First look at endgame content

Title Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Platform Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Developer Various Ubisoft studios Publisher Ubisoft Release date March 15, 2019

‘Play The Division 2 and find out what a real shutdown of the government looks like’, was read in a promotional e-mail from Ubisoft. After all, the American shutdown touches thousands, if not millions of Americans. The French publisher did not know how quickly it had to make excuses. As annoying as the political situation in the United States was, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 does indeed show what could happen if the power of the government is completely gone and the streets of large cities are taken over by armed groups .

The Division 2 is logically the successor of Tom Clancy’s The Division. In that game, we saw how New York turned into a large war zone after the outbreak of a deadly virus. Groups of criminals made the streets unsafe. You as a member of ‘The Division’ had to regain safety. As a member of this special division you were, as we learned in the game, the last line of defense of the government. The Division consisted of apparently normal citizens who would have to be activated in the event of a threatening disaster. That started in the first game, but the second part seems to really show how precarious the situation is.

With the move to Washington DC, we also make a leap towards the future. Seven months have passed after the members of the Division arrived in Washington after other division members have sent a distress signal from that city. Why they did that is not entirely clear, although it is known that the city is in deep trouble.

There are several armed factions that keep parts of the city in their grip. These factions are constantly at war with each other, fighting for the remaining resources. A small group that is loyal to the government, is still there and tries to protect citizens, but it is not easy. To make matters worse, the Division’s network is also offline, so that less information is available than you would like.

It is up to the members of the Division – you and your potential team – to create order in this urban chaos. The Gameplay takes us to the streets of downtown Washington DC, which is better than what we saw in New York. The atmosphere is completely different. There was an oppressive, nasty atmosphere in New York. Logically, the corpses had not even been cleared away. Washington DC is clearly beyond New York. Left behind cars or other obstacles are already partially overgrown. Buildings have been cleared long and wide.

Already in our play session of a few hours, it turns out that choosing a good route between all these dangers can sometimes make a lot of difference. You can bypass checkpoints or enemy patrols to make it easier for yourself. Checking out the dangers and cleaning up Washington DC is of course also an option.

That was also what the team we played in most of the time did. We found that team by joining other players in the ‘social zone’ near one of the central hubs in the game. Just like in the first, you have the choice of whether you want to execute the missions alone or as a team. The Division 2 does play cooperative missions, just as it is the case in games like Destiny and Anthem.

Endgame missions and Dark Zones

If you played the first “The Division” on your own and liked it, there is no reason not to play this second in the same way. Perhaps some missions are extra spicy. It is true that in the Dark Zones, where players can fight against each other, you will be at a disadvantage. It may well be that the levels of players in the normal Dark Zones are aligned, so that it does not matter what kind of weapons and stuff you have collected, but whether or not you have teammates remains important.

We could not explore the Dark Zones during this play session, but in the past few months, Ubisoft has published information about it. It is clear that you can find three different ‘normal’ Dark Zones in Washington, namely East, West and South. Each zone has its own character, but also the property that you can find strong ‘loot’. Just like in the first “The Division” you have to ‘extract’ those items by calling a helicopter. That moment of extraction remains exciting because other players in the zone see where that process takes place and can, therefore, try to steal your stuff. Even in The Division 2 you can go ‘rogue’ in the Dark Zones, go and attack your teammates. If you do that repeatedly, your location changes into a ‘Manhunt Rogue’ and all players in the zone get to see your location, to be able to hunt you.

For those who are not all that excited yet, there is the ‘Occupied Dark Zone’. That zone is part of the ‘endgame’ of The Division 2 and allows players to enter a more difficult Dark Zone. In that zone, the levels of players are not equalized, so it does matter what kind of weapons and gear you have. In addition, the system where Rogue agents are shown in red is not active, and friendly fire is always on. In the Occupied Dark Zone you have to pay more attention than in the normal Dark Zone, but of course, there are better rewards.

In the endgame, something happens in the game world where a new party lands in Washington DC. That means that from that moment on there will be special versions of missions that you have already played in the campaign. These ‘Occupied’ versions are more difficult and have different and stronger enemies than you saw before.

New in the gameplay is that you have a certain ‘Specialization’. That specialization is related to the type of soldier you are. If you have Sharpshooter as a specialization, you can use an extra strong sniper rifle if you find special ammunition, and the Demolitionist has a grenade launcher. The Division 2 will have three specializations on release, but Ubisoft will add other options to the game in some period after the release.

Another part of the endgame comes in the form of so-called Strongholds. These are special missions in which you attack the home of one of the fractions in the game. For each of those fractions, this is their last point of resistance, so you can count on a fierce battle. We have not been able to play them yet, but it sounds like these Strongholds will be good for the toughest.

Hope and reconstruction

Before you get close to those Strongholds you have of course been in The Division 2 for dozens of hours. The start of that long road can be tested later this week, in the beta test that Ubisoft organizes for the game. The blind panic from the first part has given way to resilience. Early on you arrive at the White House, which is used as a safe base by the part that remains of the government and the army. It is absolutely worthwhile to make a round trip through the presidential official residence. In the Oval Office, there is some communication between the American president and the Mexican president, giving a nice nod to current issues from the real world.

The White House is the most important hub in the game, but you quickly reach other parts of the city that emerge as safe havens. These are pieces that are kept safe by armed citizens and some soldiers and are actually being rebuilt. Here you can also contribute to The Division 2 yourself. Of course, it helps the citizens if you clean up enemies on the streets, but there are also side missions that are specifically aimed at providing certain supplies or facilities that the small ‘camps’ need.

Such missions may seem insignificant, but they certainly are not. In the first place, they offer variation, and precisely that element was missing in the first part. In addition, it is illustrative for the other atmosphere and approach of the game. Where in The Division despair and survival were central, hope and recovery now seem to be gaining a little more. The lighter, colorful look of the game reinforces that image even more. About the rest of the graphics, we can say, The Division 2 does seem to be barely above the level of the first part. That is not bad in this case, because The Division looked fine. However, we are now a few years further, so what impressed us at the time is now considered ‘just good’. But perhaps the game does not need more than that.

Preliminary conclusion

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 surprised us in a positive way. That sounds like we were going into it with a negative feeling, and that’s right somewhere. After playing the game during the E3 we were curious about the rest of the lighter and more open game world. The atmosphere in the city is different in the 2nd and it makes us want more and more extensive exploration in and around all the famous landmarks of Washington DC. Also, the endgame content tasted best. we are curious how far the city is similar to real-world reconstruction. The answer to that question follows in about a month and a half.