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Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s open beta has players frustrated but hopeful

Reactions are mixed to Ubisoft's upcoming Ghost Recon game.

ghost recon breakpoint vehicles

Players who have tried out the Ghost Recon Breakpoint open beta that’s running until tomorrow morning have shared their reactions on various social media outlets and forums, and they seem fairly split over this new entry in the Ghost Recon series. Some are frustrated by bugs and new design choices, while others have enjoyed their time on the fictional archipelago of Auroa.

Reactions began with the normal grousing about the beta kickoff time, which was delayed for many players as Ubisoft scrambled to bring server capacity up to demand. Some players reported waiting for more than three hours after the announced start time to get into the game.

Once inside, players could begin the story of a ghost codenamed Nomad, who crash-lands on a Pacific island after a swarm of drones takes out their helicopters. The beta includes several of Breakpoint’s story missions and quickly introduces the game’s nemesis, a rogue ghost named Cole Walker and played by The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal.

Amusingly, one of the first ‘bugs’ widely reported in the beta has been the ability to take out Walker in the opening minutes of the game. Breakpoint uses an enemy level system similar to that of The Division and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and early on you get a peek at Walker and his team of former ghosts. One player was able to defeat all of them in that first encounter, which is meant to spook players and send them scrambling for cover.

But players found other reasons to complain as well. The Ghost Recon subreddit has a pair of beta feedback megathreads, and in them players have flagged up unresponsive enemy AI (bad guys only start responding to the player when a detection meter fills up completely), no moving camera while driving vehicles, and an empty-feeling open world. Others have noted the odd menu system and so-called ‘missing features’ from the gear system, which doesn’t include cosmetic options for rifle slings and pistol holsters.

One player posted a clip that shows some, er, scientifically suspect motorcycle physics in action:

Next gen Motorcycle physics guys. The future is now from GhostRecon

However, plenty of players have taken to the subreddit to say they’re having fun with the beta and are looking forward to the Ghost Recon Breakpoint release date October 4 to play the full game. Redditor SampleShrimp says they’ve been playing it with their dad, and posted a screenshot of their ghosts in matching urban camo loadouts. Another user says playing “slowly and methodically,” avoiding use of the helicopter that’s provided early on, has led to a delightfully immersive experience they didn’t find in Wildlands.

The couple hours I’ve spent between the closed beta and the current one have been a mixed bag, but I’ve enjoyed my time overall. Wildlands’ weapon system has been replaced with a more Division-like (or even Borderlands-like) loot system in which you’re constantly swapping out guns with newer, identical models that have higher numbers attached to them, and there’s still something a bit sludgy-feeling about character movement. But Auroa is a gorgeous and varied setting, and I’m interested in digging into how Breakpoint handles its missions and ‘investigations,’ which have you collecting clues and piecing together parts of the mystery of SkellTech and what went wrong.

Overall, having a chance to go hands-on with a relatively feature-complete build of the game before launch is a good thing, and if players have tried it out and decided to give this Ghost Recon a pass due to their experiences in the beta, that’s probably a good thing. We’ll see how it all comes together when Breakpoint launches this week.