History VideoGame / GhostReconWildlands

** At the beginning, Karen Bowman mentions she was in Moscow when the coup occurred in the first ''Ghost Recon''[[labelnote:note]]In ''Ghost Recon'' continuity, Russia has had two major coups, but the second one hadn't happened when this game takes place[[/labelnote]] and wonders if the rumors of the Ghosts' involvement are true. Nomad simply replies [[BlatantLies that wasn't them]]. {{Half tru|th}}e in that it was a different team on the ground.

** In the Operation Archangel crossover with "VideoGame/RainbowSixSiege" Twitch mentions Operation Mystic Tiger, the final mission of the original "VideoGame/RainbowSix" campaign.

* CoolCar: Santa Blance soldiers can frequently be see riding around in exotic sports cars or luxury sedans.

** In the Operation Archangel crossover with RainbowSixSiege Twitch mentions Operation Mystic Tiger, the final mission of the original Rainbow Six campaign.

** In the good ending, [[spoiler:El Sueño himself gets full immunity from the U.S government despite effectively wrecking a good part of Bolivia and personally responsible for dozens, if not hundreds of murders, [[TheStoolPigeon all in exchange for him giving information on other crime organizations and terrorist cells]] -- not because he's suddenly TheAtoner like El Cardenal or because he wants to protect people he cares for like El Yayo and Nidia, but because [[LetsYouAndHimFight he wants to use the US government to hunt down all his major rivals in the drug trafficking trade]]. It is hinted that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he'll eventually run out of names to name]], but even then, he'll either be transferred from his LuxuryPrisonSuite in Florida to a CardboardPrison in Mexico (which he'll easily break out of), or would just be "cut loose" by the CIA, allowing him to build a brand new cartel, which Karen Bowman and the Ghosts [[HereWeGoAgain will have to dismantle all over again]].]]

* DevelopingNationsLackCities: The game is set in a version of UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}} with no cities, only towns and villages.

* BonusBoss: For a limited time in December 2017, a special bonus mission was available on the map in which the player can battle the Predator (yes, [[Franchise/{{Predator}} THAT Predator]]). Because it's ''the Predator'', he takes ''a lot'' more damage to bring down than the otherwise "realistic" enemies fought in the game (it takes at least 22 .50 [=BMG=] rounds from the [=HTI=] anti-materiel rifle to kill him). He's also superhumanly mobile, cloaks, jams your tech, has heat vision, and fights with his trademark plasma-caster and smart disc, both of which are an [[OneHitKill instant knockdown]] against you.

** The ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' special event lets the players participate in a time-limited mission that places them on the trail of a Predator in the middle of the Bolivian jungle, culminating in a BonusBoss fight against it.

* StuffBlowingUp: There're a lot of way to do this including underbarrel grenade launchers, frag grenades, C4 demolition charges, explosive drone payloads, helicopter-mounted rocket launchers, mortar strikes, and more. It's still somewhat surprising that there aren't any dedicated explosive firearms to be found anywhere - no grenade rifles, no [=RPGs=] or other missile launchers, no vehicle-mounted automatic grenade launchers, nothing.

* NextSundayAD: ''Wildlands'' is set in 2019, two years after the games release date. The game eschews most of the futuristic technology used in ''Advanced Warfighter'' and ''Future Soldier'' instead using weapons and equipment available to present day military with the exception of the drones.

** At the beginning, Karen Bowman mentions she was in Moscow when the coup occurred in the first ''Ghost Recon''[[labelnote:note]]In ''Ghost Recon'' continuity, Russia has had two major coups[[/labelnote]] and wonders if the rumors of the Ghosts' involvement are true. Nomad simply replies [[BlatantLies that wasn't them]]. {{Half tru|th}}e in that it was a different team on the ground.

** During a profile video on La Plaga, Bowman mentions that he received training from bribed members of Bodark, the Russian special forces unit that the player fights against during ''Future Soldier''.
*** The crossover with ''Future Soldier'' reveals that these two are {{CallForward}}s, as it turns out that ''Wildlands'' takes place before ''Future Soldier''.

* TakeThat: Subverted. Sam, in Operation: Watchman, notes that they don't "make em' like me anymore", before he mentions a guy in a bandana, seemingly setting up a joke towards ''Franchise/MetalGear'', ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'''s rival... But then Karen notes that he retired, with Sam sadly realizing he's the {{last|OfHisKind}} of the old guard left, making the reference come off as respectful instead.

** In Operation: Watchman, Sam Fisher makes reference to an [[Franchise/MetalGear army infiltration expert like him who wore a bandana]]. Upon learning that he retired, Sam sadly realizes that [[LastOfHisKind he's the last of his generation]].

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Downplayed; named Cartel buchons that are assassination targets are a little tougher than basic mooks (being able to survive several bullet hits instead of just a couple and also being slightly resistant to headshots), but not so much as to be considered a full boss fight.

** Every boss-affiliated signature weapon without a suppressor, with the exception of [=LMGs=]. Especially in Tier One difficulty where loud gunfighting anything beyond two or three mooks is downright suicidal.

