Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence adapts game for mobile

It has been eight years since Tom Clancy’s The Division II was released, and Ubisoft has supported it with tons of downloadable content, but fans have been waiting for a new chapter. That arrived in late March, but it is on a platform that fans might not be expecting.

Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence is Ubisoft’s latest foray into the mobile world, and it aims to bring the Division game experience to the small screen. Of course, it cannot exactly replicate the visuals and the gameplay, but the game feels like the cover-based shooter.

“We had to rebuild everything from the ground up,” said creative director Jonathan, who preferred to use his first name only. “We did our best to build it with touch control for the main input. We had to make a lot of effort to make it easier to play.”

The story so far

The initial part of Resurgence takes place at the beginning of the Dollar Flu, the outbreak that caused the collapse of the U.S. and turned it into a postapocalyptic wasteland. Players create an agent who is among the first wave of Strategic Homeland Division troopers activated during the crisis. They fight to establish order, but the player-created agent is injured in battle and wakes up months later, after the events of Tom Clancy’s The Division. The major New York factions have been defeated, but a new one, the Freeman, has emerged. Players, even series veterans, will have to regain their bearings as they explore the city and discover new settlements.

In my first few hours with the game, I played it using a Backbone controller, and I felt at home with the mobile game. It felt like a hand-held Division, albeit with several tweaks that streamline the structure and make the gameplay easier on phones. With the touchscreen as the default, Resurgence has a stickier aim assist that helps players hit enemies as long as the cursor is close by.

Shorter missions and streamlined gameplay

Agents enter cover more easily under two control schemes: one, using a button to enter cover and another, which has players entering cover automatically. That is important in Resurgence because firing out in the open leaves players vulnerable to massive damage. It is better to shoot from behind cars or concrete barriers. Sometimes it is even better to blind-fire to eliminate foes.

Players choose from four initial classes: Vanguard, Field Medic, Bulwark and Demolitionist. The Vanguard acts as the ranged damage dealer. The Field Medic keeps the team alive while also dealing damage and debuffs to enemies. The Bulwark is the tank of the party and focuses on close-in combat. I picked the Demolitionist, which is good for solo play. It gives players a seeker mine and an artillery turret. This class excels in area control.

Each encounter is an opportunity to gather loot, and the developer lets players automatically equip new items they pick up so they can see how the new gear boosts their power levels. The missions themselves play like conventional Division quests with one major difference — time. Players can join the mission solo or jump in with a makeshift squad in online multiplayer mode.

“We couldn’t make 45-minute missions,” Jonathan said. “We aimed to retain the essence. The sequences are engaging, but condensed into a more snackable 15 minutes.”

What is also notable is that the New York in Resurgence acts more like an massively multiplayer online world. Players will see other gamers running around the world. They can step into some of the dynamic events together and help each other out. They can then invite each other on quests or even join a clan, a social feature that has a unique home base inside the game. Being part of a gaming group also opens up extra rewards and items.

What about the dark zone?

One of the signature elements of the Division series is the Dark Zone, which helped popularize a genre now dominated by Arc Raiders and Marathon. Resurgence brings that back, and it works similar to that of past games. Players venture into this dangerous area, and they will have to eliminate powerful computer-controlled enemies and harvest contaminated drops. The only way to keep them, though, is to call a chopper and hook them up for extraction.

That creates tension-filled moments where they will battle other players who want to steal those hard-earned items. The big difference between Resurgence and the current takes on the genre is that players keep their gear and lose whatever they were trying to extract when they are defeated.

“You can have the best of both worlds,” Jonathan said, “without the fear of losing that, you can still have the thrill of a new weapon and having to survive without losing it all.”

Because it is a mobile game, Resurgence has to monetize some aspects, and it does that with key materials and other items via microtransactions and paid passes.

Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence is out now on Android and iOS.

Online: thedivisionresurgence.com