A report paints an accurate picture of the new The Division. Heartland is said to break new ground and be more reminiscent of Hunt Showdown and Escape from Tarkov.
Although Ubisoft has officially revealed little about The Division Heartland, a leak from a playtest already provided a pretty accurate picture of what direction the end-times series wants to take with the spinoff.
Now the well-known insider and game journalist Tom Henderson published a detailed (article on Xfire.com) with many exciting insights. As always, the leaker refers to his anonymous industry contacts. Therefore, please note that the following is not officially released information.
Interesting mention: Henderson claims that publisher Ubisoft is already stepping up quality assurance, which could indicate an imminent release. Officially, the game is scheduled to be released by March 2023 at the latest.
Escape from Tarkov as a model
Henderson explains that the gameplay is strongly oriented towards PvPvE shooters such as Escape from Tarkov or Hunt Showdown.
For classification: In the relatively new subgenre of these raid shooters, players have to invade instanced maps or open worlds with weapons and equipment they have brought with them, complete certain objectives there, and then escape alive with the loot. Other players try to do the same, plus there are different AI enemies.
Henderson’s new report is largely in line with what the leaked gameplay material already revealed. According to this, players in The Division Heartland will go on raids in teams of three on a large map called Silver Creek to capture equipment and fight against difficult AI enemies.
Below you can read exactly how The Division Heartland is supposed to play according to the report.
By the way: Escape from Tarkov will soon integrate the RTX-exclusive DLSS technology. That should save a lot of nerves. The trailer with lots of hardcore gameplay promises a significant improvement in frame rates:
The most important info from the report
In the report, Tom Henderson paints a clear picture of the new division game. Heartland revolves around these key points:
- The main mode of The Division Heartland is called Storm and sends players on a three-way quest for valuable loot. Other teams and enemy AI complicate the mission.
- A side mode is called Excursion and concentrates on pure PvE against computer opponents. Excursion is supposed to serve as a kind of preparation for the main mode Storm.
- In Storm mode, as in Division 2, there shall again be weapons and equipment in coloured rarity and strength levels, which shall be the target of the raids.
- Players shall be able to choose from six individual characters. The three female and three male characters shall only differ in appearance.
- Asymmetrical storms with poison gas shall make life difficult for players. The storms are said to be different from the symmetrically closing ring of a Battle Royale.
Complex PvE gameplay?
Henderson’s report suggests that Heartland could play challenging. In addition to other teams, players are also expected to fight AI enemies in The Division Heartland’s open world.
These are said to belong to the Vultures, a faction new to the brand, who come in six different types. For example, Flanker, Heavy and Sniper use different weapons and tactics. This is reminiscent of The Division 2’s enemy variation and would thus allow for similarly versatile gameplay.
In Escape from Tarkov, too, tactically complex combat situations arise with AI opponents, such as the heavily equipped raiders or special bosses that patrol the maps with their followers.
If the information from Tom Henderson is true, as it often has been in the past, Heartland could try to establish its own approach to the principle of Escape from Tarkov. Whether this will succeed in the end and how well it will play, however, we will have to wait and see.
