'Ghost Recon Breakpoint' steers clear of meaningful, real-world commentary
Ghost Recon Breakpoint, revealed on Thursday, has a chance to deliver a compelling message about the real world and the lack of regulations we place on giant tech companies, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to.
In Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the fictional Silicon Valley tech giant Skell Technology has been developing artificial intelligence and drones that can autonomously track and murder people. Skell’s unchecked technological development and free reign to do what they want is turning the world into a surveillance state where nobody is safe.
Breakpoint’s setting is ripe for commentary as we see real-world companies like Facebook routinely undermine the privacy of millions and millions of people, as military drones rain death and destruction on foreign countries, and tech giants creep into the municipal sphere with capitalistic intentions disguised as public service. The trailer itself looks promising.
But after a short demo of the game and a conversation with Ubisoft’s user experience and realization director Matthew Tomkinson I had at an event a week earlier, it’s clear that Breakpoint is just meant to be a fun video game, not an experience that looks any further than what happens when technology “falls into the wrong hands.”
“This technology here is for the good of humanity — that’s the objective,” Tomkinson said. “The question that we’re bringing here ... is what if this technology falls into the wrong hands? In the end, it’s never about the technology itself; it’s about the intent of humans, what they want to do, and what they can do once they have this powerful technology.”
Ghost Recon Breakpoint is edging on nuance, but it still seems to be painting the creator of this technology that has all this evil potential in a positive light.
That creator, Jace Skell, used his fabulous wealth from his company to purchase an archipelago called Aurora, the fictional setting of Breakpoint, where he is building “the world of tomorrow, today.” Along with Skell, workers and engineers also inhabit Aurora along with the ever-present drones as they continue to produce more sophisticated AI and militaristic inventions.
The issue is that this technology has been hacked by a group of special operations forces with ill intentions called the Wolves (one of whom is played by Jon Bernthal) who have turned the island into a giant prison filled with roaming deathbots. That’s where the Ghosts come in and the objective of Ghost Recon Breakpoint stands: stopping the Wolves and saving Skell.
"It’s focused more on the fun of the experience"
Despite the missed opportunity to inject a little commentary about the ethics of tech companies into the game, the decision to side-step reality and set Breakpoint on a fictional string of islands is a smart move considering the backlash the developers faced for its portrayal of Bolivia in Ghost Recon Wildlands.
Wildlands took place entirely in Bolivia with the main objective being the eradication of drug dealers. While the environment was beautifully rendered, the people of Bolivia were painted with broad, unflattering strokes, making the country look like it’s inhabited entirely by villainous drug cartels.
I asked Tomkinson if the decision to set Breakpoint in a fictional place was in response to that criticism, if it was meant to allow them to focus more on the gameplay aspect than the societal aspect.
“It’s true, [Breakpoint] was a different take,” Tomkinson said. “It was more about the gameplay experience that we want to bring… it’s focused more on the fun of the experience.”
That experience, Tomkinson said, is about putting players in the boots of a spec ops soldier.
“It’s not always about the gun fight,” he said.” We wanted to also bring all these survival aspects of the military where they have to spend lots of time traveling, exploring the environment, understanding the environment and also even resting with their colleagues/friends.”
Ghost Recon Breakpoint introduces things like injuries to the game, which players will have to spend time recovering from if they don’t want to spend the whole game limping around the map. This can include bullets lodged in limbs and injuries from falls.
There’s still this whole background thing happening with Skell Technology and killer drones, but Tomkinson said that’s exactly what it is — background.
“Like all Tom Clancy games, [Breakpoint] reflects a lot on what happens in the world. It’s based on real situations,” he said. “We have these background elements that are still very authentic, I would say, but our focus is about bringing a very cool and fun experience for players rather than really delivering a message about the world.”
As has been seen time and time again since the dawn of entertainment, artists can deliver experiences that are both entertaining and say something about the world. But hey, not everyone has to say something important.
That’s a choice.
