Ubisoft first-party studio developer Red Storm Entertainment has finally revealed more information about its long-awaited free-to-play third-person survival shooter The Division Heartland. Since its official announcement in May 2021, players have received few updates about the game, aside from a small amount of gameplay footage and a brief introduction to the information that appeared on The Division’s Ubisoft store page.
April 20th is Division Day, and Ubisoft provided updates for three games in the series. The Year 5 roadmap for The Division 2 has been revealed, as has a new beta phase for The Division Resurgence on mobile. Fans of The Division will also have action figures and an upcoming webcomic to look forward to. Those still interested in the franchise’s first title, however, were a little disappointed that there was no mention of the game where it all started.
However, some exciting details about Heart of The Division have finally been shared, getting the first trailer for the movie as well as a developer deep dive video. Heartland takes place at the same time as the events of The Division, showing what happens to small towns in America when the dollar flu starts to spread, because those places don’t necessarily get organized disaster relief from agencies like CERA, which York and Washington, D.C. did.
Just like what happened in the first game, a division agent, First Commander Killian Tower, goes rogue and turns on his comrades. Another agent, Mackenzie Reed, tracks him down to the background of The Division Heartland, a modest town in the middle of America. In the trailer, it’s revealed that Dollar Flu doesn’t play out in the region as it does elsewhere, but just as elsewhere, warring factions emerge from the chaos, wreaking havoc and spreading fear.
Division Heartland will feature PvPvE gameplay, but will also feature many of the same missions as the other games, such as building a base of operations, collecting supplies, completing quests, and making the area safe for civilians. As night falls, the PvP aspect of the game kicks in. Like the Dark Zone, there will be rogue players and roaming AI factions to contend with, but the rewards will be more enticing. There also seems to be a thirst mechanic to contend with that will be familiar to anyone who played The Division DLC.
Different from the two main line department games, Heartland will introduce three professions : Weapons Specialist, Doctor and Survival Specialist. These provide the expected perks, such as drones for survivalists and assault turrets for weapons specialists. The developers took an in-depth look at what players can expect from Hearts of The Division, including a closed beta later this year. Unfortunately, there are no hints as to the game’s expected release date.
Division Heartland is currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.