The Division gets better graphics modded in before it even comes out

Hold on, I'm not supposed to be writing this kind of story for a month yet. The Division's closed beta ended just a few days ago and graphics tinkerers are already dreaming up ways to make the game look even better than Ubisoft intended. Not only did YouTuber Xenthor Xi crank up the in-game graphics settings for this video, they also ran it through SweetFX, the same customizable shader effects suite used for that Star Wars Battlefront 'real life mod'. And it looks marvelous.

The city streets aren't quite as convincingly cluttered as they were in the original E3 2013 reveal video, but otherwise this souped-up version is at least as impressive. Between this and that quietly thrilling city streets time-lapse video, just imagine what players will be able to make The Division look like once it actually comes out on March 8.

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.