Ubisoft said in June that Survival, the second full expansion to The Division, would offer "a completely new way of playing the game." In a "Special Report" livestream aired earlier today and caught by the quick eyes at Kotaku, Ubi finally revealed what it has in store, and it actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
Survival will add a new mode to the game in which players must make their way from the outskirts of the city to the center of Manhattan in order to retrieve some badly-needed retrovirals. Naturally, it's not as easy as all that: Your helicopter crashes en route, in the midst of one of the worst winter storms in living memory, and all that swanky gear you normally rely on to keep yourself alive is back in your locker. So now, you've got two hours to push to the center of the city and reach your goal, or you die, cold and alone.
The new mode is set in the full main map, and will offer both PvP and PvE options for groups of 24 players. But guys with guns aren't the only thing out there that can kill you, or even the most likely to result in your demise. "Your character is cold, hungry, dehydrated, and sick," lead designer Matthieu Delisle explained in the stream. "Those are four things you're going to have to manage while playing Survival." The last of those four is the most important, because no matter what else happens, the infection you pick up in the crash is going to kill you. It's possible to revive fallen players, as long as they're not out for too long, but there are no respawns once death takes hold.
At its core, The Division's new Survival mode is still basically guys with guns shooting at each other, but the introduction of the survival mechanic, and the immediacy of the challenge it presents, could make for a more intense and interesting experience. There's no release date on the Survival DLC yet, but holders of the season pass will be able to play a beta build of the expansion that should be available on the PTR now.
The surprise livestream is embedded below, with the relevant information beginning at the 23:00 point.
