The Division 2 Review

The Division 2 is a third person looter shooter by Ubisoft. Loosely based on a few of Tom Clancy’s novels, it drops you back into a chaotic world where several major American cities have been ravaged by a chemical weapon. If you didn’t play the first Division, here’s the idea. You are part of a secret government backed group of special forces operators who live their everyday normal lives until something catastrophic happens. When the President decides to activate you, you and any other Division Agents are able to act with supreme authority for the good of the country. The first game sees you activated in New York, ground zero for the biological weapon. You work to clear the city of multiple criminal and terrorist groups all while acquiring loot and upgrading your Agent. And The Division 2 is much of the same.

This time you make your way to Washington D.C. where the White House has been converted into a base of operations. As was true of the first game, the city has been recreated with enormous detail. The streets surrounding the national monuments and museums are littered with accurate recreations of artwork, city markers, and building facades. Street signs are true to life. It’s safe to say if you play this game enough you won’t get lost walking from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial if you ever visit D.C. for real.

There are several new factions that have all decided they know best when it comes to surviving the mini apocalypse. You and other Agents will fight thru these factions, gathering survivors and uniting outpost across the city, in an attempt to take it back and restore some semblance of order. There is actually a pretty good little narrative going on in Division 2, and I don’t want to spoil it by giving any more detail.

There is an emphasis on multiplayer in this game, but the story is good enough to play solo and never feel like you aren’t enough. In fact, until you hit the level cap of 30, the entire game is just as fun solo as it is with a group. The story was enticing but the world was so full of things to do I often found myself wandering down alleys or into buildings just exploring and finding loot or other things to do. As you progress your Agent will find more weapons, gear, and skills to help them battle the entrenched factions. After level 30, your gear score determines the quality of new loot, and this is where multiplayer swings the scale. Don’t get me wrong, the entire game can be played and enjoyed solo. But once you need to get your gear score up another player or two can help tremendously. With more Agents in a group, the difficulty is ramped up and the loot drops get better. Also if you join up with someone in a higher World Tier than you, you will get drops for that World Tier.


Once you get to the endgame, and your gear score is nice and high, it can become a grind to get even one more point on your gear score. However the world is so rich and full of things to do, even at World Tier 5 and a gear score over 500, I am finding new things to accomplish. With new content on the horizon and the same support structure as Division 1, Division 2 will only continue to improve and get better. If you like the third person perspective and you enjoy exploring and collecting loot, this is an excellent, strategic shooter. It is currently available on Xbox, PS4, and PC.