Playing all the free games on offer these days can feel like a full-time job but Ubisoft’s latest freebie is something a little special.
It’s Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, a AAA title and the instalment of the wall-scaling, neck-stabbing series that is set in London.
How do you get it? You need to login to Ubisoft Connect, which is available for Windows, Android and iOS, and claim the game on the Ubisoft store.
The deal is available until December 6 and once claimed you’ll be able to play the title after that window has elapsed.
What is Assassin's Creed: Syndicate?
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate was the key 2015 entry in the Assassin’s Creed series.
We reviewed it at the time and gave Syndicate a solid 4/5.
We called Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate “arguably the most fun entry yet” in the series.
“Syndicate is proof that when the chips are down, Ubisoft can still bring the house down. It's fun, stylish and goes back to what makes Assassin's Creed games great,” wrote Talal Musa.
The game would go on to sell more than five million copies, although that was not even close to a series high.
If you are a recent Assassin’s Creed fan, you may find Syndicate a little different from what you’ve played to date. It is closer to the earlier eras of Assassin’s Creed, where the game world is much smaller than that of Assassin’s Creed: Origins or Valhalla. It’s the style Ubisoft has returned to in the most recent entry in the series, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage.
How Long to Beat suggests you can easily spend 100 hours in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla on the main quest and some side attractions. But Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate?
It’s estimated at 18.5 hours for the main quest, 33.5 hours for that plus some side quests. Short? No. Manageable? Yes.
Why offer free games?
Free game promotions like this are used to lure players to platforms like Ubisoft Connect.
Epic Games does the same. It offers one or more free games every week, while Amazon recently announced 180 redundancies in its game division as part of a restructuring based on doling out free games. It's the big business of capturing market share in the digital games market, which on PC is dominated by Valve's Stream.
“We've listened to our customers and we know delivering free games every month is what they want most, so we are refining our Prime benefit to increase our focus there,” said Christoph Hartmann, vice-president of Amazon Games in a statement published by Aftermath.
Amazon offers a drip-feed of free games each month to Prime members. In November these include Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Rage 2: Deluxe Edition.
