Nightmare Fuel / The Division 2

• The trailer for The Division 2 was shown at E3 2018. We’re going to Washington D.C., and the screenshots show that the city has been abandoned, and overrun with anarchy. One shot even shows that Air Force One has been shot down. The Capital Building is also in ruins, and the White House has been turned into a fortress. One can only hope that the President, and the rest of the government managed to escape, but so far from what’s been shown, the situation appears to be quite hopeless.
• Finding hastily dug graves in one of the control points. You can tell by the massive concentration of mushrooms growing over the freshly packed dirt.
• The sewer tunnels beneath the city. You don't realize how loud Washington is until your agent steps down the ladder and is confronted by the eerie service tunnels- sharp turns that limit your awareness to what you can see in front of you, lighting and shadows that can make it difficult to see in corners, and loud running water that obscures all other sound. Nine times out of ten these are unsettling but completely safe ways to move from street to street. That tenth time though, you can round a corner and find yourself face to face with multiple squads of enemies also using the tunnels to travel safely.
• Washington D.C. itself. The city is built on swampland and on a watershed. What happens when maintenance and general order ceases? Nature takes over, and it takes over with a vengeance. Water creeps in and floods areas, creating unsettling bog-like pockets in once pristine gardens and parks, overgrowth begins creeping up stone structures, covering cars and roads alike. The city itself is also a stark contrast to the narrow concrete and steel canyons of New York; none of the buildings stand very tall, but the streets are wide and it is possible to see much farther, yet the city feels... empty. It gives off a desolate, uneasy vibe, especially in the bright summer sunlight which makes the city feel... off. While New York had friendly people wandering around, D.C. is utterly, totally devoid of any life outside of its settlements, save for roaming wildlife and violent gangs.
  • The Capitol Building. It's the location for the end-game stronghold (with a level requirement of 30, the others have lower requirements) with high level enemies. Yet what makes it scary is that the player's journey through D.C. will likely take them through Downtown East and Federal Triangle first, which have lower level enemies. Yet the Capitol Building is barely visible in the distance from multiple locations in those two areas (and from Dark Zone East) and its not a building that can be stumbled upon, as it sits by itself, so it's hard not to get an ominous vibe from seeing that iconic dome in the distance, almost as if it's watching you.
  • Dark Zone East. Formerly the area north of Constitution Ave NE and Union Station, the failed deployment of DC-62 has resulted in the entire area being walled off and abandoned. Entering it immediately gives off a sinister, nightmarish vibe as rainfall shrouds everything, the low visibility makes it difficult to see anything and to top it off, the area is rife with all kinds of enemies.
  • Directly opposite the Theater Settlement is a weirdly shaped gray building. If you've seen The X-Files, you already know what building it is; it's the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the J. Edgar Hoover Building. Several missions and a bounty take place inside its courtyard and basement, and just like real life, the building is a very unsettling place to be, doubly so at night as it's gray architecture and stonework create a foreboding environment. Thankfully with enough upgrades, the Theater ends up absorbing it as part of its territory, and friendly settlers can be seen standing on the Hoover Building's roof and cabling is run from it to the Theater.
  • The Natural History Museum Contaminated Zone, located on National Mall East. Directly next door to the American History Museum, it is likely the first Contaminated Zone the player will come across. After dropping through a torn open hole in the biohazard tarp covering the front door, the player can make their way through the abandoned museum. The interior is dark and difficult to see, and the giant wooly mammoth diorama in the center of the museum's rotunda is ominous in the dark, dimly lit atmosphere. Biohazard gear and suitcases are strewn everywhere, furniture barricades block doors, animal dioramas and their info kiosks give off a dim glow, it's difficult not to feel uneasy at who could be lurking out of sight in the dark corridors.
• The Outcasts field suicide bombers against you. Enough said.
  • One of the ECHOs shows an Outcast blowing himself up in a settlement.
