The Division Heartland has had a bunch of early gameplay and info leak, just after its mysterious reveal from Ubisoft. All that is officially known about The Division: Heartland is that it's a free-to-play game set in Ubisoft's pandemic-riddled America, and that it'll release next year. But now fans are getting more of an idea of what shape the game will take via these leaks.
The Division Heartland was revealed last week as part of a general roadmap for the entire franchise, including the development of the Netflix film, new content updates, a novel, and this mysterious free-to-play game. There's been a lot of speculation about what the game actually is, but it seems to be true to the overall experience and formula of The Division franchise, much to the surprise of many.
New gameplay from a leaked closed alpha test (via SkyLeaks, Reddit user ZuvivorLDG) confirms that The Division Heartland is set in the Midwest and features two modes, including one that is more traditional for the series and involves wandering through the quiet town of Silver Creek. It also seems to confirm speculation that The Division Heartland is a battle royale, at least in part, as there is also a PvEvP mode with 40 players called "Storm". Generally speaking, it seems to be a smaller, free version of what fans have come to know with The Division.
It's important to note that all of the gameplay is from an early version of the game, as it's not expected to arrive until late 2021 or early 2022. That said, this should hopefully give players a new experience to chew on until the inevitable third entry in The Division 3. It's unclear if this will be run in the same way as the other two games, with an ongoing content plan that keeps supporting the game for an extended period of time.
Ubisoft wants to pursue more free-to-play titles that it can support in a way similar to what Activision has been doing for Call of Duty: Warzone. It wouldn't be surprising if The Division Heartland is Ubisoft's first real attempt at something like this, so it can continue to expand on its franchises while it takes its time on the more premium entries in each series. It's likely that Ubisoft will talk more about the game and give an even better idea of what it is at E3 this summer, but in the meantime, players can sign up for an early access period to try the game out for themselves.
Source: SkyLeaks, ZurvivorLDG