The beta for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 dropped this weekend and we finally got to see how Ubisoft’s latest offering stacks up to the original. The first Division game launched on March 8, 2016 as a third-person, semi-tactical shooter with solid gameplay and an immersive, yet empty world. It was considered an average game at launch but eventually reached higher acclaim with it’s post-launch support and DLC’s, eventually reaching an 80 metascore and 6.9 user score on Metacritic. Not bad for a first try of a new IP. So how is the first impression of The Division 2? Does it improve the formula? Or is it more of the same Ubisoft content we’ve seen before? Well, after clocking a few hours on this weekend’s beta test, I find myself intrigued and hopeful enough to give The Division 2 a nod of acceptance for a solid effort thus far if the beta is any indication of the finished product.
Set 7 months after the events of the first game, the U.S. capital has all but fallen into complete ruin. But this isn’t some empty, frozen wasteland like we saw in the previous installment. The Division 2’s version of a post-pandemic Washington D.C. is quite colorful during the day and promotes a creepy atmosphere at tonight. Hollow and destroyed buildings litter the city blocks. Flora and fauna have started their process of reclaiming the concrete jungle as well. One of the first differences I noticed after stepping foot into city was how much more populated and alive it felt compared to the first game. The open world map is set to be a 1:1 scale of Washington D.C., with the White House as your main base of operations as well as safe houses and settlements full of survivors scattered across the city. Furthermore, in the beta, you could barely go a city block without running into a group of survivors making a scavenge run or a group enemies guarding a checkpoint or strong hold. Enemy strongholds even send out regular enemy patrols to wander around the surrounding area to scavenge as well. It was quite immersive to be wandering the city and see a fire fight between a group of survivors and an enemy gang break out a block down the street.
The open-world appears to be quite big, sectioned off in your typical level-range areas. If we go by the map, there also appears to be 3 different dark zones, compared to the first game’s one dark zone that was sectioned off by level range as you progressed in the game. The settlements are a new addition to the game, serving as hubs for storyline and side quests as well as being upgradeable which in turn gives you personnel and resources to upgrade your main base of operations. Unlike, the first game where you reached a safe house, checked the board and immediately synced all the missions and collectables in the area, some particular points of interest and collectables appeared to require exploration to find and nail down. Only two areas of the map are available during the beta from what I can see but both exhibited enough points of interest to keep me busy at least for awhile. Traversing the map to unexplored areas is not as easy as the first game either. Navigating the city streets can be hazardous with all the enemy gangs wandering around, especially at night when vision is limited in the dark alleys and enemies appeared to be lurking about everywhere, just waiting to ambush you.
The original Division’s progression system makes it return with some fine tuning. Now there are 8 skills that can be bought and upgraded to have their various functions altered, allowing you to plan out your skill sets for the missions ahead. There are also a variety of passive perks to earn with some sporting multiple ranks of effectiveness. While the progression system seemed decent enough, I was not thrilled at the fact that I had to fast travel back to the main base of operations in order to buy and customize new skills and perks every time I leveled up or found some SHD Tech. It would have been much nicer at the very least to have that ability in the various settlements or safe houses so you don’t have to completely take yourself out of the local area and the tasks at hand. I know the first Division did that as well, but it just ends up being immersion-breaking for me personally. That being said, there are even supposedly even more skill progression trees that you are able to earn after hitting max level. The game appears to use the same loot system from the first game with some fine touches to passive perks for each piece of gear. Weapons in particular appear to be upgradeable with various mods as well. Crafting also returns with recipes unlocking as you progress through the game’s storyline missions, side missions as well as earn settlement upgrades. Each weapon feels unique in how it handles and their feedback feels decent enough as you fire. The character creation was locked to just the random option during the beta from what I could tell but the randomly generated characters looked unique enough to suggest that players should be happy with the customization options. I have not seen any clothing or skin drops yet but I assume those will make a return as well.
Video Credit: PapaWookiee
One thing I particularly like about The Division 2 is how it promotes teamwork between everyone playing the game. Similar to the first game, leaving a safe area still places your character in your own private instance of the game world. However, at any time during the game, whether it be during a mission or while you are out exploring the city, you will often receive requests for backup from real players who need assistance with their current mission or from dangers in the surrounding area. Your character can send out a distress call from the social tab at any time for backup as well. I experienced this myself while traveling to one of the first main story missions. As I got close to the mission area, my radio sparked to life, with the base of operations letting me know that an agent was requesting help nearby. With the press of a button and a quick loading screen, I and another player who answered the distress call were launched into another player’s game where we found him in an already intense firefight with Hyena gang members. We moved forward to back him up and cleared the immediate area. Then we proceeded to finish the rest of the mission as a team. I was pleased to find out that this cleared the mission requirement for me as well, similar to the multiplayer system exhibited in Ghost Recon: Wildlands that I enjoyed so much.
On the surface, the beta shows that aside from a few bugs such as audio cutting out from weapon fire occasionally and some distant screening clipping in and out of view, the gameplay is rather solid and polished. That being said, at the end of the day it is still a Ubisoft game so it looks and plays like you would expect a Ubisoft game would. However, I do plan to go in with an open mind and give it the old college try once the full game launches next week to offer a fair and thorough review in the future. I am also definitely interested to see the full amount of content the game launches with as well as where Ubisoft’s Year One plan takes it in the future. I should also mention that Ubisoft recently announced that all Year One expansion content will be free to all players who buy the base game, with paid DLC expansions most likely to follow in the year afterwards. All things considered, it appears that The Division 2 is shaping up to be a promising title.
