The Division developer Ubisoft Massive has confirmed that while your solider won’t suffer from hunger or thirst, scavenging for clean water and food within its post-apocalyptic cityscape is an important aspect of trading. The team has also shed new light on the shooter’s classless progression system.
In it, The Division’s design director Axel Rydby said, “Consider that our game is a lot about the fall of society, and things that we take for granted in our everyday life such as clean water and food, they suddenly become scarce resources in the game.
“Not only do you actually have to go out and look for food and water, but [they] become very valuable and rare resources that can be used to trade and stuff like that. But when it comes to having to drink water and eat food to be able to survive, that’s not really what we want from it. Food and water will be a very important part of the game, but players will not need to eat and drink to stay alive.”
Rydby added that while the game sets your soldier off with a kit bag full of basic supplies, where you go from there – in terms of scavenging and progression – is up to you.
He explained, “When we start the game, the player’s character only has his go-bag with him, right? When it becomes activated, that’s the only thing he can really bring with him. In that go-bag he roughly has 72 hours of supplies, he’s got his weapons and his gear, and that’s what he starts with.
“Then when moving throughout the world, it’s going to be a lot about looting and acquiring new gear as you progress. We’re focusing a lot on the RPG aspects of the game since we are very much an RPG, so acquiring loot and gearing up your character is going to be a very big part of the game.”
The Division is very much a game founded on the idea of choice and putting players in the shoes of someone dealing with the fall of society. To that end, how your soldier levels up and gains new skills will not be bound by class, but rather, an evolution throughout the game based on your choices and ability.
Rydby was then asked if New York’s abandoned cars could be used by players, to which he highlighted even more choice, “If society fell and suddenly you had to hunt for food and water, you couldn’t go down to your local supermarket and buy whatever you want, you have to actually start conserving it and start to think about how your spending those valuable resources that you have,”
“If you did have access to fuel, would you use it to make sure you have access to clean water or make sure that you have access to be able to heat your food by a mobile generator you can fuel and produce electricity. Or would you use it to fuel your car? I know what I would do.”
On the issue of cars, game designer Mathias Karlson added, “The way you navigate and move through the city or a game that is open in nature, it’s very core to how you experience the world. We are currently investigating what is the best for our game, what can we do to give you the best experience as a player because that is, in the end, what’s most important to us.”
