At long last, Ubisoft’s free-to-play multiplayer arcade shooter, XDefiant is out for everyone to play! Here’s all that you need to know.
The development team behind the game, Ubisoft San Francisco, actually consists of a lot of veteran talent in the first-person multiplayer shooter genre. Mark Rubin, formerly the Executive Producer of Call of Duty for 10 years at Infinity Ward, is both the Executive Game Director and Producer of XDefiant. Additionally, a lot of current and former Call of Duty professional players have also been brought in to be a part of development or provide some insights. Most notable of which is Patrick “Aches” Price.
Because of the multiple connections to the CoD franchise, a lot of people have been hoping this could be the next big shooter. A lot of games have been given the label of being a potential “CoD killer” but none have truly lived up to it. Today, XDefiant gets to try and become that. Or at the very least, be a good enough game that can provide some healthy competition in a genre that’s been mostly dominated by Activision.
XDefiant launches with a pretty substantial amount of content. 14 maps, 24 weapons, 44 attachments, and 5 devices to play with. The 5 factions are based on various Ubisoft franchises such as The Cleaners from The Division, Libertad from Far Cry 6, Echelon from Splinter Cell, DedSec from Watch Dogs 2, and Phantoms from Ghost Recon Phantoms. Each one has 3 different characters with unique abilities.
There are also 2 types of game modes: Arena and Linear.
Arena-style matches consist of: Domination, where teams fight to control 3 zones. Occupy, where teams compete to take control of one zone that moves around the map. And HotShot, a mode where players fight to get the most KOs. In HotShot, points are only granted or denied when players collect tags from fallen foes or allies. The player who has the most tags before the HotShot is granted speed buffs but is marked on the map for the whole enemy team to see.
Linear-style matches put each of the competing teams in either an attacking or defending role. In Zone Control, the attacking team has to secure five zones across the map, while defenders must try to stop them. In Escort, the attacking team has to bring a package to a marked location across the map, while the defenders attempt to stop their progress, and push the package back.
Probably one of the more attractive features of the game is that there is no skill-based matchmaking, a predatory system that has plagued most modern multiplayer shooters. There’s no longer a system that determines your play style and pitches you against people with similar skills. All random matchmaking to make matches as random and as fun as possible. XDefiant also has a ranked mode already during day one.
Right now, it’s just the preseason for the game but there will be more seasonal content coming such as new factions, maps, and weapons. Find out more in the official XDefiant website.