Geek Preview: Ubisoft Franchise-Crossing F2P Shooter ‘XDefiant’ Is Frenetic Fun

With such a long history and a slew of recognisable franchises in its collection, there is little doubt that Ubisoft is a big part of the gaming landscape. While the different games often appeal to a diverse audience, the company seeks to bring fans together with its latest project, a free-to-play shooter titled XDefiant.

In an already crowded genre, XDefiant hopes to stand out by virtue of the strength of Ubisoft’s history, bringing together factions from games like Far Cry, Watch Dogs, The Division, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon in all-out warfare. As Executive Producer Mark Rubin shared, the aim is to “create a shooter that felt smooth and clean, with movement that didn’t feel like it was trying too hard to be complex,” and “keep it simple and let player’s skill shine” with “more distinct play styles.”

Players will have to be skilled shooters to win, but to do so as a team, it requires strategic thinking and teamwork, which means the makeup of a team is vital as well. Each team consists of six players, and within the squad, you are free to choose from any of the factions and switch up your loadout to suit the situation.

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Key Design Tenets for XDefiant

For the team behind the shooter, XDefiant is a “love letter to fans of classic arena shooters,” and to bring things up to a modern standard, there are three pillars in which the shooter is built on.

Player-centric Design

“We’ve been building this game alongside our community for over a year now with our insider sessions pro From taking into account direct feedback to make sure we are meeting player expectations, and that’s our plan moving forward to continue e making the game the best it can be for our players,” shared Live Operations Associate Director, Ceecee Smith.

Best-in-class Arena Shooter Gameplay

Everything from gunplay, map design, and even the game balance is being fine-tuned to make XDefiant feel as good as it looks, so players can expect a smooth experience whether they are making their way to the objectives and mowing down the opposing team in intense firefights.

Arcade-style Fun

Fast-paced fun, just like classic arcade shooters. The presence of the various factions means different ways to play, and players can easily jump in and get a hang of things, before diving deeper into proper strategies and tactics to make the most out of their teams.

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Faction Warfare

Each faction functions like a class with a unique set of traits. activated abilities and an ultra that can change the course of a match in XDefiant if you time it right.

For example, the spies of Echelon keep enemies off balance with subterfuge and info warfare, and are perfect for lone wolves, flankers, and anyone who appreciates the element of surprise. The DPS specialists are the Cleaners. They solve their problems and territorial disputes with fire and are great at area denial. The Libertad freedom fighters make their whole team better with support, using Bio-beta therapies to keep themselves and their squad mates alive and in the battle even against overwhelming odds.

Then we have the members of Dedsec, who can hack and take over enemy hardware, or even lock foes out of their abilities and scramble their HUDs. And there’s always the spider-bot to spice things up. Lastly, the Phantoms bring advanced tech for personal and team defence, which makes them great as tanks.

XDefiant also features a big arsenal of assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, marksman rifles, snipers, shotguns, and sidearms. Each of the 24 weapons has been tuned for authenticity, feel and gameplay balance, and players can unlock over 40 attachments to tune each weapon to their preference.

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Maps & Modes in XDefiant

The action will play out on the 14 maps available at the launch of XDefiant, many of which take inspiration from the many Ubisoft properties. They tend to take the classic three lanes structure to funnel the action and give players more food for thought when getting into a match.

This becomes particularly important depending on the modes, which are categorised into either Arena modes or Linear Modes.

Arena Modes

Domination and Occupy are riffs on classic arena modes where you take and hold territory with help from your faction abilities. Expect to see plenty of push and pull during these battles. In Hotshot, players will have to kill their foes and pick up bounties in order to score points.

The player with the most bounties gets a movement and rate of fire boost as well as a bounty score multiplier, but they are also marked, making them the prime target for other players.

Linear Modes

For linear modes like Escort and Zone Control, teams will form up as dedicated attackers or defenders. The former will have to progress through the map while the latter will try to stop them using any means possible.

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XDefiant Roadmap

At launch, players will gain access to four factions, with Dedsec being an unlockable reward. Weapons-wise, there will be 24 unique firearms and 44 attachments to cater to teams fighting out on the 14 maps and five different modes. A Battle Pass will also be present to reward progress.

Competitive play will get a boost in Season 1 of XDefiant when ranked play launches, and players can expect new maps, modes, and limited-time events to come throughout the lifetime of the shooter.

Every three months, the XDefiant team will usher in a new season that includes a brand new faction with new characters, new maps, new weapons, a new Battle Pass, new cosmetics and events.

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The Closed Beta for XDefiant is now available until 23 April, with crossplay enabled across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Players can register for the chance to join in the fun.

While there is still no set release date for the free-to-play shooter, it seems that Ubisoft is confident that XDefiant will serve its fan base well. Based on what we have experienced, it is on the right track, and here’s hoping the support will continue for a long time to keep players coming back for more.