Tom Clancy’s XDefiant Review: Fresh Take on Arena Shooters

Tom Clancy's XDefiant

3.5

Overall

3.5/5

The Good Stuff

• Free-to-play FPS
• Unique blend of factions with unique skills
• Fast-paced action
• Multiple game modes
• Decent character customization

The Bad Stuff

• Time-to-kill can limit strategic depth
• Balance & technical issues
• Genre saturation
• Microtransactions dependent

XDefiant

Tom Clancy’s XDefiant

“XDefiant is a decent competitive first-person shooter game”

Calling all FPS shooter fans! A new contender has entered the arena, and it’s bringing the heat. XDefiant, from Ubisoft, is a free-to-play first-person shooter that’s shaking things up with its unique blend of familiar and innovative elements. Get ready to dive into a world where iconic factions from across the Ubisoft universe collide in fast-paced, objective-based battles. This review will take you deep into XDefiant, exploring its core gameplay mechanics, character customization options, game modes, and more. We’ll discuss whether it lives up to the hype of a genre-bending shooter and if it has the potential to become your next favorite competitive fix. So, grab your weapon of choice and get ready for the XDefiant review.

Overview

Because it incorporates characters and settings from well-known Ubisoft titles, this free arcade-style arena shooter has a unique flavor to it. It features classes that could make it more akin to Overwatch, yet it’s still quick. It has quick deaths and respawns, but it also has objective-based modes that value cooperation over pure kill count. Although the mix of dissimilar components helps set XDefiant apart from other competitive shooters in terms of gameplay, it also gives the impression that the game’s components aren’t always cooperating to achieve the desired results.

Back in the late 2000, Call of Duty discovered the joys of competitive play that was fast-paced and grounded. With its strong first-person shooter design, XDefiant is obviously aiming for the same kind of success. The weapons seem distinctive and gratifying to use even though they are all very normal for military shooters like this one. For example, the AK-47 kicks and strikes differently than the M41A, so choosing one over the other for your play style feels significant. Most of the time, guns are also suitably lethal, but you’ll get the most out of them if you take the time to learn how recoil affects your aim and what advantages come with outfitting a certain stock or sight attachments.

When employed skillfully, XDefiant’s class abilities—such as healing allies, lowering shields, and launching explosive drones—can alter the course of a battle, but they never become so strong as to take away from the game’s primary shooting mechanics. If anything else, this is an enjoyable shooter with decent gunplay; as a strong base, you can do far worse. What XDefiant finds difficult to integrate into a cohesive whole, though, is the additional content that is added over that gunplay.

Fast-Paced Gameplay

The allure of XDefiant lies in the amalgamation of many Ubisoft realms into a unified competitive shooter, akin to a multiverse. When you start a match, you select a character from one of four factions based on Ubisoft games (a fifth faction can be acquired or unlocked through gameplay). These factions serve as your classes, and each one is sufficiently unique and captivating to play in a different way without feeling forced into a particular game. For example, the Libertad faction in Far Cry 6 is essentially a medic class. They heal from damage more quickly and have two options: they can drop a fixed gadget that slowly heals everyone nearby, or they may shoot out a fast-heal charge that covers a radius around the person who activates it.

The Ghost Recon Phantoms, on the other hand, are tanks that don’t perish as rapidly as other factions. They can either draw out a personal riot shield that is rather good at blocking shots in both directions, or they can construct a fixed barrier that they and their teammates can shoot through. Additionally, there are factions centered around Splinter Cell, Watch Dogs, and The Division. As with other class-based shooters, using the appropriate skill at the right moment may significantly alter the course of a battle.

However, you may change your mind at any point throughout the game, so you know that every time you defeat an opponent, they could learn from your mistakes and return as a different class with a different set of abilities. For your team, timing and strategy in countering an enemy’s skills are just as crucial as accuracy.

Their hyper ability is the last significant distinction between each faction. Unlike many games’ ultimate powers, this large special ability can only be utilized once you’ve charged it by accruing kills or points toward goals. If you’re not cautious, the enemy side can generally shut them down. For example, the Phantoms‘ ultra grants them a personal energy dome that shields them from any external damage.

