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The Division players would surely be very familiar about the story of a rapidly spreading, deadly virus, putting an entire city on quarantine. The stakes are higher in The Division 2, with the outbreak reaching a new city. With the expansion in Warlords of New York, Agents go back to where it all began, when it launched 3 March for console and PC.
We’re back into the breach, to see if this expansion is worth picking up. There’s been plenty said about the so-called “ultimate manhunt”, so read this review to put those doubts to rest. After sinking plenty of hours into Warlords, I can certainly say it’s well worth the asking price.
Mission: Defeat Aaron Keener
Warlords gets Agents returning to New York, with four different areas in Lower Manhattan to explore. Your primary objective is to defeat Aaron Keener, a rogue Agent who’s been causing plenty of havoc across the story of The Division. Together with his lieutenant, Warlords has you go through a battery of missions to defeat the area boss/Rogue Agent, giving you new skills along the way.
The basic conceit is to defeat Keener’s support, hence taking down the Rogue Agents under him. They’re scattered around in the four areas of Lower Manhattan. Each stage has its own difficulty curve, bringing with it a different experience from the base game. Some missions will need you to stand your ground as you face down enemies firing on you non-stop.
The Rogue Agents possess their unique weapons and abilities not seen before in the seriess. One of them has the ability to utilize holograms to create virtual clones of themselves. Another packs a sticky bomb launcher, which can make things real dicey. These weapons give each battle their own challenges, to keep you on your toes. Once you’re successful, you get these crazy toys for yourself! You’ll be needing them to clear your path throughout the expansion.
Each stage has their own maze-like layout. As you look around for the next path out, you might even stumble into a secret! It adds a layer of replayability into the maps, as you scour for the next hidden cache or surprise. The map design is certainly one of the best you’ll find in the games.
If you think you’re familiar with Lower Manhattan, well, you might want to rethink that. Ubisoft has kept the layout as faithful as possible, but has thrown enough chaos into the mix to shake things up.
Not “just” an expansion
Changes have been made to both the general gameplay and its endgame. Perhaps one of the more controversial changes can be seen in the gear sets and repairs. It certainly has made it easier though for convenience sake. Players can just readily decide what they would prefer to keep and use at a glance.
Weapon choice won’t be a problem. Just take your pick from assault rifles, SMG, plain ol’ rifles, sniper rifles and more. Get them from your shops or from completing missions. Upgrading them can be done at any safehouse.
If you go down, then just call for backup and get a revive from your fellow agents. If they don’t make it to you, you’ll respawn at the nearest safehouse to your location. It can get a bit dicey if the safe house is a long trek from your death spot, so you’d have to traverse through the stretch again and hope you don’t die on the way back.
The levelling system has been overhauled. Instead of having a total gear level that capped at 515, all characters and gear have a standard level. Once reaching level 40, more things will open up to you. Some gear pieces will have attributes that you can store in the recalibration library, or add them to the pieces you have equipped. This gives more flexibility for players to build a character with a playstyle they like. Even after hitting the level 40 cap, you can still receive XP to create stronger characters or weapons.
As mentioned, now gear attributes and stats can be seen at a glance. It’s not like choice paralysis wouldn’t be any more an issue than before! It still provides enough depth for players to tinker around with in the nitty gritty numbers, but has become more accessible to the general populace. You’d probably be able to jig a good build in no time!
But wait, there’s more!
You don’t have to stop at tinkering with your gear. You’ll be getting a neat little system, the SHD levelling system! Keep playing the game to increase your mastery ranging from damage, health, defense to bullets you can carry. With every step you take, you can incrementally get stronger, so you can keep on hunting for that ultimate set of gear and that time you spend will add up!
In addition to the new SHD skill system, Seasons are also now in the game. Seasons will introduce new manhunts with their own conditions. These seasonal events will add to your Season Levels, rewarding players who’ve completed the event missions. Join in the first season and go through plenty more endgame activities and rewards for The Division 2! Learn your targets, get your gears and exotics across the 12 weeks a Season will be active. If you’ve bought in to Season One of Warlords, make sure you don’t miss out on the events!
A robust expansion!
Merely going through the basics here, but you’d definitely be able to get the bang for your buck in the Warlords of New York expansion. New missions, new world to explore, an overhauled endgame and various updates should surely appeal to players to continue returning to the game time and again. While there are bugs, like one that wouldn’t let SHD tech nodes show up on the map, it’s something you’d come to expect to slip through the cracks now and again. Regardless, Ubisoft was swift in patching up the issue, so it didn’t leave much of an impact.
Verdict
Veterans might take some time to get used to the system, but besides that? Danger lies all around New York, with fresh challenge for even the best players. Enjoy the virtually non-stop action, with a satisfying rise towards the endgame, pushing you to be the very best Agent you can.
Definitely one who loves action FPS, The Division 2: Warlords of New York comes highly recommended! It’s really just that simple to decide.
The Review
The Division 2: Warlords of New York
Return to an old area with fresh eyes and challenges lying in wait.
PROS
- A greatly expanded end-game
- New weapons and specializations
- Much easier to understand gear system
CONS
- Systems may take some time getting used to
- Respawn points aren't very productive
Review Breakdown
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Living up to "the ultimate manhunt"
