I’m back, back in the New York groove.
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 was a game I thoroughly enjoyed, but oddly enough, never returned to for any of its content updates. Battle for Brooklyn and Warlords of New York, were expansions that passed me by. But after playing through Echoes of Central Park, the game’s newest expansion, I might just have to return to the Big Apple all over again.
The content updates for The Division 2 have been pretty interesting in their location choice. Despite The Division 2 taking place in Washington D.C, each of the following expansions have returned to New York City, the location used during the original game. Still, returning to New York, and its signature districts and boroughs, does impress, especially with Echoes of Central Park, as a large chunk of the expansion offers a more horror-like experience in a New York that feels more isolated than ever before.
Echoes of Central Park offers up three new missions within the Upper West Side of New York, ranging from Lincoln Square in the south to the Dakota District in the north, much of which has been completely engulfed in vegetation. There are also three world missions as well that have you traveling to the Matthew May College of Criminal Justice, as well as the Majestic, a prominent apartment building next to Central Park. This is in addition to the final mission within the park itself, as well as the activities within the city and its endgame.
Additionally, you also have the new hub space, the Tower. However, this is really just a fallback spot for loading up and handling your equipment and socializing with your teammates or other players. This is where you’ll also meet three of the expansion’s lead characters who also act as your AI companions. They are Morse, Brayleigh, and Elwood, the latter of which is the most useful via their support skills, but is the most annoying due to their cringy dialogue. He literally yells out the Leeroy Jenkins line when going into battle. Sigh. He's also extremely cocky when a battle has ended.
You also can gain the new Apex Protocol gear set which is based around weapon and skill damage, and weapon handling. However, players are likely more interested in the new exotic, an assault rifle called the Ratel, which is earned through a pretty lengthy endgame quest. Lastly, the expansion brings with it new skill variants, such as the Howl Pulse, Gas Bomber, or Blackout seeker. The new skill variants are pretty fun to use, such as the Trophy System, which is an orbital drone that can reflect damage back to its attacker. It's a blast, literally.
The basis for the story in Echoes of Central Park is that you are tasked with tracking down a woman named Miranda Veer, the CEO of the Veer Corporation. This distress call sends you back to New York to help in this search, and for what it's worth, the story is fine, but does lack any real importance or impact. I never felt that Veer was anyone worth caring about nor a character who felt defined in any valuable way. There are some echoes of characters involved in the story, but nothing about Veer that felt like I was getting to know who this person was.
What does make the story at least interesting is that it is told by a mysterious narrator, whose identity is rather interesting and surprisingly connected to the Black Tusk, albeit in a way I wasn’t expecting. Regardless, this connection and person is largely irrelevant to the story it is telling, which is a shame. I do like the approach they took here, that the missions had this narration, but it's also unclear how this person even knew about the goings on that the story provides.
What starts the story off; however, is the threat of some sort of monster in the park. There is certainly something hunting in the park, some beast that has killed many people. However, the Division series is a more grounded and realistic setting, so when it came to finally encountering this monster, it basically went down exactly as I had expected. While predictable, I was sort of let down by this reveal, especially as there isn’t any real build up to their identity. You tackle this monster, discover their details, and a cutscene later, you’re done. Well, until you then go on to tackle the endgame. However, when it comes to the campaign, it does end a bit unsatisfying.
Introduced in the Mutiny Season last year, the new companion system is back. Here, you’ll have Morse, Brayleigh, and Elwood, each having their own archetype. Elwood was who I often had by my side, however, some missions force a companion on you as the mission is largely about their involvement. Still, Elwood’s healing certainly came in handy, especially as a few bosses really need you to DPS and they hit hard, so having extra heals every few minutes helped. Brayleigh is a sniper, so she is good at picking off targets from a distance, while Morse is your typical Division Agent, and likes to get into the thick of it.
The companions certainly have little moments to shine, small parts of the story that reflect their ideals and values, as well as their experience as a Division agent, or lack thereof. There is a major moment with Morse that feels like a few story beats were missing for me to really feel for what he was going through.
However, in combat, they can be a bit dumb. I had to constantly watch them and direct them, making sure they engaged in battle and weren't just running around. Also, I had plenty of issues where their placement in a scene wouldn't trigger the needed cutscene to continue. They would be where they needed to be, but nothing would happen. This was especially frustrating at the end, where a fan stops after the cutscene, allowing us to progress. However, Elwood just sat there for two full minutes, soft-blocking us until he finally triggered it.