If an opponent is cunning and fast enough to escape the protective cannon, they may still sneak through and kill the person creating the energy, negating the ability. The Libertad healing gadget, which gives everybody within its range double health, works in the same way. While an enemy is inside its range, they may appear nearly impervious, but you may fire the gadget to destroy it and turn it back on. Thus, ultras are often powerful without being ludicrous, but you have to utilize them wisely and know when to use them.

It’s crucial to note a warning. Although most factions feel very unique, well-balanced, and enjoyable, some clearly seem to stand out above the others, and a few look absolutely pointless. DedSec from Watch Dogs, whose gameplay style focuses toward hacking enemy abilities, is the greatest offender on this front. Their deployable spider drones are really impressive. They automatically track down the other team and shock or blind them completely, leaving them completely exposed. But I haven’t seen anyone use their other ability—which lets you take control of the other team’s deploys.

Simply said, there aren’t many opportunities or items to steal, and each time I attempted to sneak up to a shield or healing station to try to hack it, I would always end up dead—by other players, who were naturally utilizing the item I intended to take. That’s particularly terrible because DedSec can only be unlocked by paying $10 or by spending a significant amount of time playing the other four factions in order to obtain it for free.

Conversely, some skills feel excessively powerful. Inspired by Splinter Cell’s covert gameplay, the Echelon faction may either turn almost invisible or unleash a pulsating sonar ability that allows your entire squad to detect foes through barriers. The 5.7 pistol, which fires slowly yet dispatches opponents in one or two hits, is yours to keep and is substantially extended by their extreme ability, Sonar Goggles.

The only way to deal with the Sonar Goggles is to just murder the person who is wearing them. There’s really no downside here, unlike other factions where powers are much more situational or team-oriented. Seeing through walls is always advantageous. Some classes are more popular than others in matches due to the launch’s ineffective balance, which detracts from the faction system’s overall strength.

Missed Targets

The main problem with abilities, though, is usually that they don’t really mesh with XDefiant’s “the quick and the dead” strategy for gunfights. Many qualities are basically irrelevant in most instances because shootouts frequently end practically as soon as they start. When all it takes to drop you is a few strikes, you almost certainly won’t survive if you deflect damage or use an explosive drone to delay your response. To really employ them, you need to have a Jedi-like intuition of what’s going to happen, such as planting a shield or healing device where you believe a battle is about to break out or sending an explosive drone where you think someone is likely to be.

Instead of equipping the Cleaners faction’s moltov, which you can only use if you’re a few feet away from an opponent, why not utilize the Phantom’s deployable shield to gain several seconds of free shots at any distance? If you can neutralize a healing device without dying by shooting it from a distance, what good is it to be able to hack one from close quarters? 

There are now issues with various weapons’ balance as well. As I continued to play XDefiant, more and more players with sniper rifles started showing up in lobbies, and it was soon obvious why. Regardless matters where the shot lands on your target, you can usually kill someone with one shot when you swipe. If you can get a bead on someone and hit them, even at short range, you’ll probably drop them before they can double-tap you. Expert players immediately realized this, thus no matter how far away the adversary is, if you go in today, you’ll definitely find yourself eliminated right away. I felt like a chump very fast for carrying a different pistol.

Only a portion of the sniper advantage is to blame for the current sense of uselessness with shotguns and light machine guns. Both have substantial disadvantages. LMGs appear to be more geared to destroy enemy technologies like shields and cause less damage against actual enemies, while shotguns have a relatively narrow range and slow fire rate. Despite having fewer disadvantages, both weapon types seem to penalize you for selecting them over assault rifles or submachine guns.

That being said, XDefiant doesn’t mind if your kill. The death ratio is negative as long as you’re advancing your team toward the match objective, so none of that is a deal-breaker. You don’t need to be one of the quickest shooters online to pick up a riot shield, concentrate on living long enough to get a payload from one side of a map to the other, or play defense or support on capture sites by assisting in the survival of your more formidable allies. While all of that is entertaining, it might require a few additional game modes that take a more creative and intriguing approach to varying gameplay to keep us from becoming bored for a little while longer.

