Image: Ubisoft
Ubisoft’s XDefiant is colourful, zippy and engaging, but does it have staying power?
Ubisoft has a hit-and-miss track record with multiplayer games. The developer managed to secure a sizable hit with Rainbow Six Siege - which is still churning out updates to this day - only to fumble the ball on its sequel Rainbow Six Extraction. We got two pretty good The Division games, followed by the cancellation of its long-awaited mobile spin-off The Division Heartland this year.
Fortunately, Ubisoft’s latest multiplayer release XDefiant is shaping up to be more of a hit than its title might otherwise imply. After getting delayed twice from its originally planned launch in 2023, the colourful, ability-based shooter finally launched this week and is already a rousing success, if early reports are to be believed. Having played the game for a few days now, it certainly has potential to grow into one of Ubisoft’s flagship multiplayer titles for years to come - should the company be willing to make a few changes and keep those updates coming.
Playable factions and live-service content
XDefiant is a poorly-titled multiplayer shooter that pits factions from multiple Ubisoft franchises against each other in a spread of 6v6 PvP game modes. Unlike games like Battlefield 2042, which try to give an in-universe explanation for why these armies of soldiers are getting thrown into the meat grinder together, we’re given little reason as to why these factions have decided to go to war. Why would Watch Dogs’ tech-focused hacking group DedSec have a bone to pick with Far Cry 6’s guerrilla fighters Libertad? Just try not to think about it too much.
Factions are incorporated into the game as separate character classes with unique abilities and cosmetics, all of which are themed after a specific faction. For example, Splinter Cell’s Echelon faction have two main abilities: they can go invisible for a short period of time or ping nearby enemies for their team. Factions also come with an Ultra ability, such as Echelon’s Sonar Goggles, which allow them to spot enemies through walls. Phantoms (Ghost Recon), Echelon (Splinter Cell), Cleaners (The Division) and Libertad (Far Cry 6) are currently available as free unlocks, but you’ll need to grind out a ton of XP to play as DedSec. I assume that Ubisoft plans to monetise these factions by making the process of unlocking them extremely time-consuming. That doesn’t leave me brimming with excitement for this game’s future, to say the least.
XDefiant has launched with a ‘preseason’ of content, which Ubisoft hopes will sustain the player base until Season 1 officially launches with new maps, weapons and a new faction later on. From what I’ve played, there is a nice variety of maps and game modes that should allow you to spend a few hours in a lobby without getting too bored before Season 1 arrives. My only real gripe with the current breadth of content is its meagre variety of playable factions. Since they serve as different classes, five feels a little limiting to start with - and one of them (DedSec) requires a whopping total of 700,000 XP to unlock first. Taking that into account, there really are only four classes, which doesn’t leave much room for experimentation.
Maps and game modes
XDefiant has two kinds of maps, each designed for a different set of game modes. The first are Arena maps, which are designed for the Domination, Occupy and Hot Shot modes - most of which revolve around taking and holding control of specific objectives in the map. The game launched with 10 of these maps, which is honestly more than I expected. They're well-sized for PvP combat, providing plenty of cover for players who need to get around unseen. That's crucial, as the game is suffering from a frustrating sniper meta at the moment. It's reminiscent of Overwatch's early days, when players would walk out of spawn points only to be immediately shot down by an enemy Widowmaker.
What helps is that XDefiant has a lot of IP to pull from. The game’s many maps take reference from Watch Dogs, The Division, Far Cry and more, allowing for a wide range of locations and tonality. From the fairly straightforward sports-themed Arena to the snowy urban Dumbo, you’re never really visiting the same place twice - and if you’ve played the games these maps are based on, there’s a nice little dose of nostalgia in it for you too. Arena maps are designed with lots of sightlines and paths to get around the map, while mostly remaining circular in shape to keep players looping around each other.
Linear maps are specifically designed for Escort and Zone Control, both of which involve teams progressing from one area of the map to the next. Because of that, these maps feel a little bigger and more rectangular, changing in shape as you move from one objective to the next. Escort is your typical escort-the-payload mode, with the payload being a robot for reasons I haven’t figured out yet, while Zone Control plays like a smaller-scale Battlefield. In the latter, defending teams find themselves pushed back into the map while attacking teams move forward to gain control.
These Linear map modes are not working for me in their current form. Perhaps it’s just because these are early days and everyone’s still figuring the game out, but there is a severe lack of teamwork in XDefiant at the moment. My teammates would randomly wander the map and get shot down left and right in Escort, never really coming together to make the big push that wins games like these. I pin part of the blame on XDefiant’s team-based gameplay, and its lack of tools given to players to cooperate properly. Pinging objects and enemies on the map is such a basic feature in this day and age, but Ubisoft only plans to add it to the game later on. I wouldn't expect that to happen anytime soon.
There’s potential here
XDefiant is shaping up to be a fun shooter with lots of potential - but it’s nowhere near the hyperbolised ‘Call of Duty killer’ some claimed it would be in last year’s batch of previews and closed betas. It certainly has a decent amount of jank - from broken animations to absolutely atrocious hit detection - but these are things I expect Ubisoft to finetune over time. Its weaponry is serviceable but when combined with each faction’s abilities, gives players lots of ways to score kills and get out of tough scrapes.
XDefiant's best days are still ahead of it, especially if Ubisoft addresses its more urgent pain points, but the game in its current form is still a lot of fun. Now, who do I need to write to to get a Rabbids faction in the game?