Following the official announcement ofTom Clancy’s The Division 2, Ubisoft Red Storm Creative Director Terry Spier confirmed that the sequel would be bringing back the first game’s PvP area known asthe Dark Zone. Now, it looks as if the development team behind the forthcoming followup have made a bevy of changes to the Dark Zone, including the addition of three individual DZ areas, an overhaul of the loot system, and more.
Firstly, it looks as ifThe Division 2is aiming to make the Dark Zone more accessible to all players by making it a more readily available experience, with Ubisoft adding the three separate DZ areas of DZ East surrounding Capitol Station, DZ South at the waterfront, and DZ West located in Georgetown. Over the course of the game’s campaign, Agents will be tasked with the investigation of Dark Zones as a primer, with the completion of a zone’s introductory missions unlocking the region’s core content such as skirmishes with AI and other players, or joining up in teams to get loot.
What’s more is thatUbisoftseems to have made significant changes to the Dark Zone’s loot system inThe Division 2, with a majority of loot found in the regions now no longer needing to be extracted, as it will be free to use upon pickup. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that contaminated weapons will still require extraction, but this should only be the case for rarer types of gear found within the areas.
The Division 2will also have more of a balance to the initial power dynamics within the Dark Zone, by normalizing all players' stats in order to set them on an even playing field with one another. According to Ubisoft, this “fair, but intense” change has been done so as to allow players of a wide variety of different skill levels to see what they can find inWashington D.C.’s DZ areas. That said, though, with there always being the chance to come across other players with unique loadouts and skill levels, most encounters in the DZ still stand to be dangerous and dicey experiences.
Additionally, Ubisoft has altered the Dark Zone’sRogue gameplaysystem inThe Division 2in a bid to seemingly offer players more options beyond the last game’s focus on PvP design. Each of the DZ areas in the sequel contain loot caches and special events tied to Rogue gameplay, as breaking into a locked loot chest without a Dark Zone key and looting dead players will cause one to go Rogue for a certain amount of time. Those who choose to take this route in the DZ will be privy to special Rogue events that lets them acquire credits and resources for unique vendors in the Dark Zone.
Furthermore, onceThe Division 2’sstory campaignhas been completed, one Dark Zone area will become a contested spot in which level and gear balancing will be disabled, player status will be set to neutral by default, and friendly fire will become active at all times. These specialized areas will be switched up on a weekly basis so as to provide players with an additional incentive to challenge themselves by exploring them all.
Outside of the PvPvE elements found withinThe Division 2’s Dark Zones, Ubisoft will also include traditional competitive multiplayer modes under the banner of Conflict. This form of PvP will include standard team deathmatch and domination game types in which all player levels during the 4v4 combat will be normalized. Plus, Conflict includes unique stat-tracking and rewards exclusive to the mode, including new cosmetics. There will only be three maps and two game types available at launch, but Ubisoft has promised more competitive offerings will come after the game’s release, with some speculating the addition ofa battle royale mode.
Taking all of this into consideration, it’s safe to say that fans won’t know how exactly how well all of this content related to the Dark Zone will play untilThe Division 2actually makes its way onto store shelves later this year. At any rate, Ubisoft will at least be giving those who pre-order the title a chance to go hands-on with some aspects of the game soon thanks to aprivate betataking place next month.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2is scheduled to launch on July 17, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
