Taking a Break

My boyfriend and I have been together for 1 and a half years. Within the past couple of months, I noticed a shift in his behavior. He played video games more and whenever I told him something was bothering me he would start to fix it but eventually things would go back to the way they were. I am confident he is not cheating or interested in anyone else. I would tell him things he could do to fix things and he wouldn’t do them. We are now taking a break with the intent to start over. We have established rules and boundaries of the break. We want to be together in the long run and told each other what we lacked from one another. This way we can take the break to be independent and learn and grow and mature to hopefully be able to reconnect and get back together. I miss him greatly and he claims he is willing to put in the time and effort to be better. Has anyone taken a break like this and it be successful and work out?