One of the most common criticisms of The Division 2—at least in terms of its game design—is its lack of a repeatable but varied endgame mode. That would be something that players of the urban third-person shooter could keep returning to for a fresh experience. The first Division had been expanded to offer two of them: Underground and Survival. The sequel, released in March of 2019, is about to get its first.
The new mode is called Summit and was the featured attraction today during development studio Massive’s weekly State of the Game livestream. It appears to take some of the concepts of the first game’s well-liked Underground mode, which was set amid randomly-arranged, enemy-filled sections of the New York City subway system, and puts them in a 100-floor skyscraper.
From what was explained and shown on the stream, Summit brings players to the ground floor of a skyscraper and challenges them to clear floors while playing solo or in a group. Floor layouts and the enemy challenges therein are randomly arranged each time people play, with boss battles guaranteed every 10th floor. The goal is to reach the 100th floor, though players can start new runs one floor above any boss level they’ve cleared (floor 11, floor 21, etc.). As the player ascends, each floor is programmed to be more difficult, but also different thanks to randomized arrangements of the floors and changing goals for clearing each level.
Division 2 players have been asking for a mode like Underground—or the first game’s even more highly-regarded Survival mode—since launch, but the developers’ first year of post-release content had focused on missions that gradually extended the game’s story. This past March, a surprise expansion called Warlords of New York, extended the game’s story and map even more. It did that well, but still didn’t offer any Underground-like mode.
In May, fans browsing through a public test version of The Division 2 found audio files that spoiled upcoming narrative additions to the game and hinted at a mode called Skyscraper. They quickly assumed it was the Underground-like mode they’d been waiting for and received some confirmation from the developers. Today’s showcase suggests it really is, though the name is a little different.
Summit mode will probably be added to the game soon. It will be included in the game’s next PC-only player test, which will be available starting on Friday, September 4. There’s no official release date for the mode’s release in regular PC and console copies of the game, but based on past Division 2 roll-outs, it wll probably be out in a couple of weeks or so. The developers say it’ll be free to anyone who owns the Warlords expansion and will serve as the featured attraction of the game’s third season.