The New (FREE) Battle Royale Game In Development
With Ubisoft recently releasing their Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC it would seem like there’s more than enough content under their name to go around. Yet and still, they recently announced that a new “Division” title will be coming soon. The game, which’s going to be free on Xbox and PlayStation platforms, was recently leaked by players who violated Ubisoft’s orders to keep the gameplay footage private. Luckily for Ubisoft, the gameplay didn’t reveal too much information, however, there are a few things viewers can still confirm from the footage of what Ubisoft is calling, “The Division: Heartland.”
There will be two gameplay modes for players to choose from, one being a thrilling single-player co-op option or a jam-packed multiplayer mode. The single-player co-op or “Expedition” allows up to four online players to team up and play through the story, which is set in a small American town called “Silver Creek.” Players who have heard about the leaked gameplay footage, however, are more excited to hear that the game will have a looter shooter style battle royale mode which mixes RPG elements with the action/shooter style.
This game mode will be called “Storm” and will hold up to 45 players per game. The object of the game puts players vs. other players as well as against other hostile NPCs in what’s known as PvEvP (player vs. player vs. Everyone) where the last man standing wins. This, however, won’t be the first time Ubisoft tries to support an online multiplayer battle royale though, as they’ve incorporated one in the “survival” game mode of the first Division game, which became popular for its added content throughout its lifetime.
The “survival” game mode was successful among its players for the way it combined the Role-Playing category with a battle royale atmosphere that, when put together, made for an exciting match for all the players who were trying to escape the pathogens where the once-gathered military is now quarantining from. With this battle royale mode, it looks as if the direction Ubisoft is going in is similar to the “survival mode” where a Redstorm closes in on players in PVP mode, and players are forced to advance into the center of the storm to reach an extraction point. Players, during the match, will be presented with a high-risk, high-reward looting system where there are landmarks set up around the map that notify other players when they’ve been looted. These landmarks, however, contain some of the best weapons and items found in the game if the player can manage to escape. Though it’s safe to guess that it will be just as difficult with a 45-player lobby coming after the player.
Some features and mechanics shown in the leaked footage only provide a brief look at the game, which wasn’t supposed to be leaked as it has non-disclosure agreements in place for players responsible for stress-testing it and getting a feel for the game. Despite this, players can still see — in the deleted footage — things like different enemy types, more specifically, pilgrims which are the main enemy clan.
Player hubs where shops, meetups, and NPCs can be found are also shown along with battle passes, which will be making a return to the game. Other gameplay mechanics involve keeping proper amounts of filters, which confirm that “Dark Zones,” where contagions threaten to harm the player, will also have made it into the game. These zones, as mentioned before, are the sections of the map where players can only stay for a permitted amount of time due to contamination. Movement speed is also noted to be faster and sliding — similar to the mechanic done in the Modern Warfare series — will be an added function for the game, which makes for more exploration opportunities as well as adding extra maneuverability to each character.
As far as when the game release is concerned, little information is known at this time as the closed alpha phase of the game is still set to release for selected players soon. What is certain, is that the game will come out on current and next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles including PC. With this being a free game for all platforms, excluding Nintendo, there will most definitely be many players downloading it themselves. While online multiplayer cross-platform is always well-received in the gaming community, it will be interesting and compelling to see the way Ubisoft uses the single-player “expedition” mode. The idea of being able to experience a storyline within the game with other online friends is never a bad one and there are many notable games that have done well with this online capability. Though there’s little information confirmed by Ubisoft about the game other than its existence and what was shown in the recently deleted gameplay leaks, gamers will be expecting a downloadable title that is expected to blow up across the gaming community.
Works Cited
Blakwoodz. “Ubisoft’s New FREE TO PLAY Game! (Not Assassin’s Creed),” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCNSanVwUP8, published on: 16 May 2021
Sherif Saed. “The Division: Heartland Gameplay Leaked,” VG24/7, https://www.vg247.com/2021/05/17/the-division-heartland-leaked-gameplay/, published on: 17 May 2021
The Unnamed Games Podcast. “The Division Heartland | Leaked Gameplay Impressions,” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezVzoL7CIrE&t=14s, published on: 16 May 2021
