The Division: New Ubisoft trailer shows off gameplay footage, sets up story and includes a Dalmatian

The new trailer for Tom Clancy's The Division offers potential players the best look yet at Ubisoft's open world third-person shooter. A ton of new gameplay footage is seen as we are given a rundown of the game's basic premise and structure. Also, there's a Dalmatian (above).

A viral pandemic has spread throughout the US, bringing down the government in a matter of days as chaos grips the populace. Players belong to the Strategic Homeland Division (or just The Division) – a self-sufficient group of operatives seeking to stabilise the US and discover the source of the virus.

The game focuses on The Division's efforts in New York City, which acts as its enormous open world. In it, players gain experience by completing missions, building up bases of operations around the city and rescuing valuable people such as doctors and former police officers. As players gain experience, they unlock new skills, weapons and gear to customise their character.

Players can team up to complete missions cooperatively or compete against one another. "Dark Zones" act as dynamic player versus everything (PVE) areas where gamers can team up to capture valuable items, fight one another for them or betray players they had formed an alliance with.

Announced way back at E3 2013, the game has endured numerous delays – much like Ubisoft's Watch Dogs did – but will finally be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on 8 March. A beta is expected to take place before then.

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