User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 661 Ratings

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  1. Apr 15, 2017
    6
    Harder to play with others; finding players close to or equal to character level, UI settings are very complex. There is a lack of content(quests,rewards etc.) to find the best weapons to use for maps or even for PVP. Overall good but requires a lot of time in order to customize the characters. Just doesn't look as active even with a moderate community playing. Chat system is really quietHarder to play with others; finding players close to or equal to character level, UI settings are very complex. There is a lack of content(quests,rewards etc.) to find the best weapons to use for maps or even for PVP. Overall good but requires a lot of time in order to customize the characters. Just doesn't look as active even with a moderate community playing. Chat system is really quiet with just players selling items/weapons in announcements. Expand
  2. Nov 16, 2015
    4
    Defiance at the beginning will be interesting, but over the time the lack of content and due to generic and dull quests will start getting to be tedious over the time, I had a great time playing Defiance with a friend of mine, but within a month we started to realize that we were doing the same thing over and over again, another negative point of this game, is DLC Weapons, although you canDefiance at the beginning will be interesting, but over the time the lack of content and due to generic and dull quests will start getting to be tedious over the time, I had a great time playing Defiance with a friend of mine, but within a month we started to realize that we were doing the same thing over and over again, another negative point of this game, is DLC Weapons, although you can obtain them as random loot, you can't use them unless you have the respective DLC, and there are some overpowered DLC weapons like the Castithian Blade, the AI is pretty bad and sometimes will have major bugs that will ruin the experience, the PvP is plagued by lag and Castithian Blade users, and the tutorial explains from little to nothing, the UI is pretty bad, players assets doesn't even load alright, as most players appears to me with a common appearance or shape, also visual glitches are very common to find in Defiance, and the Inventory is very limited in storing space unless you buy more, the servers are very bad as mostly I have to retry five or seven times to be able to play, I don't really recommend this unless you have plenty of time, patience and the temperament to play this. Expand
  3. XJT
    Nov 13, 2015
    3
    There are some really great parts of this game. The intro quests are engaging and demonstrate how the early game works. Unfortunately, the fun dies after a few hours when confusion sets in. it is a First person shooter with a bit of RP thrown in, but the weapons system is incomprehensible and your inventory is always full. I have yet to figure out how to equip a mod after severalThere are some really great parts of this game. The intro quests are engaging and demonstrate how the early game works. Unfortunately, the fun dies after a few hours when confusion sets in. it is a First person shooter with a bit of RP thrown in, but the weapons system is incomprehensible and your inventory is always full. I have yet to figure out how to equip a mod after several weeks of gameplay. if you have some friends to help out, the game can be really fun, but if you try to go it alone.....good luck Expand
  4. Sep 20, 2015
    7
    Not a bad game game, keeps me entertained. It feels like a Borderlands MMO. The largest issue I have with it is that its a little buggy and lag can be really bad. Overall though, it's not bad for a f2p game, but I did expected better from Trion.
  5. Aug 30, 2015
    3
    This game like the show has potential, in the story lines, but fails on the execution side. It has as a reviewer on another site put it, you have to pay to get the better gear or you will spend a lot of time being frustrated by how long it takes to take out bosses or supposedly low level enemies that require emptying two 85 round magazine from a LMG to kill an enemy or emptying 50 round ofThis game like the show has potential, in the story lines, but fails on the execution side. It has as a reviewer on another site put it, you have to pay to get the better gear or you will spend a lot of time being frustrated by how long it takes to take out bosses or supposedly low level enemies that require emptying two 85 round magazine from a LMG to kill an enemy or emptying 50 round of sniper ammo into the head of a boss and only knock down its health by 50%.

