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The Division Survival Expansion Release Details, Trailer & Delay

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Additional content isn’t only a way of keeping money rolling in for video game developers. By their very nature, they offer players the opportunity to dive back into a game long after they’ve completed its main story. DLC packs often include new levels to complete and locations to explore. The Division Survival Expansion stands to do the same thing for the company’s now months-old online shooter.

Ubisoft confirmed new The Division Survival Expansion details recently. Unlike most shooters, The Division mixes third-person shooting mechanics and online play for a connected experience. Players create their own member of Strategic Homeland Division, then go through the game’s missions, leveling up and acquiring new gear. Survival Expansion will add an all-new mode that’s more realistic than the main game.

The Division Survival Expansion Trailer

Read: The Division – Which Edition Should You Buy?

The Division Survival Expansion Trailer

Ubisoft may have confirmed The Division Survival Expansion earlier this year, but it sure didn’t provide any details about it. At the time, staying quiet about the upgrade made sense. Before Ubisoft could launch Survival, it first has to get The Division Underground Expansion done and available to users.

Then, a new trailer for the expansion arrived on Microsoft’s Xbox YouTube Channel. The trailer begins with what’s clearly an agent of SHD sneaking around Manhattan Island in the dead of night. It’s still winter, the same season that the game’s main story is in, revealing that a significant amount of time hasn’t passed.

A helicopter crashes and the SHD agent is forced to think quickly about his next moves. He manages to avoid the crashing aircraft, but is left unsteady in the process. With the environment outside deteriorating, he heads into a store looking for supplies. A gang shows up, eager to kill him at all costs. That’s despite him not having supplies.

Read: The Division Underground Expansion Release Date & Details

Still unsteady, he eventually succumbs to the group of armed attackers surrounding him. The screen goes dark, as if preparing to leave the fate of the SHD agent unknown. Three other agents suddenly come to his aid. A description of the video reveals some detail: “SHD agents have run out of supplies in the middle of a harsh Manhattan winter and will have to survive as long as possible in a very hostile environment.”

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The Division Survival Expansion Content

The Division Survival DLC will add an all-new play mode, Ubisoft confirmed in a recent video stream for the game, called Survival.

As many suspected from the trailer, Survival Mode is a lot like the live-or-die modes from other games. It uses the entire map of New York City available in the main game. Up to 24 players can be in one instance of Survival Mode at a time; there’s support for groups and matchmaking.

As the trailer suggested, players are flying into New York City to acquire resources that could help save the city and find a cure for the disease that killed millions of New Yorkers already. Suddenly, the helicopter they’re riding on gets blown out of the sky. Players survive the wreck, but only barely. Stuck at the edge of Manhattan, they need to get the antivirals that they came for and make it out alive.

Plenty of things that are true of the main game aren’t true of Survival. Players don’t get to take their gear into Survival Mode. They’ll have to compete with others for resources as they make their trek into the Dark Zone to get the needed medicine and get out. There’s both a competitive and co-operative version of Survival Mode. As players get closer to the Dark Zone extraction, their enemies get more deadly. Only by acquiring supplies and gear as they make it through New York do players get their skills and more dangerous weapons back. In the beginning, all they have is a pistol.

All of this is going on during a huge winter storm in the city. Finding warmer clothes means health boosts for players. The longer characters stay in Survival Mode, the more they need food and medicine to help their health regenerate. Diving into hideouts gets players supplies and shelter from all the snow.

Though they’ll likely launch at the same time, the Survival Expansion isn’t to be confused with The Division Update 1.5. Everyone will get access to the 1.5 update’s new World Tier 5 open-world difficulty upgrade, new Gear Score, new weapons and new talents.

The Division Survival Expansion Release Date

In that aforementioned effort to provide context for purchasing the season pass, Ubisoft did give players a relative idea of when they could expect The Division Survival Expansion release to arrive.

the division season pass calendar

Read: The Division Updates & DLC – What You Need to Know

That entire schedule went out the window when Massive and Ubisoft decided to focus on The Division 1.4 Update so that it could stabilize the game and improve its base mechanics. We still don’t know exactly when The Division Survival Update will arrive, but we do know it’s getting close.

Ubisoft and Massive kicked off testing of The Division Survival DLC and 1.5 update on November 7th. Only available to Windows PC users with a UPlay account, this test version allows gamers to provide feedback about the impending changes and upgrades before they go out to everyone.

The two plan to deliver The Division Survival DLC to Xbox One and PC users on November 22nd. Everyone on both of those platforms will get the 1.5 update on the same day. PS4 users can expect the DLC to arrive sometime during the month of December. The 1.5 update will launch on PS4 sometime after it arrives for Xbox and PC, but not take as long to surface as Survival. 

The Division Season Pass & Other Additional Content

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Read: Key The Division Season Pass Details Arrive

The Division Survival will cost $14.99, if the price of the game’s Underground expansion is an accurate indication of Ubisoft’s plans. Luckily, users don’t have to buy it on its own. The Division Season Pass includes monthly drops of character items and access to every expansion. It’s $39.99 on the Xbox Store for Xbox One, PlayStation Store for PS4 and Steam for PC players.

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. William Worth

    09/09/2016 at 7:30 am

    Ever since the release of “Underground” I have been patiently waiting for “Survival” to drop! It seems like its taking forever. Just a few months in the world of a hardcore gamer can feel like “eons” when it comes to DLC or new game releases. Survival in particular seems to taking an extremely long time given that is was suppose to launch this summer. Without an “official” release date I am left feeling even more impatient. Watching the trailer just makes it worse. Ubisoft did a good job with the trailer… There’s just enough to get me excited and enough left out to leave me in absolute wonder. I am literally on edge about Survival which is strange because I NEVER get this worked up over DLC. Although The Divisions store page gives the game a “mixed” score rating in terms of the games success I beg to differ. If you dig in and do a little research you will see that nearly all of the gamers who own The Division have well over 200+ hours of game time. Not to mention that every time I am in the game the “Underground” hub and every safe house I visit is ALWAYS packed with players. No matter what time of day I decide to play, The Division is always busy and finding matches is always easy and never a chore. It just keeps on getting better with each expansion and update. Ubisoft is doing a wonderful job listening to The Divisions fan base and giving them what they want. I can’t wait to see what is in store for us and what Ubisoft has planed.

  2. jarrod

    10/13/2016 at 1:24 am

    Under ground sucks it ruined the game i had 250k dps 450health and 16k skill power

  3. jarrod

    10/13/2016 at 1:27 am

    All the guns were nerfed to hell me and my team would go on back to back man hunts now none of us play the game anymore i went back to destiny cuz this game is a wast of time

    • Peanuts

      10/16/2016 at 1:06 pm

      it got harder for you so you quit? good call, the game’s better off without you :) enjoy destiny lolz

  4. Camarada Lobo BR

    10/18/2016 at 11:04 am

    I just believe Ubisoft is learning a good lesson from other blockbusters like Final Fantasy, Dark Souls and Elder Scrolls, putting REAL rewards to the players, without the the obligation to do a Raid.

  5. Sans

    11/18/2016 at 9:31 am

    The Division was amazing when I started playing it, but it wasn’t until 1.3 when sentry shotguns ruled I was on the verge of quitting it but then 1.4 came out, and even though I can’t say there are still some things broken, I can compete with anyone now.

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