Far Cry 5 is free to play this weekend

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.