    Great time waster but has been increasingly become more and more frustrating to play.
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  6. Aug 1, 2015
    9
    Good mix between series and game. Good game for a long period of time, but later ingame it starts to get a little bit boring. This game needs more variety in the endgame.
  7. Jul 14, 2015
    9
    Is this a masterpiece? No, but it's fun and I already clocked more than 250 hours in it. Series is much better than the game, but when I look at all together, I think it makes a nice symbiosis.
  8. Apr 3, 2015
    8
    Все было бы просто замечательно, если бы... Была локализация в России. Отечественных сообществ конечно хватает, но для ознакомления с игрой новичку трудно привыкнуть к тому, что скипаешь почти все заставки. Конечно нужно бы подтянуть английский со школьной скамьи, но мы не о том.
    Игра хорошая, сериал средненький, но очень атмосферный и они вполне друг друга дополняют.
    Вроде прокачки
    Все было бы просто замечательно, если бы... Была локализация в России. Отечественных сообществ конечно хватает, но для ознакомления с игрой новичку трудно привыкнуть к тому, что скипаешь почти все заставки. Конечно нужно бы подтянуть английский со школьной скамьи, но мы не о том.
    Игра хорошая, сериал средненький, но очень атмосферный и они вполне друг друга дополняют.
    Вроде прокачки нет, а всё равно гриндишь...
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  9. Apr 1, 2015
    6
    "I am giving Defiance a 10 only to counteract the negative reviews that have been posted here, it should be about an 8."

    Well, I'm giving Defiance a 6 to counter your vote down to the 8 you are supposed to give it! You are not supposed to counter other peoples votes, you are supposed to give your own opinion and let that work together with every one elses.
  10. Feb 13, 2015
    3
    Any similarity between the show and the game is only in someone drug induced coma. The UI, graphics are deplorable, at distances the enemy are barely recognizable which makes them hard hit.
  11. Feb 6, 2015
    9
    Fun game. It doesnt have alot of depth, gameplay is mostly focused on shooting aliens and doing simple missions. But mechanically it is well done. I like the feel of shooting, that there are tons of varied weapons. Storyline tied to TV show is also interesting feature.
    If you seeking for MMO that doesnt require being online alot, and want just to login casually to shoot stuff, Defiance is
    Fun game. It doesnt have alot of depth, gameplay is mostly focused on shooting aliens and doing simple missions. But mechanically it is well done. I like the feel of shooting, that there are tons of varied weapons. Storyline tied to TV show is also interesting feature.
    If you seeking for MMO that doesnt require being online alot, and want just to login casually to shoot stuff, Defiance is great game for this.
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  12. Jan 13, 2015
    2
    Being in constant pain, I enjoy engaging distractions.
    I enjoyed Sniper's Ridge, with my sniper! But, in recent weeks (01 of 2015) the left click used for scope doesn't stay engaged. This problem makes the target flip in n out of sight. Trying to get a fix on this flaw appears impossible as I can't enquire for help from support. Clicking on their links gives me address doesn't exist.
    Being in constant pain, I enjoy engaging distractions.
    I enjoyed Sniper's Ridge, with my sniper! But, in recent weeks (01 of 2015) the left click used for scope doesn't stay engaged. This problem makes the target flip in n out of sight. Trying to get a fix on this flaw appears impossible as I can't enquire for help from support. Clicking on their links gives me address doesn't exist.
    This has gone on for weeks.
    Expand
  13. Jan 10, 2015
    2
    Do you like buying a mediocre, under-developed game, then buying endless DLC to fill it in? Then Defiance is the game for you! Defiance is the best DLC purchasing simulator on the market. Marvel at the countless DLC pack, as you pay, and pay, and pay again, just to get the game you thought you were getting at launch! Nobody does DLC purchase simulation games like this company! ItsDo you like buying a mediocre, under-developed game, then buying endless DLC to fill it in? Then Defiance is the game for you! Defiance is the best DLC purchasing simulator on the market. Marvel at the countless DLC pack, as you pay, and pay, and pay again, just to get the game you thought you were getting at launch! Nobody does DLC purchase simulation games like this company! Its almost like you're really spending endless money on endless DLC. Very realistic. Expand
  14. Jan 6, 2015
    8
    I love the show but, frankly, the game could be better. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but with series like that it had bigger potential. I hope they'll surprise us in the future.
  15. Dec 2, 2014
    0
    I strongly recommend staying away from this piece of crap, bugged content everywhere. Spent almost 2 hours trying to complete one mission until i got fed up and removed the game.
  16. Oct 25, 2014
    0
    Bad AI, boring game play, bad voice acting, an obvious money grab using the IP of a TV series that is meh at best, it's also as grindy as the day is long, and ran (badly) by Trion, nuff said.
  17. Oct 19, 2014
    0
    This game sucks the big one, can't get anywhere by using the keyboard. Need to make it so you can use a game pad. Would be a great game for PC if you made it less frustrating to play or you trying to get people to buy the CD?
  18. Sep 6, 2014
    1
    The game itself is decent. However TRION WORLDS continues to lie, and ignore its community.

