The Division 2 will offer some fundamental improvements compared to its predecessor. One of them is supposed to be the sound, which Massive places particular importance on. You can find everything about the sound effects here with us.
Even though many players might not think of it immediately, sound is one of the most important aspects of good games. Whether it’s music or just the sound of footsteps in the snow, good sound effects are incredibly important for the atmosphere of a game.
The Division 1 already had distinctive weapon sounds, the snow crunches with every step, and in the Dark Zone, you can regularly hear fights breaking out in the distance that you are not involved in. As Massive’s Simon Koudriavstev (Audio Director) emphasizes, this remains a high priority for The Division 2.
Massive and Pinewood – Different Expertise
Pinewood Studios involved in the work: The recordings are taking place in cooperation with Pinewood Studios, a film studio that has extensive experience with realistic sounds. Pinewood Studios is located near London.
While Pinewood has much more experience with sound effects for the film industry, Massive can build on the experience from 2 years of The Division. Filling a large open world with appropriate sound could therefore work if the respective competencies are optimally combined.
This should also reflect in the dialogues, which are supposed to be significantly improved compared to the predecessor.
Improvement of Quality in All Areas
Better sound for part 2: Already rated well in The Division 1, Massive wants to take the sound up a notch. For this, all aspects of the sound effects have been revised and improved. These include
- Weapon sound
- Music
- Voices
- Ambient sounds
Together with the new setting, they want to provide players with even better sound feedback for their actions.
“They got Alex” probably belongs to the past
“They got Alex!” This exclamation repeatedly appears in battles with the looters and has a sort of cult status in the Division community. In the audio logs for the shields, Massive even pokes fun at itself.
We don’t know yet how it will look in the German version of The Division 2. However, similar occurrences are not supposed to be repeated in the English version. Maybe an Easter egg awaits us.
Division of labor among the studios: The dialogues are intended to be significantly more realistic and varied. For this, Massive and Pinewood have allocated the work according to their competencies. While Pinewood recorded the combat sounds, Massive had actors sprinting a few rounds before they were to shout commands. Sometimes with weapons in hand to enhance the performance.
Sounds should no longer be so generic: Simon claims to be working with all available tools of the SnowDrop engine. Dialogue lines are intended to be significantly less repetitive in the future, fit better into context, and match the respective situation.
An “He’s taking cover” should become a “He’s behind the police car” in appropriate moments. Also, dialogues with NPCs should no longer be so similar.
New Weapon Sounds Should Provide Feedback to Players
Part of these improvements is the sound effects from weapons. Agents should be able to hear when the magazine is almost empty, as the sound changes slightly when firing.
Weapon mods have stronger effects: Just like in The Division 1, weapon mods are also supposed to influence the sound. Suppressors and muzzle brakes are expected to bring a distinct audible effect again, but they should also be noticeable in weapon handling. They should be able to feel the difference “in the controller.”
Recording weapons: During the work, the MP5 with a suppressor seems to have become the favorite weapon for the audio director. It was reported to be very controllable. The scariest was the caliber .50 precision rifle, given its power.
Environment Influences the Soundscape
The more varied setting in Washington D.C. wants to be complemented by an equally diverse soundscape. They have developed special systems for this purpose.
Reverberation varies depending on the environment: One of these systems is responsible for detecting the player’s exact position to realistically bounce back sounds like shots from objects such as walls. The type of geography and material play a role here. The sound varies depending on the environment and the material it hits.
As a result, the environments are meant to differ not only visually but also acoustically.
Trees and Birds – The Environment Is Meant to Sound Realistic and Unique
According to Koudriavstev, recordings of weapon sounds are becoming increasingly important. The process is complex, and many things, such as safety, must be considered.
Recordings in appropriate geographical areas: A team even traveled to the swamps of Florida to make recordings there, while gunfire for urban areas could be recorded in the studio. The focus there was more on the reverberation and how sounds were bounced back from specific surfaces.
The recordings in Washington were particularly extensive. These mainly took place at night to avoid traffic noise as much as possible.
Similar reports were made during the development of The Division 1.
Even native bird species were recorded: The nature was particularly in focus this time. To give the environments a natural sound, much emphasis was placed on recordings of trees and animals. Experts might even hear local bird species at the right time of day, in the right neighborhood.
This way, they want to ensure that no place in the game sounds like the other.
And What About the Music?
The old composer is back on board: The creator of the soundtrack for The Division 1, Ola Strandh, will also create the soundtrack for The Division 2. During production, there were discussions about how to evolve the already known sound from the predecessor.
The soundtrack will be darker: Apparently, it was concluded that the new sound should be darker and rougher. The well-known synthesizer-heavy music should receive more weight and become more organic through human emotions. In what form this will happen, we will only know at release.
Here you can find the complete Division 1 soundtrack
Best sound in video games? According to Simon Koudriavstev, they are on the right track, but there is still a lot to do to reach the goal. Massive is convinced that the end result will satisfy many players. They want to deliver the best sound that games have ever had.
We are excited to see if they will live up to the high ambitions. However, The Division 1 already had excellent sound effects and an unmistakable soundtrack, apart from a few repetitive dialogue lines.
What do you think? Were you satisfied with the sound in The Division 1?
The DLC policy will also take new paths in The Division 2. Here you can learn more about it.
