Ghost Recon Wildlands came out two years ago and was, well, underwhelming to say the list. It was a pretty generic and uninventive open world game made by Ubisoft, one of the many released at the time. When Ghost Recon Breakpoint got announced a while ago, I was equally curious and skeptical. I had no idea what could be done in order to revitalize the once phenomenal tactical series. Casting Jon Bernthal as a villain was a good start, though.

I got to play Ghost Recon Breakpoint at E3 2019 and the results were quite good, I guess. I actually had quite a bit of fun with the demo, but I have to admit that a good chunk of it was due to the multiplayer aspect of the game. I still have a few doubts.

Gameplay-wise, Breakpoint is still similar to Wildlands. It’s still an open world shooter with a heavy emphasis on co-op gameplay and a tactical approach in order to complete objectives. You can use drones to detect enemies on the map and feed your entire team’s intel, communicate with mates in order to take out targets quietly and simultaneously, pilot a variety of different vehicles, tackle each mission in more than one way, and so on.

The biggest difference I noticed in this demo, aside from the presence of Jon Bernthal, was the increased emphasis on survival mechanics. I could use mud to camouflage myself. I could collect medicinal plants throughout the map and use them to craft syringes and bandages when returning to my team’s bivouac tent. Bandages are used whenever you get seriously hurt, as you’ll stop automatically regenerating your health and will become unable to walk properly. I used them a lot, not only because it took me a while to get used to the more frantic gameplay when compared to Wildlands, but also because the enemies are a lot more ruthless this time around. The AI is a lot more brutal in Breakpoint, and you’ll fight not only human enemies, but air and ground drones as well.

All in all, the demo was decent. I had fun with how the missions ended up being, but I give more credit to the Ubisoft staff member acting as a “dungeon master” of sorts, telling us where to go and what to do, than the game’s mechanics themselves. I still have my doubts regarding Breakpoint‘s longevity, side content (I don’t want yet another generic open world), fun factor when playing solo and Jon Bernthal’s overall involvement throughout the main plot. Granted, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is shaping up to become a much better game than its predecessor, but that isn’t exactly the hardest of feats.