The Division Resurgence review: the looter-shooter series thrives and shines on mobile | Tech Radar

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The Division Resurgence proves that looter-shooters can work supremely on phones — and it’s converted me to being a mobile gamer

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Tom Clancy's The Division Resurgence is a supreme example of a major console series making the jump to mobile and sticking the landing. Gripes like level-gating and the need for powerful hardware to get the most out of the game do hold it back a little, but translating the core Division experience to the small screen with a wonderful recreation of post-apocalyptic New York, a moreish loot-to-improve loop, and satisfying cover-shooter action means that long-time fans of the series and newcomers are very well served.

+Expertly translates The Division style, action, and experience to mobile

Expertly translates The Division style, action, and experience to mobile

+‘Loot, shoot, and improve’ loop is satisfying and moreish

‘Loot, shoot, and improve’ loop is satisfying and moreish

The best mobile controllers: mobile gaming has never been better with these essential accessories

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Now that two of us from the Tech Radar Gaming team have spent hours in free-to-play third-person action looter-shooter Tom Clancy's The Division: Resurgence - and I, as the big Division fan, am still committing hours to it - we are happy to report that it's a terrific mobile game and proof that big AAA series from console and PC can successfully make the jump over to the small screen to produce something excellent.

Platform reviewed: Android Available on: Android, i OS, PC Release date: March 31, 2026

Every element of the core Division experience is here. The systems work and are easily navigable on a different scale, the combat is still fun and engaging, and the loot-and-improve loop is just as moreish.

Combine that with a story that’s relatively plain but one that perfectly complements the events of the first game and will be best enjoyed by existing fans, and a well-realized version of that post-apocalyptic New York City setting (complete with weather effects and a robust standard of graphical quality) as well as an intuitive and excellent control scheme on mobile, and the experience is complete.

As an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division (SHD) activated after the deadly Green Poison rips through the populace after spreading on money during Black Friday, your job is to save what’s left of the civilized world, help out its inhabitants, defeat factions looking to take control, and build up the SHD’s presence.

You might not have a military background, but you do have access to weapons, gear, and specialist skills and abilities. You’ll choose the latter by picking a specialization based on some pretty typical video game archetypes: there’s a tanky one, a healer, an assault expert, and an engineer type. Familiar skills such as the shield and gun combo, turrets and drones, and an excellent pulse ability work beautifully once again as you tear up Resurgence’s streets.

It’s worth noting that the protagonist actually offers something more than those found in the main games, too: they’re fully voiced and, as such, feel like more of a character. It’s a welcome move as spending hundreds of hours in the likes of The Division 2 and its many expansions, and even the Ghost Recon games, without saying a single word felt odd. Still, it is a shame that there aren’t more character customization options for the lead in Resurgence, which may irk some used to more expansion character creation systems.

Your chatty agent can combine your preferred specialization with a host of different weapons, which provide a huge range of ways to play. From assault rifles to sub-machine guns and high-powered shotguns to marksman rifles, there are loads of combos to try out, and you’ll also have lots of opportunity to level up and improve gear, and make it your own with a variety of attachments.

The loot-improve-loot loop is incredibly satisfying in The Division: Resurgence and will constantly have you chasing better weapons and gear to optimize builds and improve your power score, and take down baddies with greater ease.

Most of your time will be spent in the expansive Pv E part of the New York map, which features a host of recognizable foes for returning players. There’s the Rikers and fire-crazy Cleaners, as well as a newer faction in the form of the Freemen.

As you cross the map, unlocking safe houses and new areas, you’ll carry out a lot of story missions and side missions that take place up and down the streets. Th overall story are nothing to really write home about, but one specific gripe I do have is that at multiple points in the main story (and thus overall progress) are level gated, requiring you to grind.

At least the selection of enemy nests, alcoves, and urban squares all make for fun and action-packed arenas. The world is very nicely executed on the whole, and does a great job of nailing the aesthetic and vibes of the original game.

Encounters can feel straightforward in design, but still manage to be suitably high-octane and high-tension. It’s a great mix to have, as you can settle into the rhythm of looting, but still have to sometimes get creative and tactical to get yourself out of sticky situations.

For committed looter shooter players, the extraction shooter style Dark Zone is back to provide a sterner Pv Pv E test, while Conflict offers a dedicated Pv P mode for those who fancy testing their skills against other players directly. As someone who prefers cooperation over competition, I’ve really enjoyed the fact that the open world is shared with other players, and there are ample informal opportunities to help others or be helped by them with no matchmaking necessary.

While pouring time into the game to level up my character, I soon found that Resurgence really scratched that looter-shooter itch of needing to find more gear to improve, take down enemies more efficiently, and get even more gear in the process. The steady stream of upgrades keeps pulling you along, as does the desire for the XP gained from main and side missions.

The handful of ongoing elements in the game, such as weekly and daily tasks and plenty of fresh bounties, should also be enough to keep fans engaged over the long term, too. Adjacent to this, the series' monetization and microtransactions are, naturally, present too, and while they can largely be ignored and not engaged with, it is a looming factor.

While the game successfully translates the core experience established in The Division series, it’s another thing to have it perform on smaller, less powerful hardware.

