The Division Reviews: 8 Early Reactions You Need To Know

8. It Can't Be Played Offline - Any Outage Stops The Game

Confirmed in a Facebook comment back in June 2015, now that it's out, the reality of an online-only, potentially 'single-player experience' is a weird one. Such a setup reliant on an online connection does play into the way many households/users are equipped with speedy internet access, but as The Division suffered from an immediate, two hour-long server outage right after midnight, it doesn't bode well for those who still give it the benefit of the doubt, only to lose features regardless. Let's be totally clear here, as Kotaku have quoted in their hands-on time, "The Division requires an internet connection at all times, so if your link to the servers goes down (or the servers themselves go down) you can€™t play at all." Ubi noted that they wanted a seamless experience, going from the open-world exploration of New York through to the Dark Zone multiplayer (where you literally step through a door to change modes, it's very cool), but for such a great story concept, it's going to rub many gamers up the wrong way that they can't experience it alone.
Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.