Tom Clancy’s The Division Underground DLC reviews emerge

Tom Clancy’s The Division has its first piece of DLC. Well… it does if you’re playing on PC or Xbox One anyway. PlayStation 4 players will have to wait a month due to a timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft.

The DLC went live on Tuesday, and as is the nature of these things, reviews have been slow to trickle in, due to the size of the expansion. It is impressively big, as you’d hope for from a DLC that costs the best part of £15. The reviews so far have painted a mixed picture for the game, promising essentially more of the same grinding action – just underground, as the title suggests.

“After an hour or so of blasting through increasingly difficult operations in Underground, the template became clear,” writes Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku. “Head into a mission, kill some dudes, go to another area, kill some more dudes, defend a point against some waves of dudes and kill a boss. Level up my Underground rank (separate from my overall level) to unlock more modifiers.” Minor variations appeared as time went on, but nothing huge.

This shouldn’t be a big surprise to players of The Division, given that’s kind of the nature of the game, but more disappointing is the blandness of the underground world. Hamilton says: “I headed out to take on the new above-ground mission that kicks off Underground and was immediately struck by how beautiful this game can be.” 

“Since then, almost every mission I’ve done has taken place among the same bleak subway terminals and power stations. The Division is a handsome game even when constrained to underground interiors, but it loses something without the icy winds and concrete chasms of the city itself. The grind becomes grindier, and the missions feel more repetitive.”

“I think underlying problems with the game undermine the potential of Underground, but it’s still a welcome addition,” says Paul Tassi at Forbes. “If you own The Division and at any point, have had fun with the endgame so far, I would absolutely pick up Underground,” he concludes, although he also notes that if you’ve lost interest in the game, then this isn’t the DLC to get you hooked all over again.