The Division: Heartland gameplay footage leaks – looks just like The Division

Despite Ubisoft specifically asking participants not to leak anything, footage for The Division: Heartland has leaked.

Ubisoft’s next entry in The Division series, The Division: Heartland, was announced less than a month ago. And it only took that much time for footage of it to be leaked online.

Just over 20 minutes of gameplay from a private test has been shared on YouTube. From a quick glance, it very much resembles the previous games and doesn’t appear to deviate too greatly from the series’ core mechanics.

Heartland is the first in a new wave of free-to-play and games as a service titles from Ubisoft, after the company stated it would produce more of them – despite not having any major successes up to this point (anyone remember Hyper Scape?).

But a developer briefing from the test has also been leaked, which sees lead game designer Taylor Epperly explain a couple of the game’s features. Namely, the two different game modes.

The first is Expedition, a co-op PvE mode, which sounds like it will serve as the game’s main campaign, as you uncover the story behind the small town setting of Silver Creek.

The second is the multiplayer-centric Storm, a 45-player PvEvP mode. This is presumably meant to be the equivalent of a battle royale mode.

‘Both modes will have you scavenging, exploring, looting, fighting, and surviving, all while avoiding the most aggressive and unpredictable virus contamination The Division has ever seen’ says Epperly (The Division’s pandemic themed backstory doesn’t seem quite so cool nowadays).

Epperly also reminds those taking part in the test that they are under NDA and asks them to avoid sharing any information about the game. You already know how that one worked out.

It’s also mentioned that Ubisoft will be monitoring for leaks throughout the test’s duration but, at the time of writing, both the gameplay footage and developer briefing remain online.

Ubisoft is still accepting new players to take part in the test. If it’s something you’d be interested in trying out, you can register your interest on Ubisoft’s website.

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