Ghost Recon Wildlands: Last Rites is a major free update out now on PS4 and PS5. It revitalizes the game with new content, including a thrilling linear story mission, gameplay customization features, 4K and 60 FPS on PS5 and PS5 Pro, and more. To learn more about what you can expect, we spoke with Ubisoft Bordeaux’s Creative Director Olivier Leonardi and Live Strategy & Analytics Director Yossef Benzeghadi in a new interview.
Wildlands launched nearly a decade ago. What can you tell us about the community still engaging with the game?
Yossef Benzeghadi: Wildlands is a beloved gem within the Ghost Recon community, and taking down the Santa Blanca Cartel is fondly remembered. Either Solo or up to four players co-op, it’s a unique blend of open world and a fun immersive tactical military third person shooter that really stood the test of time.
Back in the day, I was part of the Wildlands live team, and we really took the time to picture all the gameplay behaviors, player profiles, and playstyles we could see emerging in the game from the whole community. It acted as our golden compass throughout postlaunch. It led to the release of various fan-favorite content, still available today of course, such as our challenging Ghost Mode, or multiple Clancy-verse missions featuring Splinter Cell or Rainbow Six Siege.
There was one key element that really stuck to me to this day – a group we initially called “Sandbox Players.” To be honest, at first, we did not really understand what the heck they were doing in our Bolivian Wildlands. Digging more, and more, notably thanks to community interviews and data-informed playtests, it finally clicked: they were role playing, ranging from cooperative mil-sim to simply adding extra optional layers of challenges on top of the game just for fun, taking hours to complete one mission perfectly. We had tons of players leveraging everything the game had to offer to transcend their gameplay experience to the next level.
The level of customization and the overall freedom of choice the game offers were praised all around and for us that’s one of the main reasons players are still engaging with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands today. With Last Rites, we are following up on that legacy, and there’s never been a better time to jump in.
First, break down the features you’re adding in Last Rites, and why you added them.
Yossef: First, and by popular demand, we are very happy to confirm 4K and 60 FPS on PS5 and PS5 Pro.
To allow even more flexibility for role play fans and to bring more accessibility and freedom of choice to everyone, we are also adding various new settings to experiment with. With our new Ghost Parameters in the game’s Options menu, you can enable instant death or limitless revives, choose to have one or two primary weapons, and decide whether you keep remaining unused ammo when reloading or not. With our new World and Session Settings in the game’s Lobby page, you control the world itself. From the weather and time of day to alarms and jammers and even the rate of enemy patrols, you can craft your very own experience. You can even enable friendly fire in co-op, either to enhance realism, or allow some light PvP role play scenarios with your friends should you want to. We are also expanding existing categories from the Options menu with increased player agency. HUD and UI are more customizable than ever, and our new Difficulty settings now allow players to deep dive and tweak various elements such as Enemy Perception, Endurance, Vehicle Breakability and much more.
Then, there’s Last Rites itself. It’s a brand-new story-driven mission you can jump into right away. Set in a darker, more oppressive Bolivia, the Ghosts enter a region controlled by Los Penitentes, a new fanatical cult united by faith, sacrifice, and violent justice. Coming from all walks of life, its members turn the environment into a constant threat, drawing the Ghosts into a tense narrative of betrayal and moral ambiguity. They are led by an enigmatic new foe, La Llorona.
In addition, we’ve added tons of customization for your Ghost character and teammates, and many weapons and equipment have been unlocked for free, including previously unreleased camos and unobtainable challenge rewards. All Ghost War PvP classes can now be unlocked for free in the in-game store alongside many other items. And yes, we are adding some new Character Smith items to celebrate Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 25th Anniversary, with a mysterious Operator Skin you unlock by completing Last Rites. A special thanks to the talented team at Ubisoft Bordeaux who made it all possible.
Finally, PlayStation Plus members can get their hands on a brand-new exclusive Iconic Skin of La Llorona, unlock the powerful P416 Micteca, and embrace their presidential chic with the new 4-SHUR Blue Leader Sunglasses.
Last Rites has been created in part due to that community feedback. How did you actually gather and prioritize that?
Olivier Leonardi: We met our community leaders and had a very open conversation with them. The goal was to turn raw community feedback into actionable insights that improved player experience while supporting the game’s core principles. We did so across multiple channels, structured it into themes, and prioritized based on player impact, intensity, and alignment with several player profiles. We know that a large part of our community are avid role players, so we crafted some of the features around their requests.
Yossef: Working on Last Rites was quite an archaeological ride. Very early on the project, we broadly shared all insights and knowledge we gathered on Ghost Recon Wildlands during its postlaunch at the time, which was extremely valuable for the team. It served as a mirror to reflect on what we could do and explore on Last Rites, a vision which we fine-tuned over time thanks to those precious community discussions we had that Olivier mentioned. Notice we have been talking a lot about role play so far; this is the prime example of something we would have loved to explore further back in the day and are very happy we could prioritize now. At the same time, and for the same reasons, we know a lot of our players just love well-crafted and story-driven missions, and that’s why we are also delivering on that front with Last Rites.
Talk to us about the new story content – Where did La Llorona come from, conceptually?
Olivier: La Llorona has become an untouchable icon, a resurrected arbiter of justice, revered by the Bolivian people almost as a saint. Gathering devoted followers to her cause, she compels them to wear masks, erasing their individuality and demanding absolute obedience. These disciples, known as Los Penitentes, act as the ruthless executors of her will, delivering merciless retribution to anyone connected to the events that sealed her fate.
We wanted this new antagonist to be quite dark and complex, but also someone that was deeply wounded, betrayed by the people she loved and trusted. La Llorona survived, but survival came at a cost. The betrayal destroyed her sense of belonging, leaving her suspended between who she was and what she’s becoming. Her vengeance isn’t just directed outward; it’s a way to reclaim control, to make sense of that pain, after what she experienced. She becomes a force of raw justice and destruction.
The mission is described as “unsettling” and the narrative shifts as players progress. How far did you push the tone, and why did you want to go darker this time?
Olivier: We wanted to introduce this new mission as a very standard incursion, putting players back into Nomad’s boots, leading the Ghosts to do what they do very efficiently, but things quickly turn into something else; the familiar Bolivian environment becomes weird and the Ghosts start witnessing the wrath of La Llorona, aiming at anyone who might be accountable for what happened to her, especially the corrupt Bolivian government and its armed wing: Unidad. The more the Ghosts advance in her territory, the more they discover her twisted personality and how devoted her disciples are. Through different documents and audio recordings scattered across the world, players will be able to discover more about her goals and what she represents for the Bolivian people.
What do you hope players take away from Last Rites – is there a single experience or moment you’re most proud of?
Olivier: I think the moment at Varga’s villa, the reveal of La Llorona with her weeping widow mask, the confrontation with her Los Penitentes cultists, and what Nomad discovers there is both a strong gameplay and story moment. That changes everything for Nomad, and he’s confronting Emily Price, his CIA handler, trying to understand what causes this brutal transformation.
New to the game? Play Ghost Recon Wildlands with Ubisoft+ Classics, available as a standalone subscription, and included for PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium members.
Ghost Recon Wildlands Standard and Definitive Editions are also available for purchase at PlayStation Store. The new Definitive Edition includes the base game, the Season Pass, and the Year 2 Pass, alongside 4 additional content packs: Quick Start, Deluxe, Nightfall Protocol, and Cold Eye. For current owners, a Definitive Edition Upgrade is also available.
