Ubisoft lays its cards on the table: The next Ghost Recon is called Frontline, a first beta will start in October. But what kind of game is it anyway?
For the 20th anniversary of the Ghost Recon series, Ubisoft has presented fans with a fat birthday cake from Livestream – and surprisingly, out of it pops a brand new shooter! The new entry is called Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Frontline and aims to find its very own niche between the Battlefields and CoDs of this world.
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When can I play it myself?
The first beta for European PC players was supposed to start on 14 October 2021 and last for a week. However, the test phase was postponed indefinitely at the last minute. The developers do not share a proper reason, but rather vaguely explain on Twitter: “We want to ensure the best possible experience”. A new date is to be communicated as soon as it is possible.
We have an important message regarding Ghost Recon Frontline’s Closed Test. pic.twitter.com/ne1VgOLMJF
– GRFrontline (@GRFrontline) October 13, 2021
Previously, numerous players had harshly criticised Frontline, especially under the official announcement trailer. Whether there will be any changes to the direction of the gameplay now is not yet clear.
Other platforms will also be able to participate in betas, but the dates for these will only be announced later.
We have seen the first scenes during a presentation and already know a lot about the map, the gameplay and the game modes. But before we start: Watch the trailer first!
What kind of game is Ghost Recon Frontline anyway?
Let’s start by throwing a few important keywords into the room so that you have a picture of Frontline in your head right away:
- The game will be a PvP shooter with a first-person perspective.
- You will play on a large map with a maximum of 102 players per round.
- The developers want to put tactics and clever strategies in the foreground.
- It will be Free2Play, a Season model is already confirmed.
- There are highly specialised classes again, so far Assault (tough offensive fighters), Support (builds cover) and Scout (scouts and ranged shooters).
- Ghost Recon Frontline is not Battle Royale. But it works comparably.
- In concrete terms, a round in Frontline looks like this: You are thrown as a squad of three onto a large island map with various biomes. There you search for valuable individual parts – which, of course, the other teams are also after. If you just run straight at it, you’ll soon be looking down the tube. Tactics are the order of the day in Frontline, so use your surroundings to your advantage, stalk your opponents and strike at the right moment with lightning speed.
You can also steal the coveted parts as soon as another squad wants to secure them. Hunt: Showdown says hello. When enemies reach their target, this is marked on the map and serves as a beacon for all others to hunt for the coveted loot.
In battle, you gain advantages through tactical support, for example by having useful equipment delivered directly to the battlefield. However, you have to earn this anew in each round. If you meet the requirements, you can request a drop, such as a defence or sniper turret.
If you don’t fancy that high-risk-high-reward loop, Frontline still wants to pick you up. In the first beta, there is a second mode called Control, in which only two teams of nine players each fight for dominance in an area. Later on, various “casual modes” will be added, which will cater to all shooter tastes. Ubisoft Bucharest obviously wants to bake big bread again with the next Ghost Recon, which will make us forget the Breakpoint debacle.
Basically, Frontline is supposed to feel faster, more direct and more personal, not least because of the first-person perspective. As soon as we have a chance to play it ourselves, we’ll tell you whether this ambitious project of the developers works out!
What are the differences to Battle Royale?
Some of the features in the presentation reminded us of Battle Royale. For example, the equipment drops, the island map as an arena (the similarity to the new Warzone map is guaranteed to be coincidental, but interesting nonetheless), the tactical fighting against all the other squads. But actually Frontline is closer related to Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown than to Fortnite and CoD Warzone.
After all, it’s not about last-squad standing, but about moving carefully through the world, anticipating enemy movements and adjusting your tactics accordingly. In addition, an important feature of many Battle Royales is missing: In Frontline, no gas circle drives you closer and closer together; instead, the map remains open all the time. If you prefer to avoid confrontations, you can do that and still win in the end.
How do I progress through the game? What do I unlock?
As you gain experience, you level up your weapons, unlock more equipment and new Contractors – the characters you play as. They all have their own (active and passive) specialisations and loadouts, which in turn influence your strategies. Sounds a bit like Battlefield 2042. You can also switch between your different contractors in a match, regardless of the game mode.
You thus gradually build up a team of specialists that you adapt to your preferred tactics. It is also possible, for example, to have several contractors who all belong to the support class, but still differ in their own abilities.
How do the Seasons work?
It is already known that Frontline will be expanded gradually. In the presentation, this sounded quite similar to the season model of Call of Duty: After release, new contractors and new game modes are to be added regularly, we also firmly expect new weapons and equipment.
We don’t know more details about Battle Pass or similar yet. In Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, it was precisely the live service that was a thorn in the side of many players – let’s hope that the developers have taken the criticism to heart. Other shooters like Halo: Infinite are currently showing how a Battle Pass can be implemented in a very player-friendly way.
On which platforms will Ghost Recon Frontline be released?
Frontline can be played on PC (also via Stadia), PS4, PS5, Xbox One or Xbox Series X
