The Division ‘Snowdrop’ VGX Awards trailer shows off

Tom Clancy’s The Division is still something of a mystery. You know what’s not a mystery? How insanely good it looks.

We don’t actually know a whole lot about the game yet, only that it involves a clandestine military group that’s activated after a pandemic of some kind sweeps through NYC, devastation the US’ biggest city. That’s about what we know about the story, but whatever the narrative, wow does The Division’s Snowdrop engine look pretty.

The lighting and weather effects that the engine churns out are snazzy indeed, but I’m also pretty impressed by the gunplay and its real-time damage delt-out to everything from signs to abandoned vehicles in this post-apocalyptic world of The Division’s New York. Ubisoft is promising a chaotic experience in a world that’s completely broken down post-epidemic and a social one too with drop-in-drop-out co-op and competitive play. Yep, not only will you be able to be playing and have a buddy drop-in on you to help out, but he might actually not be all that friendly.

We’ll have a bunch more on The Division as we get closer to the 2014 launch for the game when it’ll hit the Xbox One and PS4.