In The Division 2 the setting shifts to the U.S. capital Washington D.C. Now developer Massive explains why the map offers significantly more variety than that of the first game.
In an interview with Gadgets360, the focus is on the game world of The Division 2. This is one of the biggest innovations compared to its predecessor. It’s not just set in a different city, but also in a different season.
The Division 2 takes place 7 months after the events of the wintry Christmas first part, in the middle of summer. Creative Director Chadi El-Zibaoui now emphasizes the advantages of the new setting.
More Variety, Not Just Visually
This is what Massive’s El-Zibaoui says: El-Zibaoui himself was previously a level designer. He still finds the setting of the first game “beautiful”. However, New York was “built on a grid”, while Washington D.C. would offer “much more variety”.
The Division 2 benefits especially on two levels from the new setting:
- Washington D.C. plays an important role in the Division universe, which is especially exciting for story fans.
- Additionally, the level design brings a lot of variety to the game and makes the game world significantly more diverse than in the predecessor.
Visually alone, the change of setting makes a big difference:
This is what the map of The Division 2 offers: El-Zibaoui names several examples that clearly distinguish D.C. in the game from New York, such as
- the large, open areas and levels
- and the historical monuments and government buildings.
- Additionally, the warmer climate allows for significantly more vegetation.
However, there are some places like the residential areas that, aside from their height, resemble parts of New York.
In this context, El-Zibaoui mentions the 3 different Dark Zones that are scattered across D.C. in the west, south, and east. They are a good example of how differently the map of The Division 2 has been designed.
You can learn more about the Dark Zones in our special:
The Map of The Division 2
What does Washington D.C. offer? The map of The Division 2 is divided into 6 different regions:
- Suburbs
- Nature
- Residentials
- Commercial
- Government
- Historic
The game world is significantly larger than in The Division 1. This is also due to the fact that Massive “recreated” the city at a 1:1 scale.
A large intersection has the same dimensions as in reality. This is supposed to apply to the entire map. In the predecessor, Manhattan was still largely compressed.
Massive has often emphasized in the past that they view Washington D.C. as a kind of main character of The Division 2.
Here you can see in the story trailer how Washington D.C. fell:
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