In the aftermath of a present day bioweapon catastrophe, survivors must band together to take back New York and restore hope. On the surface, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy inspired “The Division” has Game of the Year written all over it. However what we actually know about the game is limited to only a few short gameplay demonstrations from E3 two years running, and the coolest parts of the demos are the parts of the game that are only hinted at but not fully shown. Elsewhere a leaked trailer explores some of these aspects in better detail, adding credibility to this possibly being a huge success. What worries me more is trying to ascertain why Ubisoft would play their cards so close to their chests when they are usually quite liberal with game hype ahead of a release. With just two weeks or so before the closed beta, let’s take a closer look at why this game is exciting and what they might not be telling us.
Update: A flood of amazing footage hit YouTube this morning from a few lucky individuals who were invited to Sweden to try it hands on, and it looks absolutely incredible. Here is a link to one of the best yet at Arekkz Gaming.
A Good Start
The foundation of the gameplay we have seen is a tactical multiplayer rpg focused on exploration, survival and challenging combat encounters. Every detail in the trailer and demo begins and ends with cooperation – hope against the insurmountable began with an outstretched hand. This poetry in motion is the backdrop for the excellent gameplay demonstrations from E3 – probably the best material they have released to date. Three players teamed up to move through the ruins of downtown New York to an objective, using a variety of skills to balance three team roles familiar to other successful RPGs – healing, direct damage, damage and threat mitigation. In dangerous areas tackling a group a foes near or above your character levels required communication and teamwork, and the pace of battle was intense.
One of the most interesting aspects of the demo is the late game PvP twist. The team ventures into the Dark Zone, a PvP enabled challenge area where the loot and stakes are raised substantially. What begins as a multi-team cooperative challenge against a much more powerful AI opponent suddenly turns into a brutal team vs team PvP struggle for the sum of the loot. The hostile agent self policing PvP flagging system hinted at in the footage might be comparable to one of my all time favorite openworld rpgs ever: Ultima Online, or at least as it was originally launched.
Pie in the Sky
If you consider for a moment what other more recent games this resembles so far, it is difficult not to get ones hopes up. Consider first its pedigree (a Tom Clancy shooter), the difficulty tuning for three person teams (Destiny) and the broad shooter rpg setting itself (Borderlands 2, Fallout) it seems like a recipe for megahit. Consider further the aspects of the game they haven’t quite shown us outside of hints and details in the leaked trailer regarding how New York is rebuilt one stronghold and critical resource at a time, and I see a truly groundbreaking next generation gaming experience that could eclipse the competition.
Then why not shout it from the rooftops?
Compared to the deluge of footage we’d expect from any other Ubisoft flagship title like Assassin’s Creed, they have been pretty tight lipped about The Division. The site for the game is cool enough but the amount of actual game information and working footage is quite small. With just weeks ahead of the beta and a tentative March release not far behind it, there is valid concern in what we haven’t seen for the game yet. This would not be the first game shown at E3 that looked fantastic but did not resemble the final product – see the infamous case of Aliens: Colonial Marines, which was so bad it ended up in court. I doubt that is the case here, but it is worth citing.
Complete duds aside, we haven’t seen much at all about how progression works, side activities, any additional details about how habitually aggressive PvP is handled (this could still be cool), or any hint at what end game content will look like. The latter most could be a landmine issue for the success of the game and might be the most valid concern the game faces.
Another roadblock that is closer to home is the known stability problems that face the other recent Ubisoft online shooter – Rainbow Six: Siege. Granted, we’d hope they would have dedicated servers for an openworld rpg like The Division, but hopes and this actually being the case are two different things.
I don’t expect that the coming beta will be restricted by NDA, and hope to post a follow up once I have hands on experience to confirm or dispel these questions.
Update: The “leaked” trailer was released in the US a little while after I posted this. Keep it coming guys, it looks amazing.
discordian bliss 