The Division 2: Battle for Brooklyn - Review

I was a massive fan of The Division when it was released back in 2016, its blend of looter shooter, co-op extraction based gameplay struck a chord with me so much so that it became the game I played the most over the next few years, especially with the game being supported with multiple expansions that added a massive amount of content to the base game. It goes as no surprise then when I was given a chance to review The Division 2 when it was released in 2019 that I jumped at the chance, and I was glad I did.

All the things I liked about the original game were improved upon, the gunplay and atmosphere especially, the world of The Division 2 was incredibly beautiful and immersive as were the systems for gathering materials and loot. I would often find myself sitting and staring at my screen for hours upon hours like some type of digital crack addict as I took hauls of items back to base and studied them to see if I could use them to upgrade my current build, and then promptly went right back out into the dangerous and decaying streets of Washington D.C to start the process all over again.

I spent hundreds of hours playing the game on all three of the platforms it was released on and that increased to thousands of hours with the release of the Warlords of New York expansion 2020 and the years of seasonal content that followed. I may be biased because The Division 2 is my favorite video game of all time, but I have never understood why the game has never had a larger following, the community may be small, but they are incredibly passionate about the game and the series as a whole. With the rate that Ubisoft has swung and struck out at the plate over the last few years, it only makes sense that they would come back to one of the games that has provided one of their most consistent fan bases over the past decade, hopefully this bodes well for the future of the series.

Apart from the Warlord of New York expansion and seasonal content, it has been a long time between drinks for Division fans as far as major content goes, especially when it comes to new story content and areas to explore. Thankfully that trend recently changed with the release of second DLC for the game, Battle for Brooklyn.

The Battle for Brooklyn comes packed with new content including 4 main missions taking you across two regions, Brooklyn and Dumbo, it also includes 4 side missions and 4 unique control points each linked to the 4 different factions from The Division franchise. 10 new bounties are also included along with 8 new hunters and the puzzles that go along with discovering them, not to mention the collectibles that are also scattered around the map of Brooklyn. The new map may be small compared to the size of the New York expansion, but there is plenty to do and discover whilst trying out new combinations of builds thanks to some of the new gear from the expansion, which also sees the return of the smart cover skill from the original Division game.

Wandering around the post-apocalyptic streets of Brooklyn during Autumn was an absolute sight for my eyes to behold, iconic Brownstone dwellings lining the street, blown up cars and rubbish strewn all about the city, the atmosphere is incredible and I am not ashamed to say I dove right in and completed the major story component of the expansion in one 6 hour sitting, that is not to say that my journey is over though as I still have hunter puzzles to solve and then the hunters themselves to take down. The return of the smart cover skill along with The Cleaners’ new purple flame debuff made some of the new fights in the game a challenge, once you come up against the Rat Queen herself though you might find your blood pressure rising quite a bit, mine rose nearly high enough that I momentarily considered throwing my PC out the window.

If you didn’t originally like The Division 2 then Battle For Brooklyn won’t change that, but this is a perfect time for new players to jump into the game, especially since the DLC does come with a level 40 character boost if you want to jump into the new area straight away, I highly discourage this though as you will be missing out on a hell of a lot of amazing content by doing so. While I wish Battle for Brooklyn was longer (because I could honestly consume new Division content for the rest of my life) it is perfectly priced for the amount of entertainment you will get out of it. I really hope this helps some new players to discover what I think is one of the greatest games ever created, and I would love to see Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment drop new content like every 6 months or so to help keep the game feeling fresh and alive. If you like The Division, it’s a no brainer, buy the DLC and jump right back in agent.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Ubisoft

The Pros

Feels great to be back, and the new area whilst small is masterfully designed and looks fantastic

New missions are challenging and have some new mechanics to conquer

Gunplay and skill mechanics are best in class and build crafting can be quite addictive

Perfect time for new players to jump into the series

The Cons

Even though there is a lot to discover, the new map is quite small

The Rat Queen almost made me commit violence on my computer, be prepared