Background information
City Tales: Medieval Era is in early access but I’m on the fence
by Debora Pape
The sheriff is back in town: a shooting tour through The Division 2
4.6.2025
Translation: Julia Graham
Pictures: Debora Pape
Five years after the last DLC for The Division 2, Warlords of New York, new content is being released in the form of Battle for Brooklyn. A good reason to install the game again.
I’m back. After years of abstinence from my favourite shooter series, I return to the violent game world of The Division 2. Oh, how I missed the post-apocalyptic city air of destroyed and littered Washington. On 27 May, the second DLC, Battle for Brooklyn, was released for the 2019 third-person shooter. I can’t pass that up. But I eventually remember why I only ever used to play the game for a short time.
Division has a place in my heart
I almost have romantic feelings for Division, having been addicted to the game since the open beta for the first part at the beginning of 2016. I loved using lead and grenades to decimate gangs known for looting and murdering in snowy New York shortly after a deadly pandemic.
I was also impressed by The Division 2, which is set in Washington six months after the outbreak of the Dollar Flu. It’s been years since my last visit to the city. For the new DLC, I strap on my glowing orange agent watch again and grab the sniper rifle. My allies in the New York borough of Brooklyn need me.
Season stuff be gone
After logging in, I stand in front of the somewhat battered White House in Washington, D.C. as a level 40 Division agent. This is the headquarters of my fraction, the «good folk» who ensure law and order in the city. I’ve forgotten her name, as it’s been too long since my last visit to the city.
Messages pop up everywhere. «Get the reward for XY!», «Start a challenge!», «Pursue a project!» and «Don’t forget any seasonal events!» While not the original tone, that’s more or less how it comes across.
I almost give up. What is all this? Am I on a dubious website that floods me with pop-ups, or am I in a struggling city that needs my help? I close all the endgame stuff that I don’t understand anyway. Shortly after reaching the maximum level, the game was over for me. I can’t get excited about long grind sessions and of course I play for law and order, not for rewards that (perhaps) minimally improve my equipment.
I’ve completely forgotten how to do it
My UI looks much better without all the messages. Where’s the helicopter to New York? Strangely enough, both Division 2 DLCs are set in NYC, not Washington, where the main game is staged. What’s that about? Of course, I can’t find the helicopter. The world map is so full of brightly coloured symbols and clues that I feel like I’m back on MySpace. And I realise I no longer have a clue how to control my agent and what she can do.
So, Brooklyn isn’t going to happen any time soon. I start a new savegame and get another introduction to my trade as a Division agent. My job is to take a tough stance on law and order where standard emergency services are struggling. I’m quickly back in the game and revert to my main character. For practice, I destroy a few enemy bases around the White House, which gives me a small god complex thanks to my equipment from earlier. I’m back.
Back to New York: battle for Brooklyn
I also finally find the helicopter for the DLC launch. What exactly am I supposed to do in Brooklyn? Good question. Obviously, I completely forgot about all the characters and story content in the game. Jessica Kandel, a doctor (or something like that) is missing and I’m supposed to rescue her. It’s urgent, with lives at stake and a makeshift civilian settlement under threat.
I mean of course, it’s always urgent. The lady can wait. First I take a look at the new DLC area, the Dumbo district. It’s now autumn in Brooklyn, with colourful leaves lying on the ground next to all the piles of garbage, burnt-out cars and ruins. As usual, the Massive Entertainment studio does an excellent job of bringing the apocalyptic atmosphere to the screen.
I shoot and blast my way through the streets. My enemies, the Cleaners – crazy firefighters who want to set everything and everyone alight – drop like flies and leave their equipment behind. My inventory fills up quickly. My agent runs around with as many as 150 collected weapons and protective clothing items in her backpack.
That’s when I remember what annoys me about Division: the fact that it feels like it takes me just as long after my assignments to inspect all the stuff I’ve taken with me and organise it for using, selling or scrapping. I could do with an assistant to handle it. Am I the kind of lady for shooting in the streets or tearing up the Excel sheets? Just give me the guns already.
Increasing level of difficulty in these missions
With my inventory extravagantly depleted, I then go into a former hospital where Mrs Kandel was last seen. I play in «normal mode», which is quite doable with my strange build as an explosives expert with a sniper rifle. I’m not embarrassed to say I occasionally blow myself up with my grenade launcher in the heat of battle. You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs. And that doesn’t dampen my enjoyment of blowing up whole groups of enemies.
At the end of the mission, I must have saved the doctor. I’m not entirely sure because I’ve absolutely no idea who she is and why she was kidnapped. I actually like the Division stories, but years of breaks make for big gaps in my knowledge. Only a few weeks pass in the game, but I completed the Division 2 campaign six years ago. There are also hardly any video sequences for storytelling in the DLC.
No matter how hard I concentrate, all I ever remember is that the «good folk» are lost without me and that I need to hurry. In a refinery, I have to put a stop to the Cleaners. This is where they produce fuel for their flamethrowers. They’ve developed a new type of «purple flame» that «melts» my armour. After the fight, my armour solidifies again, so it can’t be that bad. But of course it’s not nice to have your eyebrows scorched all the time, so I close the store once and for all, with some swearing at the final boss.
After the Cleaners, I face the «Rikers». These are escaped criminals from the Rikers prison who, like the Cleaners, were already up to mischief in the city in Division 1. They’re also targeting the civilian settlement. I almost have a tough time of it with their boss. She’s probably never heard of fair play.
Little variety in the streets of Brooklyn
Between the seven new main missions, I keep returning to the roads and exploring the area. Unfortunately, in contrast to Washington, there aren’t a lot of sights and there’s not much variety in terms of activities. Here, civilians are to be executed, whereas there, a group of enemies guard an equipment crate and sometimes I defend dropped equipment from street gangs.
The old Division charm doesn’t really come across in the new DLC, which is also due to the fact that the game hasn’t delivered much new in terms of gameplay for six years. However, I was surprised that another DLC was released five years after the last expansion. Once Ubisoft discontinued development of the Division spin-off title Heartland a year ago, the franchise no longer seemed to have much of a future.
Despite my ignorance of the story and the same old activities on the map, I enjoyed my latest detour into Division. But after playing through the DLC, I’ve had enough for now. Apparently, however, The Division 3 is in the early stages of development. If it actually comes to fruition, I’ll of course be the first to give it a go again.
Header image: Debora Pape
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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