With the visual settings cranked up to max, environments in Resurgence certainly look the part. It feels very faithful to the original 2016 game, thanks to its highly atmospheric snowy New York streets and a great level of environmental detail. It can achieve a mostly solid 30fps on a beefy Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered gaming tablet, though cracks do start to show if you want to hit a higher framerate.

Dash mostly plays on the medium pre-set in order to reach a smooth 45 fps, and the difference in quality is stark. The models of prominent objects, like abandoned cars, look slightly lower fidelity, and the textures become quite muddy. Render distance takes a bit of a hit, too, resulting in quite obvious pop-in on the horizon as you explore. The game is still perfectly playable and holds up decently well on a smaller phone screen, but it’s not as good-looking as similar AAA mobile releases like Delta Force and Once Human.

Even when it looks a bit grim, the game still feels fantastic to play as touch controls are brilliantly implemented. The layout (which includes a wealth of movement options like vaulting, diving, and jumping into cover in addition to your standard virtual thumbstick and aiming stroke firing buttons) does a commendable job of translating a The Division 2-like control scheme to a touch screen format.

The control scheme will be instantly familiar to existing fans and intuitive to those new to the franchise, but we think it really excels when played with a controller

The control scheme will be instantly familiar to existing fans and intuitive to those new to the franchise, but we think it really excels when played with a controller

Although it's no trouble for experienced touch control players, there are still loads of options to simplify the controls if you’re finding it a little too much. This includes the ability to automate entering cover, aiming down sights, climbing, or vaulting. You even have the option to aim weapons from a first-person perspective, something found in the recent Ghost Recon games but a new and welcome addition for The Division.

Mobile controller support is top-notch, too, as we tested multiple mobile pads from the likes of Game Sir, Nacon, Steel Series, and 8 Bit Do that all enabled the game to be played exactly like one can play The Division 2 on console.

The control scheme will be instantly familiar to existing fans and intuitive to those new to the franchise, but we think it really excels when played with a controller.

Should I play Tom Clancy's: The Division Resurgence?

You’re a Division fan looking for a brand-new adventure in the universe If, like Rob you’re a committed Division fan, then you’ll find Resurgence goes a long way to fulfilling the desire for a new Division experience. The story is canon and fits into the wider lore, the loop is excellent and moreish, the action is satisfying and punchy, and it looks great if you have the appropriate hardware.

You’re looking for your next mobile game to commit to and really spend some time in There’s a lot to get your teeth into in this mobile , and if you’ve been looking for your next — or first — big live service mobile game, then this will keep you interested for ages.

You’ve been curious about mobile gaming and wanted a high-profile game to dive into Gone are the days when ‘mobile gaming’ would conjure up images of boring puzzle games. Resurgence shows that high-profile AAA series can masterfully make the jump over to mobile.

You only have access to slightly older hardware Sadly, The Division Resurgence will struggle on older devices, so if you have something more than a few years old, then you may have to pass on the game for now.

You hate level-gating and the presence of monetization The monetization in the game isn't too aggressive or invasive — I've managed to ignore it mostly — but it lingers in the game. The level-gating in the main storyline is more egregious, though, and really will irk folks who just want seamless progression of both story and game.

Tested as it was initially released as a mobile game, The Division Resurgence sadly doesn’t have a huge number of accessibility features. While there are a host of settings around controls that allow you to change sensitivity across touch, controller, or even mouse and keyboard inputs and gyro sensitivity, there is no way to change subtitle size or color (though you can change languages), no colorblind modes, or extra audio settings.

There are also some assists you can alter with to find the right balance of play, such as aim assists, aiming down sights settings, and things like vaulting and climbing can be toggled to become automatic.

We tested The Division Resurgence in both single-player and multiplayer modes for many hours. Dash tested the game on an Honor Magic 8 Pro, while Rob used a Samsung S20 Ultra (which was only capable of running it on the lowest settings), and then an Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro combined with a Nacon MGX-Pro mobile gaming controller.

Rob also tested the game using other mobile controllers such as the 8 Bit Do Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, the Game Sir G8+ Bluetooth controller, and a Stratus+ from Steel Series. Often using the ROG Phone 8 Pro's own speakers for audio, he also tried the game through the new Steel Series Arcits Nova Pro Omni headset.

While Dash is Tech Radar Gaming’s mobile gaming expert, Rob is a longtime fan of the Division series, having committed hundreds and hundreds of hours to both main games on Play Station 4 and Play Station 5 since 2018. He still plays The Division 2 regularly with friends, and is perfectly placed to know what works and what doesn’t in this mobile version.

Rob is the Managing Editor of Tech Radar Gaming and Streaming, a video games journalist, critic, editor, and writer, and has years of experience gained from multiple publications. Prior to being Tech Radar Gaming's Managing Editor, he was TRG's Deputy Editor, and a longstanding member of Games Radar+, being the Commissioning Editor for Hardware there for years, while also squeezing in a short stint as Gaming Editor at We PC just before joining Tech Radar Gaming. He is also a writer on tech, gaming hardware, and video games but also gardens and landscapes, and has written about the virtual landscapes of games for years.

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