4) It’s Regularly Ruthless
With the players’ activities in The Division being split between two distinct areas of New York’s map, there was always likely to be a split in the focus of each area. While the wider areas of the city form the basis of the story and the game’s single player content, its ‘Dark Zone’ sections will be the more competitive multiplayer area.
It’s in the latter that the challenge posed by The Division gets really severe. They reflect the fact that the Dark Zone is the most desolate, contaminated area of the city, and players will find that the toughest NPC enemies most often inhabit it. As dangerous and cunning as these can be, however, they pale in comparison to the threat that could be posed by other players.
I first entered a Dark Zone in the beta on my own, and within two minutes I was fleeing from a couple of agents who had “gone rogue.” After a few brushes with death I called on a friend to join me and, once he entered, I immediately gunned him down for valuable DZ experience.
Did I feel guilty? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably. The Division‘s Dark Zone is ruthlessly unpredictable, and I expect it to make even the most hardy of players feel nervously vulnerable at all times.