    Thousands of ban reports go ignored. The hackers being reported even do so on the test realm right in front of the Dev team, and they simply ignore it.

    Beyond that there is the P2W cash shop. Once again they promised only cosmetic items, and once again they lied to us.
  19. Aug 31, 2014
    0
    Finished all the main quests today, as it appears theres nothing else left other than grinding same stuff over again, and with how dissapointing pvp turned out to be its time to move on. Its shame this game is such a mess as the world based on series is a great concept, and overall idea is nice.

    pros: - cool idea to mix mmo with a series and add new quests related to it as the show
    Finished all the main quests today, as it appears theres nothing else left other than grinding same stuff over again, and with how dissapointing pvp turned out to be its time to move on. Its shame this game is such a mess as the world based on series is a great concept, and overall idea is nice.

    pros:
    - cool idea to mix mmo with a series and add new quests related to it as the show progresses
    - visuals are okay, nothing amazing though
    - quite big map and it was fun to explore it
    - some nice weapon ideas
    - quest cinematics were quite well done (at least for the first half of it)

    cons:
    - very limited options, game looks and behaves like a bad console port
    - if you havent watched the series, main quest makes little sense
    - most of the costumes you get look very similiar
    - the amount of bugs is pretty crazy considering game is over year old (models going invisible, random lag spikes/crashes - game doesnt even pop an error for about 10 mins, making you run arround when you are disconnected, vehicles dissapearing sometimes while you mount them, crosshair disspearing and going console mode (no crosshair and auto aim) randomly, theres propably more, thats all I remembered
    - half way through main quests they have diffrent voice actors, with HUGE decrease in quality both in acting and actual audio quality that sounds like home made recording
    - quests are very repetitive, basically only 4-5 variants of mission over and over, either bring something, go somewhere or kill few waves of enemies
    - theres no storage for your characters
    - skills are mostly passives, with only 4 actives to choose from, can only use one
    - a lot of game content locked behind dlc paywall
    - co-op instances and missions were incredibly boring, just waves after waves until you get to boss
    - no classes
    - only 2 pvp modes
    - the pvp in the game is horrible mess, it looks like alpha state. Theres a ton of glitches, wallhackers, aimbots, and apparently dev doesnt care about making a proper anti cheat or even banning hackers, most basic stuff using cheat engine seems to work, ppl using blatant speed hacks and dmg hacks. Then comes the problem with weapons, the only viable ones are sniper rifles, grenade launchers, shotguns and infectors, funnily enough except the sniper all of those require little to no aiming, aoe weapons hitting as hard or harder than single target ones. You either use the glitches and the overpowered weapons or you gimp yourself
    - felt more like single player game for the most part

    tl;dr
    Play it only if you enjoyed the series and want nostalgia ride, otherwise stay away. You can get about 20-30 hours doing only main quests, but to be honest I quite regret doing even that, at it was plain dissapointing for the majority of it.
    2/10
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  20. Aug 23, 2014
    6
    **AVOID**

    Horrid network issues with very poor support and rude(snarky) responses from Trion make this a game to avoid. Trion developers are evidently Armchair Wannabe developers. Trion is not staffed to support multiple games, I would avoid all of them. It is only a matter of time until a game you bought and paid money and time for will go belly up and become unplayable.
    **AVOID**

    Horrid network issues with very poor support and rude(snarky) responses from Trion make this a game to avoid.

