In the recent Ubisoft Forward event on September 10, the company formally announced the upcoming spin-off title The Division: Heartland based on the Tom Clancy inspired MMO shooter. Compared to the main series, Heartland will include new game modes and locations, along with other improvements.
As per the title, Heartland takes the plot of The Division 2 from Manhattan into the “heartland” of small town America. Agents will set foot in the small town of Silver Creek, a town in the midwest which has become a strategic location for enemy forces, rogue agents, and the epicenter of a deadly contamination. Agents will have their hands full in this isolated small town with limited resources.
The game was announced last year as a spin-off related to The Division 2 but details have been kept under wraps since then. Even the recent announcement in Ubisoft Forward keeps most of these details close to the vest, but we certainly know more than we did before.
In Silver Creek, players will engage in survival-shooter style gameplay, scavenging for supplies and crafting to get a leg up on their opponents. Agents will be able to drop in at multiple locations in matchmade instances. The game awards players for accomplishing a set list of objectives on each excursion, with the threat of PvE and PvP elements standing in their way.
You can check out the Developer Intro trailer for The Division: Heartland here.
The trailer features commentary from Red Storm Entertainment Creative Director Keith Evans. While Massive Games is billed as the main developer of The Division franchise under Ubisoft, Red Storm Entertainment has worked with Massive Games on the franchise, and has a storied history with Tom Clancy games all the way back to Tom Clancy’s Politika in 1997.
With Red Storm Entertainment front and center in development this time, Ubisoft promises a fresh take on the franchise that’s tempered with familiar trappings established by Massive Games. Players of the original games will likely feel right at home with this new game, despite its differences.
A release date still hasn’t been announced for the latest free to play game in The Division franchise, but with the game being announced over a year ago and the polished gameplay footage we saw during Ubisoft Forward there may be good news coming soon.