While I do like this companion system, especially as a mostly solo player, it is likely something we will see greatly expanded on for The Division 3, given how late it arrived here in Division 2, likely testing the waters. That said, I certainly hope the AI is better and that cutscene triggers are fixed.
What really stood out in Echoes of Central Park were the game’s new bosses. While some are your typical Cleaner and can be dispatched in the normal way, a few fights have you dealing with downed states to deal damage, such as the boss during the One Columbus Circle Mission. This was a tough fight and I had to find a player in matchmaking in order to beat him, I just couldn’t DPS him quick enough.
In this fight, he has three warhounds that constantly heal him. Each warhound has its own kit, but each of them are incredibly deadly. Still, once you have downed each of them, he will go to revive them. It is here where he is vulnerable, but only for a short time as the warhounds will get back up on their own. Even the final boss has a similar mechanic where you have to deal enough damage to them in order to break their shield and make them vulnerable.
If, like me, you are returning after a while, you will be instantly boosted to level 40, and given some pretty ok gear and some new weapons. However, you’ll certainly want to put the work in and grind for loot, complete activities, and then take in the endgame to farm better gear for the higher difficulties. The new gear set is pretty solid, but there are a lot of other sets that you can continue to look for, and some solid choices in weaponry.
Still, it took me around 7 hours to complete the campaign (and much of the endgame) with another player, with a few wipes at two of the game’s bosses, the ones I’ve mentioned above. This was also with tackling the control points around the city. While I didn’t complete the endgame at the time of this review, it is easy to lose at least 20 hours here if you want to truly grind away at everything the expansion has to offer.
Returning to New York has been a great time, and while the familiar setting could have felt a bit too familiar, the desolate condition of the city, and the vegetation overgrowth, has truly transformed this city into something more darker and feral. Central Park alone is worth the price of admission as it’s a wonderful environment that brings a much darker tone to the series. I was also a fan of the detailed level design in having to bypass some streets and alleys by going directly through buildings and finding different ways to traverse. It keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure.
The endgame content that unlocks after you’ve completed the campaign is pretty enjoyable, at least if you play in a group. You basically have two modes; The Hunt, and Replayable Containment. The former; however, is where the bulk of the endgame is experienced and likely where casual players, like myself, would then peace out right after.
The Hunt has you exploring Central Park and tracking down threats as you build agitation in each of the five districts. Upon earning enough agitation, you’ll then summon five unique guardians, each residing in their own lair. They also are decked out via the new skill variants. However, in order to damage these guardians, you’ll need to use a jammer to disrupt and destroy their abilities, which leaves them vulnerable. And once you defeat all five of them, the Hunt is over. Replayable Containment; however, is where you can play through these again, but you won’t require your prior agitation, but then need to defeat them in a single run, whereas The Hunt can be done at your leisure.
During my time with Echoes of Central Park, I matched with a player who had already sunk around 30 hours into this expansion, digging into its endgame and really investing into the new builds and the ever-changing meta. While I am far more of a casual player to this series, at least recently, given I haven’t played the other expansions, he pointed out that this expansion didn’t feel great for a veteran or hardcore player, that the build craft didn’t feel as impactful, or rewarding. He also mentioned that the grind didn't really feel worth it for some of the new gear. However, they did enjoy the campaign, and the bosses, especially on the game’s hardest difficulty, where they felt like walking tanks, where any wrong move would wipe their squad out. They appreciated the challenge.
Despite its rinse and repeat nature, Echoes of Central Park was still a great time for a returning player, even if the game has grown a lot in my absence and features a ton of systems and modes that I’ve yet to fully explore. The story has its moments and the companion system is not without its quirks, but I was ultimately let down by its pretty low-impact finale. Still, the action throughout its campaign missions was solid, with plenty of fun set pieces and mechanics. The new kits are worth trying out, with a solid new exotic to get your hands on, and the endgame content is good for a few sessions. With The Division 3 on the horizon, I'm glad that, even after all these years, that The Division 2 continues to thrive, back where it all began.
Developer - Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Reflections. Publisher - Ubisoft. Released - November 3rd, 2026. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC. Rated - (M) Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - A review code for Echoes of Central Park was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.