The Division 2 offers a more vibrant and dynamic world

We noticed that the world felt more alive and filled with optional activities, so we asked Mathias Karlson if he could tell us more about what they've done.

The world in The Division could at times feel a bit lifeless, so we were very pleased to see that The Division 2's Washington DC was full of wild animals, survivors going about their day, and random encounters. That was kind of puzzling, as Massive and Ubisoft hasn't talked much about that before. Fortunately, we had the chance to talk with Mathias Karlson, the game director at Massive, about that, and he had this to say:

"We put a lot of effort into making the open world part of the game really vibrant, dynamic, and full of activity, life, and movement compared to The Division.

"That is all fundamentally coming from a system we've created called The Living World system that is simulating the civilians, but also the enemy factions. Their needs and their goals in the world," Karlson continued.

"Driving them around the open world, trying to get resources and claim key locations. What that ultimately means for you as a player is that everything will not statically be the same, they'll be surprised, there will be different things happening on the same spot if you come back later. It's a lot of optional activities in each."

You can see this, how he reacted when we told him that our cameraman hunted a bunch of deer, and more in the full interview below.

Do you like the sound of this world and will you be exploring it when it lands on March 15?