Ghost Recon Wildlands signs out with the PvPvE Mercenaries mode
Get to the choppah!
With its sequel, Breakpoint, just a few months off, Ubisoft have one last gift for Ghost Recon Wildlands players that stuck around, launching free on July 18th. Mercenaries is an eight-player multiplayer mode and a radical departure from the regular game. Part survival challenge, part mini battle royale (with respawns), it reminds me of Survival mode from The Division, but on a much larger scale. Starting with just a knife, players race to clear NPC-held camps, activate transmitters and call in an evac helicopter with just one free seat. Below, a trailer explaining how it all works.
Mercenaries plays out in three phases, broken down here on the official Ghost Recon blog. After claiming some weaponry, players hunt for intel. Each bit found tells them the location of a transmitter, and either the location of other players, rare gear or a useful vehicle. Players need to activate three transmitters, each of which will narrow down the location of the helicopter landing zone, giving you a head start on arriving there and calling down the chopper. From there, it's a capture-and-hold battle at the landing zone, though intel found at this point will still provide perks.
While the match continues with respawns until one player evacs, dying loses you all of your equipment, making a win far harder. They've also reworked the health and armour system to be a little more survival-styled. Weapons have varying ability to punch through armour, and attacks that go all the way through will cause bleeding which reduces maximum health. Medikits and bandages stop bleeding, but not syringes, which just restore health. Anyone playing a round of Mercenaries will unlock a new costume based on the bad guy from Breakpoint, and there's some extra cosmetic rewards up to 25 wins.
Ghost Recon Wildlands is currently on sale for £16.99/€20.39/$20.39 via Fanatical, and activates directly to your Uplay account via Ubisoft Connect. The slightly more sci-fi sequel, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, launches on October 4th.