We’re back to the action with Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Episode 2 – Pentagon: The Last Castle by Ubisoft, fighting our way to be the kings on Capitol Hill. While most of the other factions have been routed, or outright destroyed, another paramilitary order waited to pick up the pieces. However, war is never as easily wrapped up as one would hope. Black Tusk is an organization with ties going back to the government before its initial collapse, and they have launched their invasion of D.C. While already an endgame faction, this episode explores more about what they’re goals are.
Our silent protagonist fights on. At this point in the game, you’re probably decked out in heavy duty gear and have unlocked perks for your class. For this demo, I maxed out Gunner and put on heavily armored patriot gear. From what we can tell about Black Tusk is that they’re definitely a more organized group. They deploy drones and use a combination of arms and tactics, such as snipers, manned/remote turrets, and heavy armored infantry. They behave more cautiously than most other enemies, but they will make attempts to outmaneuver you. When I first encountered them in a bottle-neck situation, they rushed me and still attempted to attack at my flank. The use of robots, like this warhound, made things interesting as well. Combat is just as refreshing and dynamic as its base game.
One of the things that stood out to me in the first 10 minutes of the Pentagon mission is how cinematic it feels. Sure, we get cutscenes elsewhere in the game too, but I really liked the way my character looked from the helicopter jump to the rendezvous within our established safe zone near the Pentagon. As much as the cinematography rocks, I didn’t think too much about the environment I had to navigate through. There was a moment where I got stuck and forgot to jump just before the safe zone, but it was a really straight-forward path. I would like to find more options for exploration or interaction with the environment besides blowing up gas canisters that are way too conveniently placed (depending who’s hiding next to it).
After the introduction, there is a follow-up objective within the Pentagon itself: The Pentagon main mission has the player venture deeper into the Last Castle, as they seek to uncover the reasoning for the Black Tusk doings. Following the uncovering of a drilling operation in the courtyard, players will be taken to the server room and the roof as they search for answers. The mission concludes with the player uncovering what the Black Tusk are looking for – a perfusion Bioreactor location in the DARPA labs below. We suspected that they were looking for something, namely something with DARPA on the price tag. I suspected biowarfare was involved, and not the Taco Bell kind either. It’s up to you and/or friends on coop to prevent further mutagenic mayhem.
Aside from the main questline, we are also introduce to the Technician class variant. The technician is a support agent, boosting skills of other agents nearby and brandishing a multi-missile launcher as a signature weapon. Make it rain death in a display of fiery awe and secondhand smoke. We are also privy to some other goodies in this latest update, such as the KSA shotgun and Sawyer’s kneepads (very American eagle, very patriotic). These new pieces are advertised to help you disrupt enemy tech, interrupting abilities like drones. And some more good news! In case you don’t have the storage for these new toys, we can now have up to 300 slots in our stash space. Keep an eye out for gearsets too, because equipping multiple items that are a part of the same outfit can grant positive buffs. That and you look good too.
We also have news about the PVP aspect of the game. I personally did not get a chance to bathe in the blood of noobs, but here are some things to expect: Update 6 brings several quality of life improvements for Conflict, such as a loadout selection during map voting, improved bonus armor visualization, and a rework of rewards, with players now also being rewarded regardless if they won or lost their match. In addition, we are also adding a new map, the Wharf, and a new game mode, Team Elimination.
The location itself offers raised vantage points and multiple flanking routes. Team Elimination places players in seven fast-paced rounds, in which the permadeath feature encourage teams to work together, offering great comeback opportunities. I like the idea of rewarding players who lost a match, especially if one person was the struggling MVP, but if you want people to work together (avoiding good grief moments), then maybe only the winning team should get awards instead of participation prizes. I’m usually down for getting XP, whether I won or lost. Others may disagree, and that’s fine, too.
And that concludes this preview of The Division 2 Episode 2. Hopefully you paragons with rise up and take on the pentagon. Definitely check out the first 10 or so minutes as we establish a foothold in the mission area.
Here is the Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Episode 2 – Pentagon: The Last Castle Gameplay Trailer:
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Episode 2 – Pentagon: The Last Castle releases October 15, 2019.
For more information on Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, please visit: tomclancy-thedivision.ubisoft.com.
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