‘Splinter Cell,’ one of the best stealth games ever, is now free

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, one of the games that helped popularize the stealth-action genre with its light-based gameplay and gruff protagonist Sam Fisher, is free all this month on PC through Ubisoft Club.

Simply sign into the Ubisoft Club — formerly UPlay — to receive the game. It’s the second of seven free titles the publisher is giving away this year to celebrate its 30th anniversary, with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time available through all of June and the first few weeks of July.

Curiously, both of these franchises have been somewhat neglected in recent years. Prince of Persia has been all but abandoned in favor of the ludicrously popular Assassin’s Creed series, which borrowed some of its platforming mechanics and general aesthetic. Splinter Cell, meanwhile, had its last installment in 2013, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, launch to great reviews, but its lukewarm sales figures mean that it could be quite a while before we see another entry in Sam Fisher’s saga.

We do know, however, that a film based on the latter property is in development with Tom Hardy signed on to play the agent as a younger man. Director Doug Liman, who previously worked on The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow, was originally picked to direct the film, but has since left the project. Another Clancy film, based on the new The Division property, is also reportedly in development, with Jake Gyllenhaal (who previously starred in a Prince of Persia adaptation) tapped to star.

If Ubisoft is trying to gauge fan interest in its under-utilized franchises, then there is one more game you can expect to see before the year is through: Beyond Good & Evil. Director Michel Ancel’s project has been in development hell for years, and his continued work on the Rayman franchise and his new independent game Wild hasn’t done the promised sequel any favors.