Will You Really Be Able To Play The Division As A Single-Player Game?

One of the biggest unanswered questions going into Tom Clancy’s The Division on 8 March 2016 is whether or not the upcoming RPG-shooter hybrid will be actually playable as a single-player experience.

That's what NowGamer looks to answer after a ton of hands-on time with the game behind closed doors and chatting with the studio.

[Free_Fro]

Probably boring as a single_player game. I'm guessing..

It seems to be built for Multi_plyr..

[Lon3wolf]

So you didn't read the article or play the game yet then. It will be fine as a SP game if you so wish to play it that way. I played mainly SP in the Alpha/Beta (more due to time constraints more than anything) and enjoyed it. Will be better than trying to play Destiny SP at the very least. The game will without doubt be more enjoyable playing the campaign in co-op and Dark Zone which can also be played SP (I did do this once to see) is geared more towards MP but still good in SP.

[ninsigma]

Definitely built for multiplayer but doing the campaign solo would be the same as doing any other campaign. It's the DZ that might not be as good solo. And that's where the end game is gonna be. Depending on how rich the campaign is will probably decide whether the game is OK as an sp game.

[pawciak]

I think the same. Multi game with a tiny single on-the-top addon..

[sanosukegtr123]

Should be both. Not everybody wants to go online. Like nfs 2015 should be off and online but only requires only connection which can be lame sometimes.

[Khaotic]

The singleplayer part has built in matchmaking if you want to takcle the missions on hard which was nice. I utilized that and ran through it 10+ times. I got alot of good blue drops running throught it. It reminded me of destiny strikes. So hopefully there are a nice amount of missions. So yes it will be a good single player game

[-Foxtrot]

Way I see it it's going to be like Destiny. You can play it solo but you'll get bored and future updates and the like from Ubisoft will be multiplayer focused forcing you away

In a month you'll end up selling it and getting something else.

I just don't see why they won't admit how it's not a game focused on single player.

How are you going to enjoy playing the dark zones by yourself when there are groups out there, well organizaed and ready to kill you on sight. Not fair 3 against 1. Sure don't go into the dark zone but there is the problem, you are cutting a big chunk of the game away.

I think Ubisoft should have created servers which are only for people playing solo so it's free for all and no team ups through chats and the like.

[Grave]

Ya this game is a blast with 3 friends. I have been playing solo when my friends aren't online and have still had fun though.

[thrust]

Easy to find people to play with in the game aswell

[JoeMcCallister]

Agreed - got about 10 hours in solo and loved it, played another few on a different character with a buddy and had even more fun. As Thrust mentioned matchmaking works pretty well too for the PVE stuff and I'm no longer concerned about this game at all. The only thing that remains to be seen is content - if it's got the destiny problem of a handful of meaningless missions (which I really don't think is the case from the skill menus) it'll be a flop.

[NickAwesome]

i'm glad i had a good solo experience, i was afraid the multiplayer would be super intrusive but that was not the case, in all honesty this game is shaping up beautifully, i even tried a little dark zone as a lone wolf and i had fun too

[ninsigma]

It seems to blend the sp and mp very nicely. Feels natural going between the two.

[Elda]

I had fun playing solo knowing I don't have friends to play with,so I'm looking forward to playing the full campaign solo & I may meet folks if I decide to experience it co-op.

[CP_Company]

i played solo almost all beta nad have zero problem.you can play solo,no problem with that.

[Pongwater]

I saw many streams and vids of people playing solo, so based on that the answer would be yes. I'm sure there will be some encounters that will seem to require a group, but think about the people who have soloed some or all of Destiny's raids. I'll be playing solo a lot when friends aren't online.

[ERFO]

I love solo and group. I think the only thing you can't solo is missions in hard mode. Well..... I'm sure some psycho will do it but I never will.

[MatriXcian]

I found that PVP and the one story mission were more enjoyable in a group but when just exploring the city or even doing the side missions going solo was the better option for me at least. Its hard to fully explore and appreciate your environment when playing with three other ppl all having different objectives while playing.

