Tom Clancy’s The Division is shaping up to be one of the prettiest games on PlayStation 4 we’ve seen to date, and a lot of it comes down to the visual wizardry the developers are able to make with the much-publicised Snowdrop Engine.
With only two months away until the shooter-RPG hits stores, Ubisoft has been busy trumpeting the various graphical achievements that players can expect from The Division, and plans on talking more about it at the Game Developer Conference just ahead of the game’s release in March.
Chief among the impressive tech at work in the latest Tom Clancy title is the Global Illumination system. This dynamic system allows real-time bounce lighting from dynamic sources, resulting in far more realistic lighting effects in comparison to the latest titles on the market. The technology also follows close physics approximations of what light actually should behave like in the real world, plus saves artists a heap of work during the development process.
The Division is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One on March 8, 2016. PS4 players will be able to go hands-on with the game later this month via the planned closed beta. In the meantime, be sure to check out the latest gameplay footage to see how the game is shaping up.
Developed by Ubisoft Massive in conjunction with the industry giant’s Annecy and Reflections studios, The Division takes place in New York City, U.S., following the outbreak of a mysterious diseases on Black Friday. In just five days, the government collapses as the pandemic spreads, with supplies such as food and water cut off to survivors, resulting in widespread chaos.
Players form part of the Strategic Homeland Division (SHD), a specialised group who live seemingly ordinary lives but are given authority by the United States government to combat various threats caused by the disease, and help to get society back on its feet by whatever means necessary.
The Division has been in development for over three years now, and was first unveiled during Ubisoft’s E3 2013 press conference.