Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online hits PC April 10 as Ghost Recon Phantoms

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online will arrive April 10 on Windows PC and Steam as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms, Ubisoft announced today.

The rebranded third-person shooter will arrive with new character designs for all three classes, a "complete reworking of lighting and level design on the majority of maps" and new gear. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms will also take gear and skills into account when matchmaking in the free-to-play shooter, which Ubisoft said was among players' "main concerns."

The new name is a result of the game's story and the nature of its combatants, according to an interview with producer Corey Facteau on Ubisoft's official blog.

"The name change is directly linked to the new backstory and the new geopolitical context of the game," Facteau said. "Ghost Recon, the brand, is about showcasing a realistic depiction of tomorrow's battlefield. The very nature of conflicts is changing. We can see it every day in the news, in Syria, Crimea or Thailand. New conflicts have a lot of gray area. They are not necessarily directly led by countries, but also by small factions, communities or cells. These new protagonists are difficult to identify and they don't necessarily fight for ideas or values; their motives are not always very clear. Sometimes their political motives hide an appetite for cold, hard cash. The world is already a big gray zone and it will be more and more so. This rings a bell with our community. It says something about the world we live in."

Ubisoft Singapore's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms launched on Steam Early Access this January. It was released in open beta in August 2012. You can check out the game and its visual upgrades in the gallery below.

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