I finally decided to play *Tom Clancy's The Division*, and the first thing that came to my mind was, *there is no way this game is from 2016.* Seriously, the atmosphere alone caught me off guard. The graphics still hold up surprisingly well, but what really impressed me was the world itself.
The snowy streets of New York look incredible. Walking through abandoned roads, seeing snow everywhere, the cold winter atmosphere, the lighting, the small environmental details, it all comes together so well. Ubisoft absolutely nailed the setting. There were so many moments where I just stopped for a second to look around instead of rushing to the next objective. The world genuinely feels alive despite being completely broken.
The gunplay was another thing I really enjoyed. The weapons feel satisfying, especially the snipers. Combat is fun, enemies can actually put up a fight, and the story missions were genuinely enjoyable. They were challenging enough to keep things interesting and never felt too easy.
I played the entire game with a friend, and honestly, that made the experience a lot more fun. Running through New York together, clearing missions, getting better loot, and slowly improving our builds was a great time.
That being said.... the game definitely has its flaws
The biggest one is the amount of running. There were so many times where we had to walk all the way across the map because there's no proper fast travel to every place you want to go. After a while it started feeling like we were spending more time running than actually shooting enemies.
The side missions were easily the weakest part of the game. They became repetitive really fast. Most of them felt like going from point A to point B, clearing a few enemies and doing the exact same thing again. After a few hours both of us were like, "yeah... we're doing this again." They honestly felt more like chores than meaningful content. The story missions, on the other hand, were much better and actually kept us engaged.
One thing that surprised me was the amount of content waiting after finishing the main game. Once I reached the end, so many new activities and systems opened up that I wasn't expecting at all. It genuinely felt like Ubisoft kept supporting this game with a lot of additional content, and I have to give them credit for that.
This game definitely isn't perfect. It has repetitive side content and way too much running around. But despite all of that, I had a great time. The atmosphere alone makes it worth experiencing, and if you have a friend to play with, it's even better.
I honestly recommend this game. It's one of those games that reminds you why atmosphere matters so much. Ubisoft really cooked with this one... Sure, it has its issues, but I'd still recommend it without thinking twice.