    Trion developers are evidently Armchair Wannabe developers.

    Trion is not staffed to support multiple games, I would avoid all of them. It is only a matter of time until a game you bought and paid money and time for will go belly up and become unplayable.

    ***Here were my original thoughts before recent intermittent network issues became widespread and long term:

    This is a solid mmofps with good shooting mechanics that is generally fun to play. You get a vehicle right out of the gate that allows you to move around in the large open world. The game allows you to easily play with friends regardless of level (hello auto scaling and port to player), which I wish more mmo games allowed. There is a huge variety of weapons and many options for customization of weapons and skills. Think of this as a borderlands mmofps, without the humor. The crafting and inventory interface could definitely be improved.
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  21. Aug 15, 2014
    8
    Yes! This game is completely amazing with stunning graphics and such absorbing story line. I was amazed and i am addicted to it! Of course, the game is not perfect with such bugs and poor customer service, otherwise i would rate 10 for a such perfect game.
  22. Aug 3, 2014
    8
    After several hours in one day's sitting, I'm impressed. I'm not a stranger to MMOGs, I've played AC, WoW, DoD, LOTRO, Neverwinter, EVE, Rift, more recently Firefall, .. and actually Defiance is like a breath of fresh air. It has a really good recipe, and while I've come across people complaining about bugs, I think the build I'm playing must be after quite a few fixes because I haven'tAfter several hours in one day's sitting, I'm impressed. I'm not a stranger to MMOGs, I've played AC, WoW, DoD, LOTRO, Neverwinter, EVE, Rift, more recently Firefall, .. and actually Defiance is like a breath of fresh air. It has a really good recipe, and while I've come across people complaining about bugs, I think the build I'm playing must be after quite a few fixes because I haven't really come across any real glitches. (Come to think of it, I did have to log out and log back in in order to reset a mission that didn't complete, and do it again in order to restore a mission that was taken over by other players' work on another mission in the same area. Recalling this, I am forced to bump down from a 9 to an 8.)

    Defiance does try to be a lot of things at once -- MMOG, RPG, FPS, etc -- but at this first round of gameplay I think it manages to pull it off pretty well. It's refreshing to see the kind of variety in shooter action that other MMO FPS's lack, while enjoying some of the RPG elements that one can only experience in solo games or in RPGs, like a proper skill progression system. The sound, graphics, physics, et al are really quite spectacular, too, in my opinion, perhaps not raising any bars individually but definitely setting a new bar for their stable combination.

    I do miss the necessity of revealing areas of the map by way of adventure, it seems when in Map view the user can see everything, all the landmarks, all the current events, everything, and I don't know that like that, but this is coming from my recent experience with Firefall and SIN uplinks. in Defiance I had difficulty sensing progression via the map. The flip side, however, is that side quests and both an "episodic" and "main" campaign were all locally visible on the map with their markers, and that gave me a sense of variety.

    This game feels proper. We are a spoiled crowd, notice the negative reviews are all spoiled by the specific bars set by specific features but no game has ever really tried this recipe out to accomplish both RPG and FPS so well. I'm impressed. Well done.
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  23. Jul 11, 2014
    8
    This game is pretty fun only if you have some friends to play with it seems. I had a group of three i played with and had a hell of a time. The plot is crap, but it really doesn't matter to me because i had so much fun just finding the best guns that i could use. Its a great game, i logged about 90 hours without any of the DLC so that shows how engaged i was.

    TL;DR Good if you have
    This game is pretty fun only if you have some friends to play with it seems. I had a group of three i played with and had a hell of a time. The plot is crap, but it really doesn't matter to me because i had so much fun just finding the best guns that i could use. Its a great game, i logged about 90 hours without any of the DLC so that shows how engaged i was.

