What to expect from Ubisoft’s rumored next mainline Ghost Recon title after Breakpoint?

As per recent reports, Ubisoft is already developing the next mainline Ghost Recon game, codenamed Project OVER, aside from the free-to-play battle royale title Frontline.

The Ghost Recon series is part of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's universe franchise. The series generally follows a group of highly trained soldiers, known as Ghost, who specialize in covert operations without being seen.

Ubisoft recently ended its support for Breakpoint, the latest title in the series released in 2019. While fans were aware of Frontline, an upcoming battle royale title inspired by Call of Duty Warzone. However, it seems like it is not the only Ghost Recon game in development, as according to recent reports, Ubisoft is developing a new mainline title at Ubisoft Paris, currently codenamed Project Over.

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Return to tradition or built upon failures, what direction could the future of Ghost Recon Hold?

Since its first iteration back in 2001, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon has always been a tactical shooter which encourages players to stay hidden, understand enemy movements, and then take them out tactfully with synchronized shots.

With 2017s Wildlands, Ubisoft took the franchise into the open world while still retaining its tactical DNA. Set in a fictionalized version of Bolivia overtaken by drugs and corruption, the story follows the Ghost going up against the Santa Blanca Cartel and its leader El Suino.

The title was praised for retaining the core tactical gameplay loop the series was built upon while taking the title to the open world and expanding on it. However, Ubisoft somewhat failed to retain that tactical experience for its next entry, Breakpoint, which truly pushed the series to its breaking point.

Breakpoint, released in 2019, made many unconventional decisions that may have felt familiar to fans of other Ubisoft titles but broke the tactical immersion of the series. The game introduced weapon rarity, along with damage sponge drones, and passed over staple core mechanics of the franchises, such as AI teammates and more tactical tools for approach. These gameplay changes essentially lost the series’ appeal and turned it into a looter shooter like Division and Borderlands.

The criticism and backlash faced from the title made Ubisoft push back the release of several upcoming titles, including Watch Dogs Legion, Far Cry 6, and Rainbow Six Extraction. The developers at Ubisoft Paris also brought a major update titled Ghost Experience, which retooled several mechanics of the titles, including weapon rarity and AI teammates, to bring back the tactical feeling of the series.

Quite recently, Ubisoft ended post-launch support for Breakpoint, signifying the end of its life span. While the title was launched in a bad state, by the end of its lifespan, it had reached the standard expected from a Ghost Recon title. So what do fans of the franchise look forward to?

The next Ghost Recon title is a free-to-play battle royale spin-off called Frontline. Based on the closed beta tests, while the gameplay does have some tactical elements, it feels very much derivative of Call of Duty Warzone and does not offer anything new to the genre. However, it might not be the only new Ghost Recon in the works.

According to a recent report, Ubisoft Paris is developing a mainline Ghost Recon game, codenamed Project OVER. It has been in development for quite a while and was leaked as part of the Nvidia GeForce database alongside Project Meteor by Ubisoft Sofia (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Dawn of Ragnarok), Project Orlando by Ivory Tower (rumored to be Crew 3), and an unknown Project Q by Ubisoft.

After the backlash faced by Breakpoint, the title is expected to retain the core Ghost Recon experience and not take the gear level and looter shooter road, retaining the tactical experience of the series.

Ubisoft Quartz was an NFT in Breakpoint, which faced massive backlash from the player base downvoting the reveal trailer to oblivion. While Ubisoft remains firm on its return in the future, rumors suggest the development team is moving away from it.