In the bigger landscape of FPS games, it is always easy to identify most of them. You have the hero shooter with overpriced skins, the one with a Hunger Games-like show, and the one that takes half of the space in your storage device. And then there’s XDefiant, which, against all odds in a saturated market, is standing strong and ready to debut its Season One. But what is the game trying to be? Is it a hero shooter? A crossover game? An FPS that experiments with new modes? Whatever it may be, one thing’s for sure: players keep flooding it, and we aren’t the exception.
While it may sound like I’m complaining about XDefiant‘s Season One, that’s not the case. It’s more of a: “It is nice that new maps and modes are coming, but what’s the endgame?” type of deal. Don’t get me wrong, I want this game to succeed. Heck, the factions that appear in it are some of my favorites in the Ubi-verse (patent pending). But where does it want to go with all of that? Nowadays, a game like this, which faces so much competition, needs to have something that stands out. Take Helldivers 2, for example. Recent controversies aside, it still rules the charts due to its ever-evolving Galactic War and objectives that change depending on what players do.
Overall, the Capture the Flag mode, new factions, skins, and monthly maps are fantastic and will freshen up the game during the usual content droughts. But XDefiant needs to define itself sooner rather than later. Still, the FPS is quite young and has plenty of room to grow. Yet, this first season feels like the moment where Ubisoft’s latest live service game will either take off or ground itself. I hope for the former. So, prepare those weapons, join your ideal faction, and join the fight on July 2.
