I still remember the notification glowing on my phone like a paper crane folded from a bus ticket—fragile, odd, and somehow exactly the invitation I needed. It was February 2023, and Ubisoft had announced that Far Cry 6 would be free to try for a few days. I am just a regular player, the kind who keeps a backlog like a junk drawer and rarely clears it, but a limited-time free trial is a special kind of temptation. Writing this in 2026, I know that promotion is long gone, yet the memory still says something useful about how these short windows work on players like me.

The offer ran from February 16 to February 20, and it was more generous than the usual trial. This version was not locked to the first island, which meant solo players and co-op players could roam farther into Yara. Ubisoft also confirmed that co-op would be accessible during the free period, and—this was the detail that hooked me—any progress made in those first few hours would carry forward if I bought the full game. That mattered. A trial is often a disposable sample, but this one felt like a real save file waiting to be continued.

Of course, there was a practical catch: Far Cry 6 required over 60GB of storage depending on the platform. I cleared space the way one clears a kitchen counter before cooking a big meal, and then I watched the download bar crawl like a glacier wearing snowshoes. Four days sounds roomy until a huge patch and a slow connection start eating the clock. Still, I had my weekend, a friend who also grabbed the trial, and a co-op session planned.

The Sale Was the Real Trap 💸

Ubisoft did not hide the commercial logic. Alongside the free trial, all editions of Far Cry 6 were discounted by up to 70% until the event ended. The oddly named Game of the Year edition was included in that sale, which always made me smile; it was a reminder that game editions are named by committees, not poets. The Game of the Year upgrade and the season pass were 50% off, and so was the Lost Between Worlds expansion, which had launched in December. For anyone on the fence, the trial and the discount were designed to work together like a sample spoon at an ice cream shop.

The timing was part of a wider Valentine’s Day week in games. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Final Fantasy 14, and World of Warcraft all had their own events, so the free trial arrived in a crowded room. Ubisoft also shared an impressive clip alongside the announcement, showing slices of the Far Cry 6 story that trial players could access. As a regular player, I did not need a cinematic masterpiece to convince me; I needed to know whether the shooting felt good, whether the world pulled me in, and whether my friend and I could cause harmless chaos together.

What the Four Days Felt Like ⏳

My first session was mostly setup, but the second was the one that mattered. My friend and I dropped into Yara, took a few outposts, and laughed at the usual open-world nonsense. The trial was a borrowed key to a house I wasn’t sure I wanted to buy. That is the strange power of a free weekend: it turns browsing into memory. By the time February 20 arrived, I understood the game’s rhythm far better than any trailer could have taught me.

In 2026, the free trial itself is ancient history, and I will not pretend otherwise. Far Cry 6 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, but that specific February promotion has ended. The next Far Cry had not been revealed at the time of that event, and I am not going to invent 2026 news that I do not have. What I can say is that the 2023 trial remains a neat example of a limited-time offer done right: it opened more than the first island, it allowed co-op, it carried progress forward, and it paired the free days with a sale that made the decision feel urgent without being invisible.

Would I fall for it again? Probably. I am a regular player with a soft spot for borrowed weekends, and Yara was a strange, loud place to spend one. 🎮