The Division 2 dev on Descent mode, endgame changes & more

2019 feels like an eternity ago with everything that's happened in between, but The Division 2 is four years old now.

The third-person looter shooter has been updated with regular seasonal content and events, but you'd be forgiven for not hearing too much about it unless you're regularly playing.

As part of its Division Day celebration, however, Ubisoft has pulled back the curtain on another year of content drops for the title and it looks to be the biggest set of updates since 2020's Warlords of New York expansion.

We sat down with Yannick Banchereau, Creative Director on The Division 2, to discuss why now was the right time to add a surprising new game mode.

• Here's what you need to know about The Division 2 Year 5 roadmap, including its start date, Descent, and more.

The Division 2 dev reveals new Descent mode details

"Descent had been in development for quite some time," Banchereau admits.

It was always in our minds to create a rogue-lite mode like Descent, and in doing so, we talked about what kind of experience we wanted our players to have."

"So when it came to creating Descent, I wanted to do something that had to do with power progression fantasy. And that’s not something you can necessarily experience in The Division 2 today unless you create a new Agent and go through the campaign all over again."

"So that was the intent with Descent, to recreate that fantasy in a much more contained context."

Speaking of players just starting out, The Division 2's Descent Mode is for everyone, Banchereau explains.

"It [Descent] is for new players because a high-level character is not needed to jump in, but it's also for experienced players because they’ll see things that they haven’t seen in other aspects of the game."

"It’s also for competitive players who are going to try and top the leaderboards all the time. So this is a mode that allows us to offer different playstyles and fantasies."

• Here's how to pre-register for The Division Heartland.

Power (Up) Fantasy

That power climb in The Division 2 is, at least usually, defined by earning better gear to create builds. That's something that Descent mode does away with almost entirely.

"There is no loot in Descent. That’s one of the major differences compared to the base game," Banchereau explains.

"There are only ‘Power-ups’ that you get when you’re completing rooms. And those ‘Power-ups’’ consist of talents that we take from gear that exists in the rest of the game, but aren’t connected to your gear.

"They are connected directly to your character, which means you can use any weapon you want and apply those talents to any of them - you don’t have gear, you don’t have ammo, you don’t have chest pieces or knee pads. You will only get ‘Power-ups’ that will influence the play style.

"That’s what makes Descent very different compared to the main game. Here, we have a looter shooter without any loot in Descent. It’s simply a choice of ‘Power-ups’’ and how they combine with each other."

It certainly sounds very Hades, but Banchereau wasn't giving much away in terms of influences on the mode.

"Roguelites are extremely popular now, and we see them everywhere," he admits.

"So when we discussed as a team, everyone came in with a different experience based on different references. That’s what’s been great about working together and developing this mode."

• The Division Resurgence beta is starting soon - here's how to pre-register.

Going Rogue

Descent wasn't always intended to offer a roguelike experience, though.

"We didn’t develop Descent with the intention of making a roguelite mode," Banchereau says.

"We initially thought about creating a Survival experience where you start with no gear and you have to grind for your gear within the mode, but as we worked and integrated on the mode, it slowly evolved to the roguelite style."

"The fact that they [Roguelites] are popular now didn’t really make it easier for us to decide on making the mode, because at the time nobody really challenged us to make the mode anyway."

Top to Bottom

The Division franchise has never been afraid to mix things up, with the first game offering a series of expansions including the Survival mode that involved staying warm in its snowy New York setting.

The Division 2 has already added a Summit mode with randomised areas as players climb 100 floors of a skyscraper. We asked if the arrival of Descent will affect that mode's future.

"I do expect these two modes to co-exist because they each have different objectives," Banchereau says, pointing to the mode's use of randomized rooms and custom builds.

"When it comes to Descent, it's very different in the sense that we are not randomizing the spaces. The configuration of the rooms is going to be the same. The surprise is not going to be the rooms, but what’s going to populate those rooms, and what you get out of completing that room."

"So it’s very easy to draw similarities between the two modes because they are linear in terms of going from room to room and you’re trying to reach the end. But ultimately, they play differently because in Descent, you start with nothing and you’re going to use whatever you can find within that space."

As for the game's endgame, Ubisoft has revealed an overhaul is coming in later seasons of Year 5, and Banchereau revealed a little about what players can expect.

"We want to restructure the endgame to make it more accessible and welcoming for new players," he said.

"We want an endgame where every activity makes sense and gives meaningful rewards that will contribute to your build. And playing seasons is going to have a big hand in achieving those goals."

The Division 2's Descent mode arrives as part of the Broken Wings update in June 2023 and will be free to all players. For more on the game, read Banchereau's comments on developing for two console generations.