We have new insights regarding Tom Clancy’s The Division, via E3 interview with Ryan Barnard. Ryan points out that Ubi hopes the fans will play the game for years, and explains what they put in the game to make it that way.
1st off, Ryan reassures fans that the graphics that fans have seen on demos so far will look as good on the final product, thanks to their new Snowdrop engine. The game features many great graphical effects, with a particularly good destruction engine (perhaps the same one used on the new Rainbow Six?)
The game has many RPG like elements, including loot, exp, and skill trees. Ubi has designed it so that you can find your way into building your skillset on your own. Via modification, you can change how those skill trees you’ve committed to operate.
You can think of loot as having different categories. For example, you can look at different categories of guns, assigned in terms of characteristics (range, distance, reloads, etc). There will be a massive number of guns and weapons, but rather than sheer number, Ubi focused on variety.
Ubi has also come up with a solution to how to tell a story on an always online game. Via Echo, the game’s visualization for some AR tech, you get to pick up fragments of the story by collecting data all around you and catch up from there. In truth, it now sounds similar to the solution Kojima came up with for Ground Zeroes, only expanded upon further. Under The Division’s premise, it adds a layer of investigation to the game. This amounts to more than Ground Zeroes’ collect-a-thon.
Ryan isn’t ready to talk about making clans in detail, but they recognize that communities are a big part of online shooters, and they intend to support them. What they will reveal now is that in the preliminary stages of the game, you have opportunities to meet up with other players. PVP will be active in this area.
Regarding the game’s upcoming mobile app, they again affirm that the demo reflects what the final app will look like.
Ryan also hinted at factions, by revealing one of them: the Cleaners are a high level militia that stand as a serious threat to civilians, as well as you and your fellow agents. Without saying much, they are grounded to what kinds of groups would form in New York, and, there are more of them. A lot more.
Ryan also makes it clear that the game has single player, albeit, still in the always online open world. Basically, you can enjoy and use all the features of the game, including PVP, without teaming up or joining a group for the whole game.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is coming to Windows, Playstation 4, and Xbox One on 2015. You can watch the interview in full below.
