- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Release Date: May 21, 2024
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 5
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May 29, 2024It’s barely been a week since I first installed XDefiant, but I don’t think I’d miss it from my hard drive. While the gameplay at its core is fun enough, the game is barren compared to most other shooters—including the free ones—with even bare-basic modes like team deathmatch and free-for-all or features like a ping system or skill-based matchmaking nowhere to be found. Its maps are well-made, sure, but with no rank to strive for, daily missions that ask me to commit to playing ten whole matches, and very little to look forward to in the battle pass, I don’t understand why this game would gain any traction over others beyond the fact that it's free.
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May 26, 2024Ubisoft's free-to-play first-person arena shooter is less Call of Duty and more Overwatch, but the Snowdrop engine shines even on maps that are way too large for their purpose. Weapon grinds are sluggish, leaving players with more time in the game access to better attachments, while newcomers struggle to even leave their spawns. The lack of skill based matchmaking is being celebrated by influencers on social media, but in practice it makes for unbalanced matches where high ranking players are steamrolling beginners, even in the Welcome Playlist.
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May 23, 2024Ubisoft has something very special on their hands here, but if this launch version of XDefiant is even a marginal sign of this game's future, it will not survive. It's free so check it out and play it for a couple of days, but you'll probably go back to Call of Duty or Halo or Overwatch or any other shooter after that because there's a distinct lack of depth here and the fluidity and refined design isn't really an element that makes this game stand out from its competitors.
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