Having launchedThe Division’salpha recently, Ubisoft is getting closer to the July 27, 2025 unveiling of the game that has been a proverbial riddle wrapped inside an enigma for what feels like years now. First unveiled at E3 in 2013, the game has teased players with its unique mix of traditional Tom Clancy tactical combat set in a Fallout-style apocalyptic NYC and loads of loot-driven gameplay. On paper it sounds like a dream hybrid, but development has been plagued with setbacks and delays, leaving PS4, Xbox One and PC fans of the franchise anxious to play.
The Division represents a bold vision for Ubisoft. Using a traditional three-player fireteam similar to Rainbow Six games, the game makes you an operative within a sleeper cell of soldiers trained for the unthinkable: a viral apocalypse. Activated and inserted into a New York City environment which has been decimated, reduced to a chaotic struggle between groups of survivors, you and your team must use advanced tactical training and caches of gadgetry to restore some semblance of order. The environment you play in is a persistent, shared world where you might run across other fireteams and choose to either work together or against one another. Tactical combat, as in any Tom Clancy game, is paramount. Working together and communicating is the difference between success and winding up in a pool of your own blood. Dark Zones will exist within the game, facilitating PvP for players who vie to recover valuable loot. Level progress is reported to include a robust RPG system which will appeal to fans of that genre as well.
Ubisoft has been promising a game which raises the bar for players looking for innovation with each new release. The concepts they’re introducing seem promising. However, if Bungie’s release of Destiny has taught people anything, it’s that expectations need to be well-tempered when games touted as “innovative” are released. In an effort to retain a sense of mystery and perhaps fuel hype, Ubisoft seems to be keeping specific details somewhat vague. While The Division sounds intriguing, I’m trying to keep a level head about what the finished product might look like.
The Division needs to deliver on a number of fronts in order to squeeze 60 bucks from me. Here’s the shortlist:
1.Make the game playable completely solo. While Ubisoft has said this is the case, assuring people that they can explore the game world alone if they’re feeling antisocial, I’ll believe it when I see it. Destiny also made these claims, and we all learned what a frustrating experience that is. I’m all for having more games that allow for co-op with friends, but in reality most of the time getting a group any larger than two together can be troublesome. I don’t want to have to depend on others just to jump into a leisurely session.
2.Have rock-solid connectivity. For all the hurdles Destiny stumbled through at launch, connectivity isn’t one of them. Aside from a few disconnects here and there, my experience with the game was positive in this regard. Ubisoft, on the other hand, has more than a few blemishes on its connectivity track record in games (Assassin’s Creed Unity anyone?), so they have a lot to prove with a game that’s slated to be always online and persistent. They need to put this one through its paces before launch, or it will be a disaster.
3.Provide matchmaking for all modes. Don’t feed gamers any of that elitist spin about your game requiring a coordinated, communicative group to take on endgame content, or anything else. From Software produced some of the most demanding and difficult games in the modern era, yet still created a matchmaking system that allows people to match up randomly and still find success. Games like Destiny are gimmicky in a sense, imposing a lot of odd mechanical demands, whereas Souls’ games offer difficulty that is more contextual. This means once players have seen a particular boss fight a few times, they generally know what to do in order to help others and can even lead and teach by example. I’m hoping The Division will employ more of the latter.
4.Get the balance right the first time. If one thing has turned me off these modern persistent world online games it’s the endless nerfing and buffing. Players put a lot of work into building characters and gear that suits them, only to have both decimated by changes made in the name of balance. While I understand the logic behind this, and the importance of creating balanced PvP, they need to create a better system allowing for varied choices. My biggest fear with the Division is that Ubisoft is going to wade into the deep end of RPG gaming without learning how to manage the kiddie pool first. Ubi has little to no experience with true RPG development. This genre allows for incredible player creativity and power builds. Bringing this into competitive play can be a recipe for disaster if not handled properly. I see this issue, perhaps more than any other, as the one that could break The Division in half.
5.Keep grinding to a minimum. I’ve played a lot of Ubisoft games over the years and one thing binds them all: repetitive content. From Assassin’s Creed to Far Cry, games that seemed massive at first always ended up revealing an ugly tendency to recycle the same “fetch” quests en masse. While they certainly aren’t alone in this regard, Ubisoft often lacks creativity in the way this gets executed. Both the aforementioned games, as well as Watch Dogs, all used the same mechanic, climbing towers or “outposts” to open up more of the game world. And every time, by about the third one I was ready to call it quits. Clearly, Ubisoft looks for any method they can to pad content. God help us all if they ever get a notion to start using Destiny-level grinding to keep players on a hamster wheel.
Essentially, The Division presents interesting potential, but their concepts are untested. Delays on release may prove to be worth it, and the game could be a masterpiece that changes the industry forever. Or, it could wind up being this generation’s first true trainwreck. More than likely it will be somewhere in between. But I believe if they deliver on the aspects I mentioned above, it should be a solid starting point. They’ll need to prove that first, though, and I’m certainly not lining up to pre-order without seeing the finished product first.
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