Truly unique, next-gen, online, open-world, RPG, and amazing are just some words to describe this upcoming Ubisoft title. When all you need is one video to impress someone, it's generally a feat of accomplishment especially at E3. Introducing Tom Clancy's The Division, an open-world survival game that sort of combines Future Soldier and The Last of Us all in one go. I'd say Watchdogs as well but I didn't see anyone drive a car off a bridge.

The premise of the game involves some sort of pandemic; since it's a Tom Clancy title, there's actually a lot of thought into it. Sick twisted though, but still. Since everything is collapsing, being infected, and resources are running out, it's up to you as the player to survive and figure out what happened:

The gameplay video introduced to us involved four players simultaneously playing with each other in cooperative mode. These players could jump in and out at any time and not hinder the gameplay of the others. They were able to use each other's specific skills to accomplish a mission; from thermal imaging, to healing, to engineering turrets. What caught my eye was the fourth player came in mid-game, mid-battle, on a tablet computer only to control a little drone from over-head. We was able to pinpoint targets and give his team intel.

We didn't see much of the dynamics but based on the few moments the character spent in the menus, I was able to see a ton of different skills and options, implying the game has some sort of extensive skill-tree or class system. Since the game is a survival genre, I guess the small raid that took place in the demo involved a hunt for food and supplies... and in one player's a case, a shiny new gun.

After the mission was complete, the gameplay video ended with someone calling out "other players" and the proceeded to engage each other. That's where the demo stops. This has me wondering if the game is a large-scale MMO or not; or if enemy players can randomly join a session. I think randomly joining doesn't make too much sense in a lone world of survival but here's to hoping we get more details on this. It has me guessing only because the opposing players approached in a team rather than just showing up one-by-one as stragglers.

Enjoy both the announcement trailer and gameplay demo of Tom Clancy's The Division. The game is headed it's way to next-gen consoles: