The Division Heartland turns Middle America into a vast Dark Zone

pcgamesn.com:

Following a year of The Division Heartland closed beta tests, Ubisoft’s Red Storm team has shown off more of its “unique take on survival PvEvP gameplay” as it brings a unique twist on the Dollar Flu to the Middle America setting of Silver Creek. As part of The Division Day presentation, Ubisoft gives us a meatier glimpse at the upcoming free-to-play multiplayer game, including a look at its distinctive contamination and how development has been progressing.

In The Division Heartland, you’ll be helping a Division agent named Mackenzie Amber Reed track down her former boss, Killian Tower – an agent who betrayed his former colleagues and went rogue. Her goal? To find out why Tower broke ranks, murdered the very unit he commanded, and began amassing an army of Reapers across Silver Creek. What of Silver Creek itself, and its place in the greater narrative?

Gameplay-wise, Heartland is described as a “survival PvEvP game,” meaning that if you’ve spent any time in The Division’s Dark Zone, or played any extraction shooters such as Escape From Tarkov or Call of Duty Warzone 2’s DMZ mode, you’ll have a rough idea of what sort of thing you can expect. You’ll be trying to take down AI strongholds and factions, while keeping an eye out for other human players who might be eyeing up your valuable loot.

You’ll kick things off by helping Reed to get Silver Creek back up and running. You’ll of course have to handle all manner of enemy hordes as you do so, along with a “deadly and unpredictable contamination” that poses a unique challenge beyond that of the traditional contaminated areas found in the likes of The Division 2.

This contagion manifests in shifting zones that are denoted by smokey orange lines on the ground – showing which