A few lucky Xbox One players got to take The Division for a spin earlier this month in the game's closed-alpha, but an open beta is on the way early next year. With the public finally getting its hands on Ubisoft's open-world shooter/RPG hybrid, new details are finally hitting the web. We've seen leaked gameplay videos from the alpha that give us our best look at the game yet (despite the Non-disclosure agreement all players had to sign). Now new details have emerged, except this time it's Ubisoft itself is spilling the beans.
In an interview with IGN, The Division creative director Julian Gerighty touches on various aspects of the game, such as progression, story and end-game content. Here's what he had to say about the game's RPG elements:
"The key to our RPG experience are the choices around weapons, skills, talents and mods," Gerighty says. "Do you want to build yourself out as a particularly lethal long range sniper agent who is able to push forward in that one challenging late game mission or are you going to step in the shoes of a healer with your group to make sure that your entire squad makes it?"
IGN asks Gerighty directly how the game's end game content will play out, asking if it will feature similar "raid" like events as seen in Destiny. Gerighty says not quite, but there are some similarities between how the two shared world shooters will address end-game play.
"Ever increasing difficulty in encounters and missions are central to the experience but the centerpiece is the Dark Zone where you will be competing at the highest level for the best equipment in the game, not only against the factions but also against other players," he tells the site.
One of Destiny's biggest criticisms was its lack of story. Though we won't yet know how The Division's storyline plays out, Gerighty does say that the core narrative in the game does have an end, even if the game itself doesn't.
"The game was never built to have a final end credit roll type of sequence and one of our challenges was to have a compelling story while proposing a completely open world with a non-linear structure," he says. "That said, there is a conclusion to our narrative journey."
You can read more of the interview here. The Division is scheduled for release on March 8, 2016 and will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