Game Modes

Right now, XDefiant only offers five modes, all of which are typical for this type of shooter. Six-on-six unranked play is supported in all of those modes. A four-on-four ranked mode, which employs skill-based matchmaking, is also coming to XDefiant, although it’s currently only accessible as a preview.

Zone Control, Domination, and Occupy are variations on capture-point modes that are played in XDefiant’s large, packed arenas, with Occupy taking place on a linear map. That reduces variation, and you’ll soon find that many of the matches you play in a given session get monotonous. It doesn’t really modify the gameplay to distinguish between the three types of control point capture—one that goes across the map, three that do it concurrently, or multiple in a certain order.

In the meantime, Hotshot is a variation on Call of Duty’s Kill Confirmed where points are awarded solely for retrieving dropped items following a kill. However, it has an additional VIP twist where the player with the most items gains speed and multiplies their score for each item they retrieve. As such, you should defend your team’s Hotshot while pursuing the opposition’s. Conversely, Escort is a simple payload mission on a linear map; it doesn’t really change from the mode that has been a part of Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch for years, thus it’s not very new or inventive. Neither of these choices does anything to enhance XDefiant’s unique features or set it apart from other games.

Conversely, the maps themselves are mostly exceptional. XDefiant draws its factions from the same games, and these games are heavily referenced in ten arenas and four linear areas, creating visually stimulating and diverse environments. They are often very open, with several routes leading into and out of each location. That implies that your chances of getting shot in the back are roughly the same as your chances of getting the drop on someone, but at least they promote quick mobility, little camping, and a variety of interactions with nearly every step.

That helps make every group and weapon feel realistic (well, maybe DedSec), at least in terms of playstyle; even while the guns’ strength is a little inconsistent, it’s still entertaining to dash about with a shotgun or to hide out with a sniper rifle. Since there are no places where a team can burrow down to make themselves almost invulnerable or where an individual can hide and dominate alone with a sniper rifle, the open architecture also keeps things fair.

Additionally, there’s a very extensive progression system that lets you progress by unlocking different faction members, weapon attachments like scopes, and weaponry. After a few rounds with a weapon, additional components become unlocked for it just by using it. This allows you to customize weaponry to your preference. Completing tasks with the weapons you already have, such as scoring point-blank SMG kills or reaching a particular amount of one-shot snipes, is necessary to unlock further firearms and characters. All of the challenges are easy to achieve and motivate you to change up how you play. They strike the ideal mix between giving you new weapons for your efforts and encouraging you to try out alternative loadouts and gear.

However, this cannot be true about the quest to become a member of the DedSec faction. When you first launch XDefiant, you may choose from four factions; but, to access the fifth, you must accrue almost 700,000 XP (experience points) through daily challenges, finishing and winning matches, scoring kills, and accomplishing goals. To put it into perspective, you get 100 XP for a kill, 2,000 XP for finishing a match (and an additional 2,000 XP  if you win), and 5,000–10,000 XP for each of the four daily challenges. That means that completing it for free will require some serious grinding, but if you’re prepared to spend $10, you can unlock DedSec right away.

The Verdict

Although XDefiant is a decent competitive first-person shooter game, based on many Ubisoft properties, it doesn’t really separate out from the pack of free-to-play shooters. The majority of its shooting techniques are really satisfying, and even dying doesn’t stop the action because you respawn quickly.

Weapon balance is one of its more minor problems, which Ubisoft is likely to fix in the future. The quick time-to-kill can be frustrating because it limits the usefulness of many class skills. Players often die before they have a chance to activate these skills, making them feel irrelevant to the core gameplay. It also lacks a distinguishing mode, relying instead on cliched point-capture notions and worn-out yet reliable tropes like Payload and Kill Confirmed.

However, good maps make things interesting for longer than they otherwise would, so maybe it will have enough time to establish a niche of its own. It’s really appreciated that you have come this far. Thank you for checking out the XDefiant review. Be sure to get the game now, available digital on PS5, Xbox Series and PC. Also share your thoughts or comments below. Stay safe, until next time 😀