Hello all! You may have heard about The Division, a game in development by Ubisoft. Last weekend Ubisoft opened its doors to players for it’s closed beta. Access to the beta was given if you pre-ordered the game (PC, Xbox, PS4). Nvidia and Ubisoft also partnered up to give out more keys to allow more players into the beta.

Within the beta you had access to a few story missions and some free-form missions and bounties as well as a large chunk of area to explore. They also gave you access to the Dark Zone. This is where the big draw is for the game. In this area PvP (player verses player) is enabled unlike in the regular zone. This is also where the “best” gear is located. I use best loosely because most of the gear I encountered wasn’t much better than what I encountered in the regular zone.

Ubisoft claims this is where players will spend most of their time. I went in there with a couple of friends who also managed to get into the beta and it can get pretty sweaty when you have contaminated gear that needs to be extracted. Which brings me to my next point, any gear you acquire within the Dark Zone must be extracted via Extraction Zones. There is a 1:30 timer once you launch a flare signalling everyone in the area to which they can kill you and take your gear or join you in extracting their gear. Keep in mind tho’, there are only 4 spaces per extraction.

All in all this was a pretty good beta. Minimal bugs and network issues made for an enjoyable time. Ubisoft also has an open beta slated for sometime mid February, so keep an eye out for that. I’ll most likely do a more in-depth review after that or when the game officially launches.