We're well aware of the fact that this is a bit of a controversial take, but Ghost Recon Breakpoint in 2021 is wildly different from what many of us had played back when it first came out. No, really - bear with us for a little bit here.

We'll concede that Ubisoft may not have done everything they could to bolster the game's outlook in the community, but they did improve it. And by quite a substantial margin, too. Much like Wildlands - albeit fairly different at this point - Breakpoint, too, is a genuinely good game in 2021. It's just that it's got a bit of a bad rap. Owed in no small part to its Tom Clancy pedigree.

This article is going to offer you, our dear reader, a curious look at how a game can change post-launch. The core DNA of Breakpoint is still there, to be sure, but it has since been mutated into something that's - in our book - substantially better than it used to be. We think you might agree in the end, too.

What makes Ghost Recon Breakpoint 2021 better than it was at launch?

Right off the bat, there's the obvious caveat that classic Tom Clancy fans won't be too thrilled about: even today, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is nothing like its first few entries. In fact, it's currently in a state that's not dissimilar to that of Rainbow Six. That's a topic for another time, to be sure, but it's worth keeping in mind that both Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six started off as hardcore tactical games. Arguably, they weren't even shooters so much as they were real-time strategies.

This worked - for a while - but it's clear as day that the RTS genre has slowly died out by 2021. In time, the two Tom Clancy offshoots changed even further. Whereas Rainbow Six Siege is now a competitive multiplayer FPS, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a lightweight combat survival sim.

At launch, this aspect of Breakpoint was heavily diluted. There were the excessive RPG features, for one, and then there were its kneecapped survival game features. Many of you will be happy to hear that the post-launch Immersive Mode update actually fixed both of those faults.

Ghost Experience was the game-changer for Breakpoint

Having largely flown under the radar following Breakpoint's begrudged launch, Ghost Experience brought the game to a level that we thought we'd get at launch. This fully optional suite of customization features added so much to the experience that Breakpoint felt like an entirely different game.

Ghost Experience does away with RPG leveling, gear score, weapon rarities, and other such nonsense. Basically, it turns Breakpoint into an improved, immersive version of Ghost Recon Wildlands. The more aggressive AI tuning, too, combined with a more difficult baseline gameplay loop made the game's survivalist features make way more sense, too.

Turn the game over to Elite Mode, and boy have you got a hardcore game at hand. Your Ghost will basically be forced into stealth if at all possible - doubly so in case of Wolf engagements.

It was a thing of beauty, too. The slower pacing of the game compared to Wildlands finally made sense. The slow trudging through the jungle. Short, violent engagements that wrap up in seconds. Wound dressing and campsites. When we say that it all comes together with Immersive Mode cranked up to max, we mean it.

Breakpoint is really only as good as you let it be

If you haven't yet given Immersive Mode a shot, you should. The problem with it, though, is that it's completely optional. Much like Wildlands' Tier One mode, it's an experience you'll find in no other game of this caliber, and it parallels titles such as Escape From Tarkov in more ways than one. Give your players an option to make things easier on them, though, and odds are that they'll take it.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint in 2021 can be the game it was, arguably, always supposed to be. But that's really only the case if you, the player, go into Ghost Experience settings and tweak them to be just the right amount of uncomfortably difficult. Crank those wounds up to max. Make the AI aggressive and remove the silly weapon switching on the go. Remove two primary weapons, too, and limit yourself to just one with a sidearm to fall back on. Get rid of the interface, too, and really dive into Breakpoint's strangely beautiful mud when push comes to shove.

Who's going to be willing to really go that hardcore, though? It's basically kneecapping yourself! We firmly believe that Ubisoft should've leaned on Breakpoint's potentially awesome difficulty way more. All the signs are there, mind you. The food-related buffs/debuffs, the crafting systems and equipment recovery, the surprisingly solid stealth features.

In 2021, you genuinely can turn Ghost Recon Breakpoint into the compelling, immersive survival shooter it was supposed to be.

Is there any upcoming content for Breakpoint in 2021?

For those of us who are still having fun with the game, Ubisoft is thankfully still adding more content to the mix. The upcoming Operation Motherland, for one, is coming bundled with the huge November Title Update. We're not sure what, exactly, this will entail, but the good news is that most of the game's previous Operations and DLCs ended up being rather great.

Overall, we know that we're getting a major new expansion pack for the game, and we're also going to get a bunch of new cosmetics. Namely, the classic Ghost Recon skins from GRAW and Future Soldier seem to be making a return - fans will be positively thrilled. Not to mention that it adds another carrot on the stick for the rest of the audience.

Chances are that there's another Gunsmith expansion on the horizon, too. Potentially new gun tweaking features, attachments, and the like. Some may even recall that there's a massive unexplored landmass present on the game's map, too. We'd hardly be surprised if that is where Motherland takes place, in fact. Either way - new content is coming to Breakpoint this November.

What does Breakpoint offer in 2021 that other games don't?

In the end, we bet you might be wondering just what is it that makes all of the above so relevant in 2021. Ghost Recon Breakpoint came out a while ago, after all, and a single update is hardly enough to concern players who had already skipped over it.

For the most part, it's the reveal of Ghost Recon: Frontline that's nudged us into action. For what it's worth, we do like the look of the game, and we do think that there's a place in the market for an objective-oriented large-scale battle royale sort of game. It's not the same sort of slow, contemplative gameplay experience that Ghost Recon: Breakpoint offers, however. This is (can be) a hardcore, infinitely customizable third-person tactical shooter with survival elements, and no one's really offering anything similar right now.

In fact, we don't think there's anything quite like Breakpoint on the market, at all. And sure, it does require some fiddling and tweaking before the game feels just right, but players are doing themselves a serious disservice by disregarding Breakpoint in 2021. So, if you're even remotely on the fence about it - give Ghost Recon Breakpoint a shot in 2021. Trust us on this one.