Ubisoft has just revealed Ghost Recon Breakpoint, a brand-new entry to the tactical shooter series that will bring players to the fictional island of Auroa. This time around, however, players will find themselves on the defensive: their helicopter gets shot down during the game’s introductory sequence, and players will be tasked with simply surviving from the get-go as the story of Breakpoint unfolds.
We know that fans will be facing a tough adversary in Cole D. Walker (Jon Bernthal), who actually appears in post-launch Wildlands content as an ally. Walker and his pack of Wolves (a masked faction of high-tech warriors) will be a force to be reckoned with. Players will be tasked with finding their own sources of information as they begin to fight back, and one can safely assume things will eventually come to a head between Walker and Nomad, the bearded Ghost that will be the game’s main protagonist.
As it turns out, however, what missions players choose to do on the island will impact how things play out for Nomad. When Game Rant sat down with Ghost Recon creative director Eric Couzian, he revealed that Ghost Recon Breakpoint will have multiple endings, simply teasing that ’there is not only one’. How many - or how different these endings truly are - remains a mystery for now.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint will also introduce another series-first with dialogue options, which will present themselves in a similar manner to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Couzian states that these dialogue choices won’t ultimately impact the storyline itself, but rather that they allow the player to get into the roleplaying aspect of the title by impacting things on a smaller, mission-by-mission scale. This means players won’t have to stress about saying the wrong thing and impacting the ending, tying into Couzian’s goal of only adding positive gameplay elements.
There are also new survival elements that allow players to do things like hydrating and eating food, though there are no starvation or dehydration mechanics that have negative impacts. Instead, players can give themselves a boost to health and stamina should they choose to consume food or water ahead of missions. Players will be able to apply these buffs ahead of missions in the bivouac, a temporary campsite where players can heal, craft items, check their gear, and maintain weapons for another positive buff in weapon accuracy.
Couzian also revealed there are three states of injury that Ghosts can find themselves progressing through if they don’t stop to heal, though he states that the third stage will only be seen if players are making ‘so many mistakes’. At each stage of injury, the player’s ability to move and aim is hindered, and this worsens for each level. If players do reach the third level of this injury system, they’ll only be able to use a handgun as they stumble along, a strong indicator that it’s probably time to heal. It’s another action that can be performed in the bivouac.
Players will evidently have a fair amount of freedom in how they approach the game. While it’s unclear how the ending of Breakpoint will take shape, the knowledge that Ubisoft has prepared multiple endings - and that there are different parallel paths to reach the game’s closure - is certainly food for thought.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint will release on October 4, 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
