The developers of The Division Heartland have shared new information about the shooter, and players are now hoping they won’t be forced into PvP.
What is The Division Heartland? The Division Heartland is the latest installment in the “The Division” series and will be released as a F2P title on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
What does the gameplay of Heartland look like? The game is supposed to be a mix of extraction shooter and survival game, set in the American small town of Silver Creek.
There, you support Agent Mackenzie Amber Reed in the fight against her former commander Killian Tower, who has gone rogue and murdered his former unit.
Your task is to protect Silver Creek from hostile factions, rogue agents, and a deadly contamination. For example, your first mission will be to help Reed in rebuilding an operations base.
During the day, you roam Silver Creek, trying to survive, complete quests, and achieve important objectives. You will encounter plenty of enemies and a deadly contamination spreading in the small town. There are also supposed to be diseases and dehydration.
At night, additional dangers arise, and PvP comes into sharper focus. “The night is a deadly sandbox”
What did the developers say about PvP? At night, new, more dangerous enemies will make your life harder in The Division Heartland – these also include other players.
Taylor Epperly, Associate Game Director at Red Storm Entertainment, says:
When night falls in Silver Creek, it becomes dangerous. The threat is escalated, and the dangerous PvEvP gameplay of rogue players and AI is activated. The night is a deadly sandbox that constantly presents threats, but there are also consistently great rewards to be gained.
From Taylor Epperly’s statement, it can be concluded that PvEvP is activated throughout Silver Creek at night, and you should expect continuous battles against other players.
Additionally, Ubisoft writes on the game’s website that you return “empty-handed” if you die before returning to the operations base – here the principle of an extraction shooter becomes clear. The map becomes a large Dark Zone at night.
What do players say? In the comments on YouTube, some players hope it will be possible to play only PvE and completely avoid PvP. The desire for pure PvE worlds or a corresponding mode seems to be high.
- Foab Moab: “I hope you can play everything just in PvE. Dark Zone has never been fun enough […].”
- Leon Dev: “I hope there is a PvE-only mode like in the pre-alpha.”
- Rafael Madeira: “I also hope for a PvE world.”
- Mister Facepalm: “Definitely looks interesting, but I would like to see a dedicated PvE mode for it.”
With the current information, it is conceivable that during the day PvE is played and at night PvP is added. This would create the PvPvE experience known from various extraction shooters and the Dark Zone. Whether this will be organized through a separate matchmaking, in a day-night cycle, or otherwise is currently still unknown.
For more extraction shooters, you can find them in our list of 6 games you should play if you like Escape from Tarkov.
