Tom Clancy's The Division Underground is a paid expansion for the tactical third-person shooter action RPG set in a post-pandemic New York City. It adds a dedicated underground endgame activity focused on cooperative loot collection and repeatable missions beneath the streets of Manhattan.
Gameplay
The core loop centers on cover-based firefights against hostile factions using a mix of firearms, skills, and signature abilities. Players navigate randomized layouts of subways, tunnels, and sewers filled with environmental hazards such as traps, alarms that summon reinforcements, and jammers that disrupt skills. Combat emphasizes positioning and utility use, with the same enemy types from the base game appearing in new combinations and with added behaviors like coordinated ambushes.
Operations support solo play or groups of up to four agents through matchmaking or direct invites. Difficulty scales across Normal, Hard, Challenging, and Heroic tiers, each with recommended gear scores. Players configure runs at an operations panel by selecting phase count and applying directives that alter rules for both sides in exchange for increased rewards. These modifiers introduce variety without changing the fundamental shooting and looting systems.
New gear sets expand build options with specialized talents focused on control, critical hits, fire damage, and team support. Loot drops emphasize high-end items and set pieces, feeding into the existing progression of weapons, armor, and skills.
Game Modes
Underground Operations form the main addition. These consist of one to three phases per run, with each phase functioning as a self-contained segment of randomized dungeon crawling. Objectives vary across encounters, including eliminating high-value targets, securing infrastructure, or clearing areas while managing waves. Longer operations with multiple phases yield greater experience and loot, though Normal difficulty limits players to single-phase runs while Heroic requires multi-phase selections.
Directives serve as optional rule changes that can be stacked up to five at once. Examples include disabling the minimap, causing health to drain steadily, forcing skill cooldowns on use, or granting enemies special ammunition types. Each directive increases challenge and rewards when completed successfully. An Underground Rank system tracks separate experience gained from these activities, unlocking additional directives, operation types, and cosmetic rewards over time.
Dragon's Nest is the new incursion added with the expansion. This four-player activity pits agents against Cleaner forces in Hell's Kitchen and features larger-scale encounters with unique mechanics such as remote-controlled explosive devices and environmental fire hazards. Access requires reaching level 30 and completing the General Assembly mission, with Heroic difficulty becoming available shortly after launch.
Progression and Rewards
Underground Rank provides a parallel leveling track that rewards caches containing high-end gear and set items upon each rank increase. Daily missions and named enemy encounters supply the intel needed to unlock and apply more directives. This system encourages repeated runs while tying directly into the base game's gear score and loadout customization.
Environmental variety comes from randomized layouts drawn from numerous templates, ensuring different paths, enemy placements, and hazards on each attempt. Traps and interactive elements add tension to navigation and combat pacing.
Is It Worth Playing?
Underground suits players who enjoy the base game's cooperative tactical combat and ongoing gear grind but seek more structured, repeatable content away from the open world. The combination of randomization, configurable difficulties, and directives creates meaningful variety in mission length and challenge without requiring new story campaigns.
Groups benefit most from the activity, as solo runs lack respawns and can prove punishing on higher difficulties. The expansion integrates seamlessly with existing progression, delivering reliable sources of set gear and experience through its operations and the Dragon's Nest incursion. Those already invested in the core loop will find it extends play sessions effectively, while newcomers may prefer starting with the base game first.