[MatriXcian]

I would like to see more AI in the PVE areas though and even maybe some other Division members the city though very detailed and intricate seemed empty to me. Ubisoft should implement other players into the PVE environment maybe 8 or so for the whole city. It would be nice to come across other players exploring the city.

[Duke19]

Dark Zones really require a good group. Too many groups of rogues out just to kill - so progression when playing alone is tricky.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

100% yes ...I played a number of hours in single player when my group of friends were offline and had a great time with it. Dark Zone is going to be very difficult if you go solo...but some will see that as the ultimate challenge and rightfully so. I found more often then not there was a lot of cooperation around the extraction zones with multiple groups setting up to defend the zone until clear. I think that will be more the norm vs lots of Rogue attacks.

[jdiggitty]

I played solo in the DZ for the last two nights and it was fine. Filled my extraction stash many times. You just have to pick your routes and encounters. I was often safer showing up where multiple groups were since they couldn't tell if I was part of the opposite side.

One thing that will be a problem is that you can get larger parties together. My clan had a group of 8 running around. When you leave your squad in the DZ it doesn't pull you out of the game instance and others can join on you.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I am pretty sure you can set your grouping to be friends only in settings but not sure if you can make it invite only. That at least should help with the "random" joins.

[leemo19]

You can depending on what your trying to do and how good you are. PvE of course you can do it solo but, Ubi does need to add more Npc enemies with variety and more interaction with the environment. PvP side well it depends on your skill and not putting yourself in sticky situation. Like don't go trying to wipe out a group of rogues by yourself if your not to good at the game, your going to get murdered. Always be cautious of exaction points when going solo because you can't trust anybody. Also like PvE, PvP needs more Npc to kill since it can be boring when having to go from checkpoint to checkpoint with nothing happening.

[WellyUK]

The only reason to be interested in this is game is the Darkzone and it's PvP mechanics. As a SP RPG it's boring. Everything outside the DZ is dull from what I played on Alpha and Beta.

[Apollosupreme]

As I learned with Destiny, don't play solo frequently in a game designed around coop. You'll get bored and not even want to play it coop.

[KOIMOJO]

Yeah I agree. I will say though, the matchmaking for the medical center mission worked really well every time I tried it. I played it both solo and with 3 other guys and it went from being kinda boring to some pretty great fun. I'm hoping the games community is similar to the souls series. Where there will be griefers yeah but i'm hoping you will be able to hook up with random people as allies if need be in the dark zone or in single player missions and hopefully everyone will have that wolfpack mentality where nobody really needs mics and everyone just kinda developed the understanding of what to do in certain situations. The game is set up for the community to develop nuances of how we deal with things inside the game. Should be interesting.

[Trekster_Gamer]

This game has no deep immersive single player campaign then you can count me out!

[UltraNova]

Its unfair but It was designed to be Coop/multiply so what can you do... I wasn't a fan of online stuff until I got into Dark Souls coop which was entirely optional and enjoyable/helpful when you needed it.

DS was a perfect blend for me at 90% SP + 10% online, whereas the Division is the opposite, but both are this way by design so no fault there.

[FPS_D3TH]

Ghost recon wildlands is the single player game your looking for. You don't play this game solo. It's totally meant to be played with friends and is very much so a part of its charm and main source of fun.

[UgoGalimbertti]

Man, I think Ghost Recon Wildlands is the game I'm most hyped for. Followed by No Man's Sky. I don't know why there is so few info about it, it's for 2016, right?

[FPS_D3TH]

Same here. After the Division and Dirt I'm looking forward to wildlands and no mans Sky the most.

[UgoGalimbertti]

I personally wasn't hyped for this game until the beta news and trailers. The RPG part of the game seems a lot bigger than I thought. Looking forward to that

[lunatic0001]

since most of my friends don't play video games like they use to or dont play at all...i will be tackling this game solo or hopefully find some people online that want to have fun and not be extremely serious about the game...just want to have fun

[cash_longfellow]

I fell for this trick with Destiny...yea you can play solo, "but by the way, you will be locked out of half of the content if you do" but not until the full game releases...will wait for reviews on this one. If I am forced to play with friends to access all of the content, then I simply won't buy it. I have had enough of this forced multiplayer nonsense.