The only problem with a big-budget shooter experience like The Division is that you’re not going to have as much fun as you should unless you’re able to play with your friends. These games are made for team play, and if you’re teaming with strangers in silence, or are alone for most of your adventure, you’re not going to appreciate it.
Those barriers to entry are removed with something like The Division Resurgence. Coming soon to both Android and Apple devices for the low price of free-to-play, this entry promises to break down those barriers so your friends can decide to download and play with you in a matter of minutes. But that promise doesn’t mean much if you’re getting a cut-down version of the experience. And that’s exactly where Ubisoft is stepping up.
Much like what we saw with the recently announced Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Resurgence strives to bring the big-budget triple-A experience to mobile devices with as few sacrifices as possible, even including controller support for players who really want a console-like experience.
“In the upcoming closed alpha you can play with your friends, and all the missions and activities available – be it main quest or side missions – are playable with your friends,” community developer James Berry tells GLHF. “We know from previous Division games that the Dark Zone is the big thing players love, and it will be coming back. It won’t be in the closed alpha, but it will be available when the game launches.”
One thing that most players will feel nervous about when going into a game like Resurgence is monetization. Free-to-play games often have multiple options for in-game purchases, and The Division‘s gameplay loop could easily become a grind for incremental stat increases without purchases.
“Our main goal is to make sure that the game is going to be fair, so the players can fight on even footing. Today we don’t have plans to share on monetization,” Berry explains. “If players want to purchase things in-game, it will be to help them maybe advance a bit faster, or have cosmetics and personalize their experience.”
The Division Resurgence is mostly set shortly after the climax of the original Division, and you’ll be exploring the same New York City, with most of it being accurately recreated as it was in the original game. We’re no strangers to seeing large worlds in mobile games now thanks to the likes of Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, and Genshin Impact, but few manage to replicate the level of detail we see in similar console and PC games. Resurgence is definitely ambitious in this respect, but it remains to be seen whether or not it’s able to deliver on what it promises.
This isn’t a straight recreation of the original game, there are plenty of brand-new weapons and features to take even experienced players by surprise. “While playing with colleagues we were going down main streets on our way to an objective, and stumbled on an activity, and we decided to do it. We unlocked a couple of crates when suddenly a new Freeman Heavy boss appears, which has huge armor,” Berry recalls.
“He has a brand new weapon that we hadn’t seen previously, which shoots discs at you which push you back. I was scrambling for cover, and whenever I was hurt I was pushed out of cover. I wasn’t expecting that, it really took me off guard, as a Division player. Even experienced players never know what’s going to happen.”
The gameplay we’ve seen shows a convincingly large and detailed rendition of The Division‘s New York City, with the cover-based shooting that is synonymous with the series. The Dark Zone and other PVP modes provide a competitive option for players that enjoy that, but the bread-and-butter of the experience is co-op shooting with friends against a variety of NPC combatants. Missions are shorter, allowing you to jump in and out of challenges with friends without having to dedicate huge amounts of time to them.
We’re promised to see more characters and expanded stories from the universe of The Division in Resurgence, like the appearance of fan-favorite character Faye Lau. “We discover them in The Division 2, but now we see them in a completely new light,” Berry says. “As a player, I think it’s a great way to re-experience that story in a different way.”
While it’s nice that fans of the series will see familiar faces, it remains to be seen whether those players used to console and PC experiences will actually shift to mobile just for those extra nuggets of lore. At least they can give it a go for free.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
