In the gaming industry, we don’t come across new competitive free games in AAA quality very often anymore. However, Ubisoft is preparing to release its new game that will fill this gap in the market. We also had the opportunity to experience this game called “XDefiant” during the closed beta process.
As two players from the Webtekno team (Barış and Ümit), we tried to test XDefiant down to the last detail during the closed beta process we participated in. So what kind of game is XDefiant? Is it fun to play? What does it offer to players who care about competition or not? We answer all these questions and more in this content.
What does XDefiant offer, what did we find?
First, let’s get to know the game briefly:
XDefiant, which can be played completely free of charge, has a fast and very high-action structure where we fight from the eyes of our character. There are five different game modes and five different ‘Factions’ in the game. There are different numbers of characters in factions.
XDefiant’s Factions actually represent iconic characters that Ubisoft has added to the game world. Libertad Far Cry 5, Phantoms Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Echelon Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Cleaners Tom Clancy’s The Divison and DedSec are based on the Watch Dogs series. In all game modes, teams fight 6v6.
Let’s start by telling what we found from the game: Game modes
With the game modes it offers, XDefiant can respond to the requests of players of different styles. There are different options in both game modes and characters for those who like a more linear gameplay or roaming the map more freely, hitting the enemy from behind.
Escorts:
In the mode, which aims to take the ‘package’, which we are familiar with from Overwatch, from one point to another within a certain period of time, the attacking party stops near the package and transmits it. The defenders, on the other hand, try to push the opposing team away from the pack and play for time. If the package reaches certain points, the time given to the attacking party is extended, at the end of the time or when the package reaches the required point, the game is over. For those who want a more linear and “expected” game, we think the most enjoyable game mode to play was dating.
Domination:
In this game mode, you regularly earn points by capturing regions, as in the modes in games such as Battlefield and Call of Duty. Since you are constantly defending the areas that pass from one team to the other and trying to get back what you lost, the game feels very fluid, we can say that even if you die, it doesn’t bother you that much. Since the maps are smaller compared to other games, 3 regions may seem a bit small, but since you do not cross the mountains and hills, it offers a more rapid gameplay.
Occupy:
A very similar alternative to those bored of Domination. You capture regions just like Domination, but this time there are no fixed 3 regions on the map. You are trying to capture a single constantly changing region and again the team with the highest score wins the game.
ZoneControl:
Our thing is to control the regions again, but we think that those who are looking for a more linear gameplay like the Escort game mode will like it. Namely, there are 5 regions on the map that can be captured, but 4 of them are locked. When the attacking team captures each zone, the next one is unlocked and can try to capture it as well. Of course, the defenders are trying to prevent this.
Hot Shots:
It is very similar to the ‘Kill Confirmed’ mode we know from CoD, players drop a crest on the ground when they die and other players earn points by collecting them. You can prevent the opposing team from gaining points by collecting the crests of your own team. You earn points for your team by collecting those of the opposing team. Of course, the team with the highest score wins.
Characters:
Let’s come to the characters, you can actually think of the Factions we mentioned before as a class. Apart from DPS, Tank, Medic, which we are familiar with from other games, there is Echelon, where privacy is at the forefront, and DedSec, which we can call “hacker”. Regardless of class, each character has a passive ability, an ‘ultra’ ability, which we know as an ultimate, and an active ability. You can choose one of the two abilities specific to the class you will play as your active skill.
Phantoms was one of Barış’s favorite classes during the closed beta process. As someone who doesn’t like to play tank characters in games, he enjoyed a lot in XDefiant. He described his experience as follows:
The Cleaners class, which is Ümit’s favorite, includes the characters De Rosa, Kersey, Green and Santos. This class caters specifically to players who can play aggressively and say “I’m a good shooter, I take down what I shoot”. Thanks to the passive abilities of these characters, your bullets cause the enemies to burn and take damage for a while. They also have two different special abilities, a flame-throwing drone or a molotov.
The ultra-ability of the Cleaners class puts a flamethrower in your hands. With this weapon, which you can only use for a certain period of time, no one can approach you. You can easily take control of an area thanks to this weapon. However, the fact that the damage of the weapon is too high also causes the people in front of you to go crazy.
We can play as Iselda, Beto or Seleste in the Libertads, which include the health care characters of the game. Our characters’ passives gradually heal ourselves and our nearby teammates. Our ultra power increases our health to 200 for a limited time. It can be very frustrating for the opposing team when used in the most critical moments.
One of the abilities of the Libertad class is placing a box on the ground, where you constantly gain and gain health while near. The other ability, BioVida Boost, maximizes the health of you and your close friends. Libertad has an important role in protecting his teammates in the game, but not only that, he can surprise the other side by filling his life in an individual game. We guess this class is a bit on the OP (over-powered, over-powered) side of the classification, and we may encounter a slightly weaker version when the game comes out.
Echelon is a class that can be enjoyed by those who say “I like to hang out” because all of the character’s abilities are based on stealth. Thanks to his passive ability, your character does not appear on the map of the opposing team. Active abilities, on the other hand, are more in-between than others. One of your abilities makes you invisible when not firing.
Of course, even if your small movements reveal your place in a silhouette, you can easily hunt unattended eyes. The other class’s ability is “sonar waves” that periodically reveal nearby enemies, even if they’re behind a wall. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have a huge range to drive you crazy, but it’s perfect for those who make a habit of whistling.
