Even as other looter games like Anthem and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League fell by the wayside, Tom Clancy’s The Division is still going strong with its tenth anniversary this year. To celebrate, Massive Entertainment has unveiled the new Realism Mode, which will be available for a limited time in The Division 2 this March.
Announced during Japan’s FPSDay Celebration and exclusive to Warlords of New York expansion owners, creative director Yannick Banchereau described it as offering “action-focused combat with reduced time-to-kill and realistic weapon damage based on bullet caliber.” There are also longer cooldowns for skills, less ammo, a limited HUD, and no health regeneration, lending a Ghost Recon-like flavor to combat.
The downside is that players will have to create a new character, as game designer Raul-Sebastian Birnoshi revealed in a panel that many of the looter elements have been stripped away (including leveling). It’s a pretty novel take on the formula, one that Banchereau calls “raw and unforgiving.” “Realism Mode is your chance to experience The Division 2 like never before.”
For those who don’t want to make a new character, purchase Warlords of New York or want something else to grind towards, Massive has a new Anniversary Pass coming up, which includes Rainbow Six Siege X, Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon cosmetics. Pricing is yet to be announced, but it could feature free tiers to go along with the paid offerings.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, with support for Xbox Series X/S and PS5. If you’re in the mood to revisit the first game, especially ahead of the apparent Definitive Edition, a 60 FPS patch was released several weeks ago for PS5.