    • Even better, there is found footage of one blowing up a couple of people roaming about the streets.
• The story trailer ends with a group of soldiers grappling from a helicopter, with orders to terminate Division Agents with extreme prejudice. An examination of these soldiers show that they’re wearing what look like Division Badges, only with a blue diamond instead of an orange circle. This brings up the possibility of a rogue sister agency to the Division, which itself means a lot of things... none of them good.
• The side mission "Agent Edwards Support". The titular agent goes to investigate an apparently abandoned Control Point near the White House, which the local Hyenas are scared shitless of. For good reason, too - a Hunter inhabits it. Yep, the very same ones from the Survival and Underground DLCs in the first game. The Hunter taunts the player from start to finish, first by using Edwards's smart watch to bait them into their hideout with a distress signal. When the player finds his watch, the lights go out and a flood light turns on to reveal that Edwards's corpse is hanging from electrical wires in the ceiling as if he was crucified. Then, ISAC's only warning of the Hunter coming is "System curtailed", at which point they use their signature smoke grenade and EMP entrance. No matter what level the player is, they'll find it hard enough just to shave off one armor bar off of the "unknown" enemy. Not that it matters, since the Hunter paralyzes the player for a lengthy period of time just to slowly walk up to them, dismissively gesture at them, then leaves them be. The whole side mission is a Wham Episode for both Division 1 veterans and new players alike. And did we mention that there's twelve of them? Thankfully, they only become active once the Black Tusk appear...speaking of which.
• The moment Black Tusk appears. The SHD is celebrating given how they've successfully kicked out the Hyenas, the Outcasts, and the True Sons, only to have a fully mechanized company of Private Military Contractors to stream in, string up everyone who was protecting the Strongholds, and send the whole thing straight to hell all over again, all without a single hint to their motives. That's gotta be disheartening.
• The Gatehouse Facility where you go to get the antiviral before finding out it was stolen. Throughout the entire game, all of D.C. is in ruins, with debris, trash, cars, and other miscellaneous items strung about. Even in the settlements, there's still a somewhat ramshackle or disorganized quality to them. Then you enter the facility, and it's entirely clean and white, and the most clutter in the area is a couple of chairs pulled out from desks. Given the player has spent most of their time in ruins, the juxtaposition can make them feel very uneasy.
  • Made worse by the fact that the only things of note down here are a loot room and the ECHO you have to activate for the mission. No NPCs, let alone enemies, show up.
• There is a fifth unnamed faction roaming around the sewers of Washington D.C. that occasionally appear on the surface. Unlike the other four factions nothing is known about them. There are no collectables about them whatsoever, leading many to wonder who they are and what their motives are. Worse, they never speak, with the only indication to their presence being the clinking of the chains they wear. If that wasn’t enough, their heavies carry chainsaws into battle.
• The enemy factions in New York are still operating! Even after all your work and toil to stop them, there's still enough manpower in groups like the Cleaners to still fight against the Division and JTF.
  • And with the Warlords expansion, it's gotten worse: Aaron Keener has stepped out of the shadows, taking with him the NYC base of operations you so heavily fought for in the original, and the Cleaners and Rikers who are badder and nastier than ever thanks to new equipments provided Keener's lieutenants, have together taken control of lower Manhattan. It's a far cry from the bitter but hopeful ending we left the Big Apple at.
  • After the Warlords expansion, the Cleaners faction begins appearing in Washington DC, suggesting that their particular brand of lunacy is spreading amongst first responders across the country.
• When you go after Bardon Schaeffer in the Season 3 Manhunt, a Hunter also shows up which is bad enough on it's own. Over the course of the mission you witness him strike terror into the Rikers now occupying Coney Island by brutally murdering their members. Then when you hear him speak the Hunter sounds more like a howling rabid animal than a human. The game itself lampshades this in the full subtitles, with the Hunter's "dialogue" being written sound effects such as [creepy muffled breathing] or [menacing laughter].

---