I can’t promise that he won’t go crazy for his Ultra ability. When you use the skill, you can see the location of all the enemies on the map for a good enough time, but you can only shoot with a pistol. But not just any pistol, one of the most powerful in the game. You can send most of the enemies to your village with two hits.
Let’s come to our last class “DedSec”. The passive of our characters from the WatchDogs universe allows you to use the equipment you use again in a short time. For example, even though you only have one grenade in your inventory, DedSecs can re-throw after a short cooldown. Before moving on to active abilities, I must say that DedSec is a class that aims to completely disrupt the plans of the opposing team.
One of these abilities can hack the opposing team’s abilities and equipment and pass them to his side. The other, with the small spider robot he dropped on the ground, clings to the face of the nearest enemy and neutralizes it for a while.
Didn’t we say to destroy the opposing team, his ultra ability does it justice. Because when you use this ability, the opposing team cannot use any ability in a certain area. When it comes to you, I can say that it is a lot of fun. A lot.
Maps:
XDefiant’s closed beta period did not have many maps. But these maps were created from scratch by Ubisoft and could not be found in any game. Again, the themes of the maps belonged to the world of many games that Ubisoft has published so far.
In the game, there were 14 different maps that we could play according to the game modes. Some of these maps offered the opportunity to fight in the open air and in large areas, while others were throwing us into closed areas.
While maps with open areas often include long-distance conflicts, it turns into a chaos environment as the players get closer to each other. Even in a second when you don’t look around, you can be defeated by a player coming out of a corner. While this is a good thing for vigilant and competitive gamers, it can upset those who do not have mastery of FPS games and are just playing for fun.
In our opinion, the conditions where the balance between the map and game modes are best provided are in the Escort mode. Similar to Overwatch and Team Fortress 2, in the game mode where we protect a vehicle and advance against the enemy base or defend against progress, the maps offer a very balanced and fun gameplay.
When you play in harmony with your team, you can easily dominate the map, and you can achieve victory when you use the abilities of the characters strategically on the defense side.
In indoor maps, the game usually proceeds as a kill or be killed. The enemy is advancing towards you, you are advancing against the enemy. The team that pops the most is the winner of the game. It’s fun or entertaining, but it can get annoying if you play alone.
Weaponry:
XDefiant hosts similar weapons that are in many FPS games. From assault rifles to submachine guns, from sniper rifles to medium range and medium damage sniper rifles and pistols, many weapons are included in the game.
But the first experience we had was unfortunately not very positive. All of the weapons in the game are improved as you play with them. You improve the damage and precision of your weapons by equipping them with new gear and actually gain an edge over other players.
Although this is a good mechanic, we had a hard time in the first levels as there was no filter between the players during the closed beta process. Up to five of our games were spent trying to survive with what we had at level 1. The very low damage of the M4A1, especially the starting assault rifle in the game, caused us to barely kill the enemies even with a magazine.
After we progressed a little and got used to the game, we started to use weapons suitable for our own playing style. For example, while Ümit managed to open himself with the MK 20 SSR sniper rifle, this weapon became the AK-47 assault rifle in Barış.
The separation between the two of us also showed that the game caters to different play styles. Still, let’s underline the need to bring a balance to the weapons.
General gameplay:
- Big-hearted Barış, who kidnapped the man to get SS.
When we first entered the game, we chanced upon a very fast-paced mode, and in fact, we got lost a little in our first match and tried to understand what was going on. In the next matches, especially after you get used to the weapons and characters, you relax and your self-confidence comes back. Despite being in closed beta, we did not encounter any very annoying problems.
Only Barış’s game was locked to 4 FPS after the character change, but it was not a problem that could not be solved by closing and opening the game. Speaking of 4 FPS, fear not the whole game is going that way. Obviously, the optimization was better than we expected. Barış’s graphics card-processor combo is RTX 2070 Super and Ryzen 5 3600, mine is RTX 3060 and i5-13400F. We both played with FPS over 100 at max settings. Although we experience minor FPS drops from time to time, we can definitely say that it was better than we expected according to a closed beta access.
The problem that we complained to each other from the very first moments was that although the game progressed very quickly, reloading and even killing people was a bit slower than the game. Of course, as we mentioned, as your level increases in weapons, it becomes much easier to kill people, but we were not surprised when we were able to shoot 2 people in a row without changing the magazine in the beginning. We think that increasing the speed of the character, weapon and animations one click will solve this problem to a great extent.
One of the other annoying details is that the characters definitely need to go through a balancing process. The purpose of the closed beta is to make the game better, more balanced and more fun based on feedback from the community and players. As we explained in the classes section, we realized that some characters do not have many disadvantages despite their advantages, maybe we will witness these changes together in the next beta period.
Let’s summarize and conclude: Is XDefiant playable?
XDefiant, which will be released completely for free, can actually cure our recent disease of not being able to find a game to play. Ubisoft; CoD brings the gameplay that we are familiar with from series such as Battlefield and Overwatch by diversifying it even more.
For this reason, we said that it appeals to different player groups, for some it can be a snack game to relieve stress or hang out with friends, or it can be a new esports arena for competitive game fans. Let’s see what time will tell us… We are also curious about the thoughts of our readers who are involved in the closed beta process or come across the videos.
From what you’ve read, how do you think XDefiant is, is it playable or not? We can meet in the comments!
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