    TL;DR Good if you have friends, plot was bad
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  24. Jul 11, 2014
    0
    If a game goes free to play it means it's a failure/dead and you should avoid it. The only content updates they are releasing are laughable cosmetic items such as masks for sale in the in game store. "We’ve added two new cosmetic headgear" I read with excitement in the email they sent me; telling me I should watch the TV show and buy these digital masks that don't do anything. ApparentlyIf a game goes free to play it means it's a failure/dead and you should avoid it. The only content updates they are releasing are laughable cosmetic items such as masks for sale in the in game store. "We’ve added two new cosmetic headgear" I read with excitement in the email they sent me; telling me I should watch the TV show and buy these digital masks that don't do anything. Apparently this game is based on some kind of TV show nobody has ever heard of or watched. After ripping everybody off who paid full price for this game by making it free to play, I advise you to not waste your time on this. Expand
  25. Jun 24, 2014
    4
    Simply put, it's not very good. The world is interesting in many ways, but it suffers from repetitive gameplay. The largest problem is the developers. It felt like they checked out shortly after launch and as the population dwindled, never returned.
  26. Jun 14, 2014
    9
    tldr: Like Borderlands, not quite as polished, but MMO and free!

    A fun MMO shooter, solid shooting and evasion mechanics and Borderlands-style random loot. Events which attract large groups of players who all need to work together makes this game's multiplayer fun, it does not require grouping a lot of the time. Apparently it used to have bugs, so far it has been stable for me.
    tldr: Like Borderlands, not quite as polished, but MMO and free!

    A fun MMO shooter, solid shooting and evasion mechanics and Borderlands-style random loot. Events which attract large groups of players who all need to work together makes this game's multiplayer fun, it does not require grouping a lot of the time. Apparently it used to have bugs, so far it has been stable for me. People who are expecting another WoW style game may be disappointed, people who are looking for Borderlands with seamless multiplayer will probably like this. Game is free-to-play now so it is great value, there are few penalties for not being a paid player. Story is not bad (especially compared to most MMO's where the story is dull). Biggest downside is that it might get repetitive after a while.

    Getting to do MMO gameplay in a game that actually makes an effort to have good gameplay is rare. This game lets you drive around in ATVs and do jumps and stuff, so there is actually physics! No riding a horse that has no mass! There is a lot of strategy in what perks you equip, what power you use, and what equipment you have in your loadout. Its refreshing to actually have to think about strategy in a character build instead of just give your tank lots of armor or your healer high Wisdom, for example!

    I find that this game is most fun because it eliminates a lot of the penalties that most MMORPGs have when trying to get a group. Character level is not so important, and there are not classes, so you don't have to, for example, wait forever for a healer to come along before doing a quest, you just play with your friends or anyone in the area who is also doing the quest. Quest objectives are also shared with nearby players, so there is no having to race to complete an objective, and have to wait for it to reset if you didn't get to it first. Very few penalties for playing near other people compared to most MMORPGs.

    Personally I try a lot of MMO games, but was unsatisfied with all of them until this one. Games like WoW and SWTOR have boring gameplay (imo) and most shooters like Planetside 2 are all PvP. This is a shooter with mostly PvE, just what I was looking for.
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  27. Jun 10, 2014
    10
    This game belongs in the pantheon of great MMOs!.
    You could definitely see it as a fine working mixture of (in order of)
    Borderlands/Halo/PlanetSide 2/RAGE. The world is quite large (& faces expansion) and encourages you to explore it, there are a lot of random events such as saving troopers, helping take out enemies, races, Arkfalls (in orbit decaying Alien/Votan 'ship parts', that
    This game belongs in the pantheon of great MMOs!.
    You could definitely see it as a fine working mixture of (in order of)
    Borderlands/Halo/PlanetSide 2/RAGE.

    The world is quite large (& faces expansion) and encourages you to explore it, there are a lot of random events such as saving troopers, helping take out enemies, races, Arkfalls (in orbit decaying Alien/Votan 'ship parts', that have technology which is valuable - in the game it's rare weapons & more, that crash down to Earth with a type of enemy usually occuping it's vicinity once it 'landed', that are scavenging it) & much more.

    Suffice to say, there is a healthy amount of content, which has been significantly improved since it's initial release (April 2 - 2013).
    The game is 95% PvE oriented, with the remaining 5% being a "Shadow War" PvP type mode in which players compete for point control, often granting things like the aforementioned Arkfalls.

