Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is the best-selling game of 2017 thus far, and its cooperative campaign is absolutely enormous. You can easily sink 30 hours into it without even completing the final mission, but the game launched without competitive multiplayer, a staple of the series for years. That will soon change, as team deathmatch makes its way to the Wildlands this autumn.
Taking place after the fall of the Santa Blanca Cartel, the four-on-four “Ghost War” deathmatch mode pits the Ghosts against “a squad of spec-ops soldiers fighting to get a foothold in the country.”
Unlike the campaign’s more laissez-faire approach to character customization, Ghost War will have players make use of classes like “Scout,” “Sniper,” and “Tank,” but the game will still make use of open environments complete with changing weather patterns.
“To expand the tactical toolset, the team has added a new suppression system that affects your vision while you’re under heavy fire, and implemented new sound markers to help players locate their enemies’ position,” lead game designer Lucian Istrate said.
A suppression mechanic was actually included in the previous game, Ghost Recon Future Soldier. There, it forced players back into cover if an enemy was firing on their position, allowing for other soldiers to move to a new position and flank opponents. In open multiplayer maps, this could allow for some unique strategies. “Sound markers” will also make it easier to spot an enemy’s location after they’ve fired a shot.
If you want to try out Ghost War prior to its official launch, you can participate in an open beta later this summer. It will be available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The full mode will arrive as a full update in autumn.
Ghost Recon Wildlands also has two multiplayer expansions available if you’ve already finished the main campaign. Narco Road tasks the Ghosts with breaking up El Invisible’s drug ring, while Fallen Ghosts sees our protagonists in danger as they attempt to extract United States citizens from war-torn Bolivia. The latter expansion has been better received than the former, and both are available as part of the game’s season pass.
