Washington D.C. (not Washington state!) wasn’t the only location in the United States that Ubisoft considered for The Division‘s sequel.
Manny Diaz, the lead level designer, told PCGamer at Gamescom what their plans were: „D.C. wasn’t always set in stone as the choice of the game. We considered places like Seattle in Washington, and we also considered New Orleans. A place like D.C. gives us nature, wide open spaces, the monuments, and a greater sense of wildlife. D.C. is built on a swamp, the air is hot and sticky in the summer, but it also has a lot of colour, and that’s a nice contrast to the first Division game (which was set in New York).”
Washington D.C. will have a varied landscape, and it might have good audio as well, as Diaz confirmed that audio engineers spent a few nights outside to get several hours of audio for the game. The wildlife is also going to be present: mosquitos, frogs, and deer will all show up in the game which will be 20% bigger than its predecessor. It will also have tourist sights, too: the White House, the Lincoln monument, Capitol Hill, the Roosevelt Island or the National Air and Space Museum will also be included: „Roosevelt Island is a location we’re going to feature. It’s forested, people go walking in there, they go hiking, and for us, this is a mysterious place. The Air and Space Museum is a lot of fun, too. When we started creating The Division 2, we thought we absolutely must have the Air and Space Museum in there. Anybody who ever talks about it does so with a smile—it’s got aviation, it’s got space exploration, people often went there as children. Looking at the space alone looks fun, and it represents something for players to explore. We also felt that D.C. would help up the stakes, to up the ante. In the first game, society was really on the backfoot, adapting the crisis, not knowing how to cope with the emergency. This time around, seven months later, civilisation has pulled its resources and is fighting for a rebirth. The flip side of that is the enemy factions have done the same thing. They’ve also colonised, and they’re a greater threat to the citizens of D.C. That’s where you come in as an agent—to help stabilise that effort, to help them get off the ground,” Diaz added.
The Division 2 will launch on March 15 (or 12 if you buy the Gold Edition or higher) on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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