XDefiant

Those tiring of Overwatch 2, Call of Duty or Counter-Strike, who want a fresh take on the format and have a penchant for Ubi franchises, have many happy hours of shooting, hiding and grinding for XP ahead.

XDefiant is an online shooter with balance problems but still fun, solid in some aspects, and (far too) generic in others.

XDefiant is a solid multiplayer shooter that may not surpass the leaders of the genre anytime soon, but it proves to be a notably alluring, free alternative.

Compared to other FPS games, XDefiant offers limited initial content and significant balance issues, and even its most distinctive skill designs aren't particularly innovative. As a result, after a few hours of exploring different factions, game modes and maps, players may find it hard to stay motivated to grind for characters and weapons once the novelty wears off, leaving only a sense of endless fatigue.

Ubisoft’s XDefiant is a compelling live-service offering that is remarkably substantive in its free-to-play offering. As a competitive shooter, its blend of satisfyingly agile movement and liberal lifting of modes and map philosophies from every other shooter makes a strange first impression. There is nothing new or surprising about what XDefiant offers. But those curious few eager to go through the initiation hellscape of purely random-skill matchmaking will find a clean and well-structured shooter that should broadly impress anyone who doesn’t mind their competent online shooter to be a personality-lacking, serials-filed amalgam of all its best competitors. Flaws and all, I was continually drawn back in the hopeful search for any active, local lobby.

In XDefiant, Ubisoft laid a decent foundation for an esports competitive multiplayer game. It has well set gunplay, good variety of factions and maps. But it needs more game modes, deeper matchmaking and balancing. However, the potential is obvious.

XDefiant feels like a niche, that knows it’s a niche, and tries to sprinkle some broad appeal on top. Just enough to draw in more than the hardcores, without risking alienating them too much. At the same time, it’s a line in the sand moment for all the FPS hardcores who are sick and tired of SBMM. On top of all that, crossing over Tom Clancy series has the appeal of mixing a bowl of potato chips from different brands that are all the same flavor. And Watch Dogs? Anyway, there’s a solid foundation here with rock-solid arena shooter mechanics. If the matchmaking experiment works out and some key adjustments are made, I can see this game sticking around for a good while.

If you are still wondering, the answer is no: XDefiant is not the COD killer that many expected. The new free to play from Ubisoft is a good shooter, which certainly has the ability to entertain for a few hours, but which will hardly be able to establish itself on the market due to some problems related to balance and progression. The current version of the game represents only a fair starting point, which will require constant commitment from the developers to improve on all fronts. In any case, this is not an impossible situation, given the precedents of the French software house.

XDefiant will likely divide competitive shooter fans, as it did us here at Gaming Nexus. Fans of classic competitive shooters will find a lot to like in the Ubiverse shooter, even its take on hero abilities. But it may not go far enough in any direction to truly stand out in a crowded market.

The fundamentals of XDefiant are good, but conflicting ideas and mechanics stop it from standing above a crowded shooter field.

Despite varied factions and excellent maps, XDefiant’s shootouts are let down by a lack of identity and sluggish weapon progression. Outside an emphasis on making skill-based matchmaking optional, the game plays like every shooter from the last decade, leaning into nostalgia over attempting a breakthrough. While technical pitfalls can be resolved with seasonal updates, XDefiant needs novelty to sustain a player base.

XDefiant throws out its own advantages in favor of the shooting mechanisms from Call of Duty and the class system from the same series, which results in an unbalanced mess.

Based on the strength of its maps and its great shooting mechanics, XDefiant enters the free-to-play shooter space in competent shape. Some of its balancing issues will hopefully be rectified soon, but even then, overpowered snipers are a relatively minor issue compared to its clumsy mishmash of styles. The pace of the action is at odds with its class-based approach, almost completely undermining its focus on unique character abilities. Combat is enjoyable enough that it's still eminently playable, and XDefiant's foundations are ripe for improvement. Competition is stiff, though, and there are better options out there that aren't as conflicted.

XDefiant isn't a Call of Duty killer or even a close competitor. It has potential despite its many issues, but it has a long way to go before living up to it.

This sense of unevenness doesn't stop with the characters, and spreads to the design of the combat spaces. [Issue#400, p.118]