, but players in Europe will be able to test out the game on Windows PC starting Oct. 14. Ghost Recon Frontline is bound for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and on streaming platforms Amazon Luna and Google Stadia.

The new Ghost Recon is part of a larger push to free-to-play games at Ubisoft. Other confirmed titles vying for players’ attention include F2P spinoffs in the Tom Clancyverse, The Division Heartland and Tom Clancy’s XDefiant.