Oh hey, rememberThe Division 2? It’s still going, as surprising as that might sound for a 2019 live-service offering from Ubisoft, of all companies. Though it’s past its prime, there is some exciting new content cooking in the background, and its admittedly cool title isBattle for Brooklyn.
Our very first sneak peek at the mysteriousBattle for BrooklynDLC/XPAC forThe Division 2comes about as part of the game’s 6th anniversary celebration video. Much of the video is fluff about Twitch drops, anniversary cosmetics, and other assorted tidbits, which is all well and good when it comes to keeping the game trucking along. The truly exciting bit comes at the end, though, with a few short but interesting snippets of footage from theBattle for Brooklyn‘s all-new playing area, featuring the autumn season.
The Division 2: Battle for Brooklyn is still coming, will be set in Autumn
Seasons have, surprisingly enough, always been kind of crucial forThe Divisionas a franchise. I’d go so far as to say that the originalDivision‘s winter-time setting wasn’t outright improved upon by the sequel’s summer-time Christmas whiplash, but there’s no denying the fact that it’s all very striking when you look at it. This is only driven home further when you considerBattle for Brooklyn‘s brown falling leaves aesthetic from the teaser. To say nothing of the fancy new industrial setting that’s also been teased. This may or may not also be a repurposing of assets fromthe canceledThe Division: Heartlandgame, but that’s a non-issue in my book.
It goes without saying that the developers featured in the anniversary video didn’t offer much context as to whatBattle for Brooklynwill be about, but we do know that more information will be coming out on April 23rd. On that note, we do know the where and the when of the DLC now, so I’d say that’s more than good enough for such an unexpected reveal.
The Division 2: Battle for Brooklynis going to either make or break the game, I’d say. As it currently stands,The Division 2is basically on life-support even though the developer Massive Entertainment has beensupporting it with seasonal offeringsever since theWarlords of New YorkDLC launched back in 2020.
The bit that I truly do not understand, no matter how hard I try, is why Ubisoft didn’t do more withThe Division 2back in the day. Instead of keeping the game barely alive, Massive could’ve done something similar to what Bungie accomplished withDestiny 2. Now, that game has its own fair share of problems, but I’ve always felt thatThe Division 2did a bunch of things better thanDestiny 2did. The sense of immersion and exploration, for one, truly clicked for me in bothDivisiongames, and I genuinely feelThe Division 2deserved more opportunities to shine.Battle for Brooklynmay well be that, though it’s years past its prime for sure.
In the interim, you may be interested in checking outThe Division 2‘s new Burden of Truth season, which launched on February 25. It’s something, at least.
