The Division Heartland, a new free-to-play spin on the popular series in development at Red Storm Entertainment, was announced by Ubisoft early last year, but little else was revealed. While official information is still pending, trusted source Tom Henderson has chimed in with some details on how the game will play.
The Division Heartland, as the name suggests, will be set in a small hamlet rather than the big cities of other games in the series. Silver Creek is the setting, with players establishing a base of operations inside an abandoned ice rink. Heartland’s major focus in terms of gameplay is Storm mode, a PvPvE experience akin to Escape from Tarkov or possibly Hunt: Showdown. Before reaching an extraction point, players will have to survive, collect, craft, and fight both other players and AI adversaries. There will be an Extraction mode in addition to the main Storm mode, which will effectively operate as a tutorial focused just on PvE.
In Silver Creek, your BOO (sorry if that scared you) is where you may modify load-outs, matchmake, and buy and produce upgrades, mods, and weapons, among other things. Certain “Prep Items,” such as the ability to choose where you start on the map and create “buff towers,” will give you a considerable advantage throughout games. While Henderson’s post doesn’t say so, these sound like things Ubisoft would charge those who don’t have the patience to make real-world money for.
Poison gas will flow from random areas throughout the battlefield throughout each game, and there will be six kinds of adversaries to contend with: Flankers, Grunts, Heavies, Sharps, Hooters, and Technicians. You can also choose from three different classes, including Weapons Expert, Medic, and Survivalist.
Heartland is “progressing well,” according to Henderson’s sources, and may be disclosed in full soon. Of course, until the official announcement, take everything with a grain of salt.
The Division Heartland will be released during Ubisoft’s fiscal year 2023, which ends on March 31, 2023. Aside from “PC and console,” no other platforms have been disclosed.
