Ubisoft’s subscription service doesn’t have the user-base of something like Microsoft’s Game Pass. Now, it seems, the French publishers are hoping that plonking in some indie games among its multitudes of Assassin’s Creeds and Tom Clancy shooters will attract a more varied clientele. They’re also running a free trial period for Ubisoft+ until October 10th, including for lapsed subscribers, so that’s something.
There’s a total of six indies on Ubisoft+ now. That’s not many at all, but the company says it’ll be adding more games on a “regular basis”. They’ll stick around for at least six months when they do pop up. Two indies have already been kicking about since the start of summer: tower-defence brawler The Last Friend and voyeuristic puzzler A Normal Lost Phone. The latest additions mean you can play medieval comedy adventure Astrologaster, puzzle thriller Evan’s Remains, turn-based tactics RPG Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark and small-town adventure Lake using the service.
That’s if you’re a subscriber or sign up for the free trial that started over the past weekend, anyway. Register for the trial and you’ll have until October 10th to dunk yourself in whatever vat of Ubisoft games you feel like. Far Cry? Assassin’s Creed? Watch Dogs? If you want to try out the service then you’ll either need to download yet another launcher in the form of Ubisoft Connect, or muck about with a reduced choice of games through Google’s Stadia or Amazon’s Luna streaming services. You can check out the subscription trial here.
Most of the small selection of recently added indies are decent enough games, and still worth a play even after a few years. Brendy had a laugh with Astrologaster back in 2019, for example, which he called “a short game full of haughty songs and jokes about willies”. John enjoyed the writing of A Normal Lost Phone too, feeling that it bordered on reality thanks to its found phone concept. You might have already played Lake if you’ve been a Game Pass subscriber though, because it’s been on there since December.
The free trial for Ubisoft+ runs until October 10th, so you’ve still got plenty of time to try it out. It’s the usual situation where you’ll need to remember to cancel before then to avoid paying a renewal fee.