* FakeLongevity: The Tier One mode has been accused of this. It's basically a form of NewGamePlus that allows players to continue levelling after hitting the standard {{Cap}} at level 30, but it doesn't introduce any new content aside from a handful of ultimately superfluous items, and it's explicitly meant for replaying already completed story missions for the purpose of grinding for XP and supplies. The farther you progress, the harder it gets because every five levels the difficulty is increased to the next level and stays there until you disable the mode, which means that only the most hardcore and/or the most dedicated players will ever advance past the first 14 of 50 Tier One levels (the 15th already locks you in at Hardcore difficulty where you die in two hits from pretty much any weapon).

** Every boss-affiliated signature weapon without a suppressor, with the exception of [=LMGs=].

* WelcomeToCorneria: Random banter between enemies as well as the Ghosts seems to depend on the specifics of their current location and has a limited number of lines available, so it becomes repetitive very quickly. Infamously, the sicarios seem to know only ''one'' song, and it's not a narcocorrido; it's them singing the cartel's name over and over, ad nauseum.

-->"What the fuck, man? That was a civilian!"

* TooAwesomeToUse: Strangely, the recon drone and the Spotting skill can become this in missions that require you to identify and tail a target without being seen. The moment you spot the target - who's usually surrounded by a platoon of enemies - their grab-a-vehicle-and-drive-to-the-destination script kicks in, and if that happens while enemies are close to you, you won't be able to get a to vehicle yourself in time without getting spotted. On the other hand, once/if you know all of this already, the situation is turned around completely because you can just park a vehicle in a good spot, track down the target from afar and follow them without any hassle.

** Dead enemies drop their weapons and they always refill the ammo of the gun you currently have equipped with you which is nice, since otherwise you'd be scrounging for ammo of anything that isn't an Assault Rifle or a Submachine Gun. This includes the ''Fallen Ghosts DLC'' Crossbow.

** Dead enemies drop their weapons and they always refill the ammo of the guns you have with you since otherwise you'd be scrounging for ammo of anything that isn't an Assault Rifle or a Submachine Gun. This includes the ''Fallen Ghosts DLC'' Crossbow.

** Stat-wise, the USG 5.7 is significantly better than other handguns in the game (heavy caliber guns like the Desert Eagle do more damage, but sacrifice in all other stats to compensate). If you equip it with a Surpressor you can fire very close to other enemies without alerting them. It's also found in a relatively low-level province, meaning you'll get it quite early if you tackle the provinces in suggested order based on difficulty level. However, it's still just a handgun, so it won't dramatically change the gameplay.

** Nothing beats the 5.7 USG in the handgun department thanks to its good damage, huge 20-round capacity that can be upgraded to 30, complete silence when equipped with a suppressor, and a penetration stat powerful enough to be a threat to vehicles. Four to five hits to the torso can kill an alerted Unidad Heavy, which takes about half a second.

** Sync Shots will never miss if your AI Squadmates have the target locked on. They can even be done from seemingly impossible angles with only mooks inside buildings, guardhouses or watchtowers usually giving trouble to lock onto.
** You have an infinite number of drones with you and will never have to hurry back to an ammo crate to get more or even fix them. Given your drone can be broken and you have to kamizake it to use any of its alternate functions this is a very good thing.

** Want to get Nomad to swear [[ClusterFBomb even more?]] Simply jump in a plane and perform a loop or spin, and s/he will freak out.

* AntiFrustrationFeature: When you're playing offline, your teammate AI will automatically teleport to your location if you travel long distance on vehicles with not enough seats, such as motorcycles, after you dismount and will also teleport into the seats or gunner positions of vehicles if you drive away without them. They are also impossible to detect by the enemy until the player is detected or they are told to engage the enemy.

* CombatPragmatist: You're usually encouraged to take a stealthy approach and kill enemies one by one without drawing a lot of attention since in most cases you'll be hopelessly outnumbered and enemies, especially [=UNIDADs=], will call waves of reinforcements if you go loud too soon. Sniping, {{Backstab}}s, mines, even mortars or a frag grenade from nowhere are viable options to take out enemies quietly.

** Stat-wise, the USG 5.7 is significantly better than other handguns in the game (heavy caliber guns like the Desert Eagle do more damage, but sacrifice in all other stats to compensate). It's also found in a relatively low-level province, meaning you'll get it quite early if you tackle the provinces in suggested order based on difficulty level. However, it's still just a handgun, so it won't dramatically change the gameplay.

* CombatPragmatist: You're usually encouraged to take a stealthy approach and kill enemies one by one without drawing a lot of attention since you're usually hopelessly outnumbered and enemies, especially [=UNIDADs=], will call waves of reinforcements if you go loud too soon. Sniping, {{Backstab}}s, mines, even mortars or a frag grenade from nowhere are viable options.

*** The crossover with ''Future Soldier'' reveals that these two are CallForwards, as it turns out that ''Wildlands'' takes place before ''Future Soldier''.

** After the completion of an objective, Nomad at least once quips, "[[Film/BackToTheFuture Now let's make like a tree,]] [[PrecisionFStrike and get the fuck]] [[{{Malaproper}} out of here!]]"

** Almost every basic weapon and modification the game has to offer can be unlocked in the U-Play shop for real money, skipping the hunt for them in the game world entirely.