Episode 3 of The Division 2 brings players back to Coney Island in New York. It has been a long road, and for this week's State of the Game, it's a sort of a Throwback Thursday. That's right, we take a look back to what happened in The Division and The Division 2 that led to Episode 3. This week’s update is great at helping new players to the game get caught up with what's been happening.
The Division
So what's happened so far? Everything began on Black Friday with the Green Poison outbreak. It was after this that systems started to fail. The breakdown of the social order resulted in the rise of three violent factions of the Cleaners, the Rikers, and the Last Man Battalion. Fortunately, The Strategic Homeland Division was prepared for such an event with Agents being able to secure Midtown Manhattan against these groups.
In the first Division, players take on the role of an Agent that is part of the Division's second wave. The reason for this is because those in the first wave either went rogue or were killed after being abandoned in the Dark Zone. The first such Agent that players encounter is the Scarecrow, who also is a boss. Players also meet a rogue first-wave Division Agent in Aaron Keener. Keener, along with other first-wave Agents, had teamed up with the Last Man Battalion.
Players eventually learn that when the pandemic first broke out, the response of the government was to contain everything in what is known as the Dark Zone. However, supply drops to both Agents and survivors made the Dark Zone a nice place to scavenge. The Division would later find out that it was none other than Keener who manipulated the Last Man Battalion in order to get his hands on Vitaly Tchernenko, a Russian virologist. He was also responsible for getting the equipment Gordon Amherst used to create the Green Poison virus.
Tchernenko himself had taken shelter in the Russian Consulate for an evacuation that never came. It's also revealed that it was a man named Gordon Amherst who was working on the Green Poison, and that Tchernenko was never involved. Amherst believed that in order for the planet to survive, humanity had to be partly wiped out. So when Agents are sent to his apartment, they discover his research and equipment.
The end of The Division reveals that Keener had taken a DNA printer and could be working to move Amherst's research forward.
The Division 2
The Division 2 starts months after The Division. Agents receive a distress call after the nationwide Division Network went down. In order to bring back the network, Agents across the country are asked to travel to Washington, DC. Upon arriving in DC, players are informed that there is actually a broad-spectrum antiviral that's stored in a facility located somewhere in the city. The catch is they need to rescue President Ellis and his encryption key from the True Sons at Capitol Hill.
Eventually, Agents managed not only to restore the network, but also rescue President Ellis and even take back Capitol Hill. While it appears that victory is near, a private military group known as Black Tusk enters the city and puts it under siege. Players later find out that it was this group that had in fact sabotaged the Division Network as their plan has been to undermine the Division and take control of the country.
As players go through The Division 2’s campaign, the Black Tusk are hinted along with who may be pulling the strings. However, it's never made clear who it is behind the scenes. Making matters worse is that President Ellis was actually working with Black Tusk all along, and had snatched the antiviral before players can even get their hands on it.
Fortunately, Agents manage to take down the main DC stronghold of Black Tusk located in Tidal Basin and retrieve the antivirals. Players also try to get Ellis, who is at a remote location in Camp White Oak. However, Black Tusk manages to extract him before the Agents can reach him. Players then continue to secure a perfusion bioreactor from the Pentagon. The only problem is that they still need an expert virologist who can mass produce the antivirals.
Episode 3
In Episode 3, Agents are informed that Vitaly Tchernenko has resurfaced in New York and is now in the hands of Black Tusk out on Coney Island. Being one of the few surviving expert virologists, Tchernenko can assist in the efforts to mass-produce the broad-spectrum antivirals. Division Agents need to go to Coney Island, secure Tchernenko, and see how he fits into the larger plan of Black Tusk
So what about the groups? For starters, the Black Tusk are no longer confined to Washington, DC, and could be active at a national level. The Cleaners may have had their leader Joe Ferro defeated, but they have recovered and now have a new leader to unite them. The Rikers, meanwhile, have splintered into smaller groups after the death of Larae Barret. Finally, the Last Man Battalion continues to have a command structure in place.
Hopefully with that, you're up-to-date with all the events in the game. The Division 2 is available on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
