The Division 2’s new mini-expansion, Battle for Brooklyn, is out, and it’s a solid 6 to 10 hours. You’ll travel back to New York as you chase down the terrifying purple flame. The Cleaners’ deadly new tech is being used to wipe out civilians, and the story only makes sense if you’ve played all of the last few years’ seasonal content. It’s confusing, tough to know who is who, and still easy to recommend because this game is so damned fun.
No Rest Till Brooklyn
Battle for Brooklyn is described as a “mini expansion”. I completed the main missions in roughly 6 hours and could see a full map clearing take upwards of 15 hours for most. I tend to run through things a bit more quickly, as achievements and collectibles hold little value. I’m here for the action, and Battle for Brooklyn brings it. While the main campaign is full of characters most have never heard of, it’s “fine”.
Theo Parnell, who you probably thought died when you shot him to death in Warlords of New York, is back. He has been for a while, along with his best buddy Aaron Keener; they’re both good guys now! There has been a lot of seasonal content over the years that fleshed out the story post-Warlords.
If you are diving into the game for the first time, thanks to Game Pass, I’d highly recommend you play through the base game before anything else. If you dig it, then buy Warlords and Battle for Brooklyn. This expansion was a great reason for me to dive back in for a day, alongside a new season of content (that isn’t included in the $15 cost of BfB).
Classic Division 2
Battle for Brooklyn follows the classic Division 2 style of leading you from mission to mission with waypoints, except when it doesn’t. The expansion’s map is relatively small, and three of the main missions require a trip to the helicopter pilot, where you then fly to the contained location. I dug it, as the level variety was kept up by not having to create the connective tissue between it all, in what was a lower-budget expansion than WoNY.
Gameplay-wise, the only new thing, outside of the Purple Flame debuff, is the return of Mobile Cover. This version lets you aim a charge and strengthen any cover around you, instead of being an actual deployable item like in the first game. That mobile cover broke the terrain, and I understand why they didn’t bring it back. The new version has you take less damage, and be all around harder to spot and kill while it is active.
There is one boss fight near the end of the expansion that was one of the hardest I have ever done solo. A character has an immunity shield, a wickedly powerful rifle, and a devastating set of SMGs for when you’re close. Their AI sees them constantly run you down, and while it only took me 3 or 4 attempts to take them down, it required a beefy tank-dps hybrid build to have any shot at it.
The Rest
Short Expansions get short reviews. I have fully covered the original game for the site previously. I love The Division 2, and BfB was just the right length for me. With The Division 3 being in the works, I’m interested to see if this story’s discoveries and conclusion play into that title. Will we be back in New York or perhaps heading to a brand new city.
No matter what, I hope they keep up the better-quality voice acting that this expansion had. The Division as a series has had some questionable performances. BfB’s overall audio quality was on the higher end of it. Everything was relatively bug-free as well. A few issues with sticking to cover when I was trying to get out of it are more features than bugs, and have been there since the first title.
Wrapping Things Up
The Division 2: Battle for Brooklyn is well worth the $15 for any fan of the series. It’s a short but epic campaign with some brilliant set pieces, one terrible boss fight, and is an excellent excuse to play more of this fantastic title.