    The graphics are extremely decent for an MMO, and should run smooth on most machines/setups, even during large player amounts.
    Of course, using the control panel of the GPU to enhance the picture - can never hurt.

    The character creation is quite weak, not having sliders or anything of the sort, only pre-determined eyes, face build, lengths etc. Although there are 3 races to choose from which are Humans, Irathients & Castithans.
    Irathients being more feral & spiritual-minded, whilst Castithans are the more 'civilized' of the 2, although you NEED to buy the Castithan Charger DLC to be able to choose the Castithan race.
    (Recommend getting all DLC, in the form of the season pass - which grants a nice discount).

    There are LOT of weapons & types in it, comparable to Borderlands - there is every weapon you can imagine, also Alien AKA 'Votan' weapons & you can also add weapon modifications (that also change the visual appearance of the weapon), and there are types like Electricity, Poison, Fire etc..

    The main story missions & side missions are very numerous, especially when owning all DLC.
    But you will often find yourself doing those Arkfalls, which is highly enjoyable & rewardable.

    All in all, this is probably one of the best Shooter/RPG/MMO that I have ever played.
    Really commendable game. Personal score: 8.5/10

    Now that it's Free2Play I HIGHLY recommend to everyone, to try it.
    Also if possible, watch the TV series (it is similar to Game of Thrones - but then Sci-Fi based)

    I hope to see you in game, and have fun!

    Much Greetings
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  28. Jun 6, 2014
    5
    Defiance is a game that appears to be new, innovative and interesting in the first hour. As you play on, you realize that the world of defiance is composed of one not-so-very-large map which can be easily explored in a single day.

    The game play is repetitive, for the first hundred or so EGO levels that you gain, it may seem fresh and exciting, but as you play on you realize that from
    Defiance is a game that appears to be new, innovative and interesting in the first hour. As you play on, you realize that the world of defiance is composed of one not-so-very-large map which can be easily explored in a single day.

    The game play is repetitive, for the first hundred or so EGO levels that you gain, it may seem fresh and exciting, but as you play on you realize that from level one hundred to level five thousand, you will be doing the exact same thing, over and over again.
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  29. Jun 5, 2014
    0
    I have spent 522 hours playing this game in the past 3 months, I got to say that the game has potential, but unfortunately there's a lot of bugs within the game that make the experience completely frustrating adding the lack of quality customer service. It seems that they are more focusing in giving a copy/paste response and blame the developers which by the way will never give you anyI have spent 522 hours playing this game in the past 3 months, I got to say that the game has potential, but unfortunately there's a lot of bugs within the game that make the experience completely frustrating adding the lack of quality customer service. It seems that they are more focusing in giving a copy/paste response and blame the developers which by the way will never give you any kind of response for any in game generated bug report. So basically there's no feedback if your issue is going to get resolved or not, One thing that I would like to rescue out of this game is the forums community which seems to be really strong and has more lore than what you could acquire with their developers or CS reps.
    Now as a closing, all this game experience leave me with a bitter taste. Trion Worlds would be definitely a company similar to Turbine Inc but even worst.
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  30. May 9, 2014
    3
    Its a great game, at first. Then it starts to go downhill, the weapons arent good enough that you need other player, which there are none. AND it takes 1 hour to start the game i mean WTF, its not just on my xbox i tried it on others too
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 40
  2. Negative: 2 out of 40
  1. Sep 10, 2013
    50
    Defiance may be an ambitious project. Linking an online action game with a TV-series is a smart idea but one that here mostly comes of as a mere gimmick. The story is unengaging and the action mediocre and monotonous. Not to say anything about the myriad of bugs that utterly destroys the experience.
  2. PC Master (Greece)
    Jun 5, 2013
    89
    It’s an addictive game that seems to become even better as you play. If it keeps getting the right support and if the tie-in with the TV series proves successful, we might have a game that will keep us occupied for a lengthy amount of time. [May 2013]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Jun 4, 2013
    60
    If Trion can introduce better quest design, this will be a winner. [June 2013, p.88]