Now a most recent update has reintroduced AI teammates into Ghost Recon Breakpoint, but for a lot of fans it’s too little too late. Adding back AI teammates is a proper step for the game’s quality-of-life, but in reality that’s only combatting the smaller playerbase at this point. Even with a free weekend to try the game, the stigma of Breakpoint’s release will continue to stick with the game for a while. Unless there’s a big push by Ubisoft to get players back, it may truly be too little too late.
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New Life in AI Companions
It’s no secret that Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s initial release was a bit of a disappointment for Ubisoft. Carrying the solid momentum from Wildlands, Breakpoint seemed like it would be an interesting near-future evolution from what the series started with Wildlands. Frankly, it wasn’t. The game heavily relied on loot grind, the usual liberate and synchronize gameplay loop that Ubisoft both pioneered and oversaturated in its games, along with an open world that just felt like the same places consistently recycled. It also didn’t help that the game was built on unfair microtransactions.
For those who do play the game solo, Ghost Recon Breakpoint has now added AI teammates to make up for something that felt missing. Teammates can be swapped in and out at any time, along with tons of customization options to tailor their actions to the player’s preference. These teammates have some basic orders like regroup, hold position, move forward, etc., but that’s just enough to make playing solo more feasible for fans. Additionally, players can customize each character with different equipment to better suit the mission or scenario ahead of them. Again, all great changes, but there’s an unfortunate mix of additional and inherent problems with Breakpoint that may be unfixable.
The Jury May Be Out on Breakpoint
Infusing more tactical gameplay into a Ghost Recon game seems like an inherent benefit, but the truth is that the jury’s already out on Breakpoint. The gaming community and Ubisoft itself is already fully aware of the poor state of release for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which is typically a death sentence for games. We’ve witnessed the same situation too many times already with other triple-A titles: Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Final Fantasy 14, Battlefield 5, the list goes on. Many of these games had zealous loot grinds and power-level-based mechanics, some of which made sense for the types of games they were. For Ghost Recon, a tactical shooter that focuses a lot on stealth mechanics and squad-based teamwork, loot and power levels simply don’t fit with the formula.
Every shooter has a variety of guns with different damage or accuracy stats, enabling freedom in the way players outfit their characters. But in a game like Destiny 2, which is designed to have a continuously rotating loot pool full of new and unique guns, power levels makes a lot of sense. Loot is a central part of that game, because it’s designed to be more like an MMO. Ghost Recon Breakpoint is not an MMO, nor has the franchise ever claimed or desired to be one in the past. There’s no realistic reason why individual loot needs to have rising and lowering power levels, it simply doesn’t apply to the structure of Ghost Recon’s core gameplay design. Loot with power levels is just an added layer of unnecessary complexity that just makes gameplay less enjoyable.
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Ghost Recon’s Black Sheep
That’s completely without mentioning any issues with the open world’s design variety being repetitive and underwhelming, or criticizing the implementation of Ubisoft’s typical open world framework in Breakpoint. The game also has a few inherent issues that aren’t necessarily fixed with updates or expansions, especially if it’s a paid expansion. The “Ubification” of franchises that fans like to harp on isn’t always an issue with games like Assassin’s Creed, but in the case of Breakpoint, the game’s core design doesn’t fit with its open world design principles on a fundamental level.
Updates and changes to Breakpoint could theoretically remedy this issue, but it would take a lot of time and patience that fans simply don’t have. Patches and updates right now have already seen several delays as Ubisoft tackles some of the issues with the game as well as adding new content. It’s just hard not to get the impression that Breakpoint is on life support, and it’s going to take a lot to bring players back.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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