After playing through the Warlords of New York expansion in The Division 2 (which is pretty neat, by the way) you unlock an additional mode called The Summit which takes its name after the hotel that the mode is based in. What you get here is a PvE experience that challenges your team to climb 100 stories of this building to reach the top. Each floor bumps up the difficulty and every tenth is a boss fight which also acts as a checkpoint for your progress. Procedural generation is used to mix up the experience and adds variety to each attempt. It’s basically The Division‘s take on the Gears franchise’s Horde Mode and I think it’s a cool idea!

This all sounds good but I wonder why it had to be locked away from players from the start. Currently you have to hit level 40 in the Warlords campaign DLC so it’s relying on players who have already committed to playing the game for a long time (6-8 hours just for the DLC) before you see it. Maybe it means they can balance it more easily when everyone’s levels are maxed out but it stops a lot of new people from experiencing it too and if there is any aspect of the game that could work as as “arcade mode” this is it. I’ve mainly played the campaign side of the series and kept away from the PvP oriented dark zones so this is something I’m likely to play more when I have a few minutes to spare and it’s also a good way to also get reacquainted with the controls too.

For new players it’d be a really great way for them to skill up and be exposed to what I think are The Division‘s strengths in close quarters gun fights. Even if the core game just had a smaller version of The Summit with fewer rewards but was available early in the game (so it was oriented to playing more?) I think a lot of players would take advantage of it as being a regular part of their experience. I’d hate to think a lot of players are missing out on this and if they ever make another I hope it’s there from the beginning as it’s too good an idea to leave out.

The Division 2 is out now on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Stadia.