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XDefiant hands-on preview: Ubisoft favourites get a frantic new way to play

Updated: Apr 19, 2023 3:48 pm
XDefiant hands-on preview: Ubisoft favourites get a frantic new way to play

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XDefiant feels quite like Ubisoft wants a bit of that Overwatch or Apex Legends action. But there is more to it than that, and after an XDefiant preview event and hands-on session last week, I can shed a little light on it, and what the free-to-play first-person shooter has to offer.

While bits of the game and its stylings do shout ‘other famous multiplayer games!’ outwardly, there is a distinct Ubisoft edge to what the game can offer you. If you’re a fan of many of Ubisoft’s most famous games and series, this could be the multiplayer game for you in 2024.

To remind us all of what the heck XDefiant is, allow me to set the scene. Bringing together environments, characters, and callbacks from across the Ubisoft lineup of games, XDefiant is an arena shooter that’s going free-to-play this year. Offering a fun way to play as characters from different series, pitting them against each other over maps inspired by the same games, XDefiant is a love letter to fans and to its biggest and most popular series.

And while that is pretty fun, it’s not just that love letter that’s on offer – Ubisoft has premium first-person shooter experience with Rainbow Six Siege, after all. And some of that was very apparent from the time I spent with the game.

XDefiant preview – Fan favourites go head to head

XDefiant quickly cuts to a big part of its USP and offered me the choice of five factions to choose from. Characters from the Libertad (Far Cry 6), Echelon (Splinter Cell), Phantoms (Ghost Recon), DedSec (WatchDogs), and the Cleaners (The Division) were on offer and presented different play styles, roles, and abilities.

XDefiant screenshot 4 ubisoft
Credit: Ubisoft

Like many, I’m a big fan of Ubisoft games, so I immediately warmed to those that are my favourite games and characters – or rather found that they all have their own features to be warmed to. Even down to the in-game chat and banter which proved to be a bit of fun, tongue in cheek, and not as cringe-worthy as you may initially think.

I found ‘regular’ features like movement to feel similar across the board, the aforementioned callouts helped to distinguish one character type from another, and there was always something different to the overall feel of each faction. For example, each character’s (or faction, as they are referred to in XDefiant) three abilities help to mix it up and offer an attractive edge. Libertad’s freedom fighters are great for providing health boosts, Phantoms from Ghost Recon can place barriers of futuristic tech down, and Cleaners from The Division can send out a flaming drone to attack enemies. Each faction’s abilities are nice callbacks in and of themselves but Ubisoft has managed to make them worthy attributes and, more importantly, useful tools.

Lethal weapons; fun abilities

Though you’ll need to be adept and quick to use these abilities: XDefiant’s weapons are lethal and you can never survive long taking hits. The lethality feels akin to part of Siege’s gunplay, though you can always just about have enough time to have your health regen by finding cover. If you live long enough, those abilities prove fun and invigorating – a well-timed heal here, a sneaky stealth move there, and a special weapon used to surprise enemies was always satisfying.

But how does that whole process, each round, and mode, actually feel, I hear you ask? Well, from the beginning to the end of my hands-on, the action was quickfire, the characters felt smooth and ready for combat, and the weapons were pretty on point, feeling how you’d expect them to be. Shotguns felt impactful, sniper rifles felt super deadly (but unwieldy to reload). It all comes from the dev’s idea that each weapon should feel heavy with purpose, the shotguns and SMGs should feel excellent close-up, for example, and the rifles feel their best when being used as rifles, and so on.

The action felt both quite nicely balanced, but also chaotic and fluid with fast-paced rounds, deaths, and respawns that were all key to the game keeping me interested and hooked on each round or mode. In the thick of it, it can feel high octane, and tense and you’re always going to be in the action, whatever the mode.

And while those modes don’t do anything or feel wildly new or revolutionary – killing enemies is still the main focus along with another familiar goal of claiming territory or escorting something, and so on, it’ll be that Ubisoft-flavoured way of playing them which could be the real winner. 

Environments to die for

I do have to give a little shoutout to the maps and environments which I did really enjoy the composition of, as well as the aesthetics, and how they took inspiration from Ubi games. These could prove to be a telling factor in keeping people hooked, and with all those modes, there’s going to be a great variety of ways to play XDefiant from the off. Just multiplying the maps (at launch) with the modes (at launch) gives you a pretty healthy amount of variety to get going with. However, each map will have a variety of ways to play through and across, with some being geared toward three lanes, some with increased vertical levels, and all imbued with some great Ubisoft design aesthetic.

XDefiant screenshot 3 ubisoft
Credit: Ubisoft

So, all in, XDefiant is pretty fun. And it will certainly appeal to Ubisoft fans of all stripes; those who fancy a new FPS game, and those who fancy trying something different but as a Ubisoft hero. 

Going forward, you also have to assume – if that’s the right word – that Ubisoft is perhaps keeping some things in the back pocket. A big one, for me, could be an Assassin Faction. Injecting XDefiant with some of the publisher’s flagship content and characters might be a perfect opportunity to reinvigorate at an opportune time. It’d be a modern take on it, of course, but it’s doable. And then there’s also Siege itself which could provide a character, and even Extraction too with potentially Archaean-inspired abilities or tools. There’s a bunch more potential to come given Ubisoft’s portfolio, basically. Rayman might be a push though. 

Then you’d have all the extra environments that could be brought in – fast-action shooting in a Renaissance Italy map, anyone? – which will help and could be a fruitful area of ‘freshness’. Speaking of which, as always with such games, promised seasonal content will hopefully keep things fresh too, as will battle passes. The only thing here is that these are already so established in the field that they might not be the things keeping players in. XDefiant may well live and die on its Ubisoft-ness. But don’t discount it yet, if it can lean on the pedigree of Rainbow Six Siege, and cater to new and old fans alike with said Ubisoft-ness then it could be a fun destination for many.

Following some previous insider sessions, more players will soon be able to see how it holds up in the face of the competition in the closed beta session (which is open now!) – I’m curious to see how it continues to be received. For me, however, it does have all the makings of a quickfire FPS game that my friends and I might be tempted to dive into headfirst; though for how long, I’m not sure.

XDefiant is coming soon, later in 2024. The closed beta is running from now until April 23rd, 11PM PT / 8pm ET / 3pm BST.


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