Free-to-Play Shooter XDefiant Kicks Off Global Preseason

If you have been looking for a fun way to spend some time working on your shooting skills, Ubisoft is giving you one more option in the form of XDefiant. The free-to-play, fast-paced arcade shooter developed by Ubisoft San Francisco features factions inspired by some of Ubisoft’s beloved franchises, and is available to all on PC via Ubisoft Connect, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S now.

Following several rounds of testing, the shooter has gone through refinement and tweaks, with the final product offering:

• 14 maps
• Five Ubisoft franchise-inspired factions (one faction to be earned or purchased)
• 24 weapons
• 44 attachments
• Five devices

The five unique factions in XDefiant are The Cleaners (The Division), Libertad (Far Cry 6), Echelon (Splinter Cell), DedSec (Watch Dogs 2) and Phantoms (Ghost Recon Phantoms). Each faction includes three characters, but only one will be unlocked from each faction. The others are unlockable through completing in-game missions.

As for the actual modes in which fighting will take place, it is broken down into Arena and Linear experiences.

There are three Arena-style matches available:

• In Domination, teams fight to control three fixed zones.
• In Occupy, teams fight to control one zone that periodically moves around the map.
• In HotShot, players fight to get the most KOs (points are only granted or denied when players collect tags from fallen foes or allies. Furthermore, the player currently holding the most tags is granted a host of speed buffs, but is also marked on the map for all to see.

There are two Linear matches available, casting players in attacking or defending roles.

• Zone Control has the attacking team working to secure five zones in a progression across the map while defenders must fight to stop them.
• In Escort, the attacking team must bring a package to its final destination across the map while the defenders attempt to stymie their progress and even push the package back.

Following this preseason, XDefiant will move into proper seasonal content, with each bringing one new faction, three new maps, three new weapons, and much more.

Jake Su Editor-in-Chief

Jake is a full-time trophy hunter and achievement gatherer on consoles, and a part-time Steam Sale victim. He has been writing about games for more than 15 years, covering news, previews, reviews, and guides, and can be found across continents and time zones to provide the key info gamers need to enjoy their games even more.

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