The Division 2 is getting santa hats, snowballs and permadeath

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A little bit of whimsy, a little bit of permanent death.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The Division 2 is a game about various armed militias competing for dominance in a post-disaster Washington D.C, but that doesn't mean Christmas is cancelled. Quite the opposite: in the game's forthcoming 6.1 title update a brand new 'Sleigher' weapon will be introduced, and it's basically a grenade launcher, except the grenades... are snowballs. There will also be free Santa hats, too.

But if Santa hats and snowballs are a little bit too thematically awkward for you, there's a new Hardcore mode rolling out which will introduce permadeath to the game. As the name implies, all progress and items are lost upon death, and Hardcore characters won't have access to the Stash. This mode will get its own servers and Hardcore characters will always play together. If you live to see level 2, you'll get a special YOLO hat, because it's true. It's actually true.

Don't expect Hardcore Mode to be perfect straight out of the box. "More work is still needed on Hardcore Mode, but the developers are releasing it in beta because they feel that it’s already a fun addition to the game, and adds something new for players to experience," the update reads. "Some things haven’t yet been implemented as fully envisioned by the developers, and there are planned features that haven’t yet been added."

As for the cute Santa-oriented stuff, it's part of a holiday event entitled Situation: Snowball. The game will get a new look during this event (presumably Christmas themed) and Ambushers have a random chance of wearing Santa hats.

The full update notes are here, or else you could watch this recent stream which goes into a bit of detail:

Shaun Prescott
Shaun Prescott
Australian Editor

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.