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The Defiant Gameplay Explores a Different World War II Battlefield
World War II shooters have spent decades returning to many of the same battlefields, but Hoothanes is looking to a considerably less-represented setting with The Defiant. Published by 4Divinity, the upcoming first-person shooter is set during the Second Sino-Japanese War, putting players on the Chinese front through a mixture of cinematic storytelling and tactical combat.
A new gameplay trailer offers a closer look at how that translates into play, moving between quiet infiltration and significantly louder firefights as players operate behind enemy lines.
Rather than relying solely on direct combat, missions can involve gathering intelligence, sabotaging enemy operations and eliminating targets from a distance before things inevitably have the chance to go wrong.
Stealth Is Only One Way to Survive in The Defiant
The trailer moves through occupied villages, rural environments, forests and heavily defended military positions, with players regularly having to decide how directly they want to engage the enemy.
That can mean staying out of sight while infiltrating an occupied area or putting a rifle to work from further away. Once an alarm is raised, however, The Defiant quickly transitions into more conventional first-person combat.
Hoothanes is aiming for a cinematic approach throughout, using those different environments and mission types to follow soldiers fighting through the conflict rather than simply creating another collection of World War II shooting galleries.
Historically Inspired Weapons Take Centre Stage
Weapons are another area where the game’s setting immediately makes a difference. The Defiant includes firearms inspired by weapons used during the conflict, including the Hanyang Type 88, a Chinese-manufactured rifle based upon the German Gewehr 88.
The current Steam listing promises dozens of weapons spanning rifles, pistols, submachine guns and machine guns, with the Mauser C96 and SIG Bergmann Model 1920 among the other historical firearms represented.
More importantly, those weapons complement a setting seldom explored by major World War II shooters. While Western and Pacific campaigns have been revisited countless times across the genre, Hoothanes is instead building its campaign around China’s experience of the conflict and the soldiers who fought in it.
The Defiant Does Not Have a Release Date Yet
The Defiant is currently in development for PC and consoles, with no release date announced. The game can already be wishlisted on Steam, where Hoothanes describes it as a story-driven FPS set in historical battlefields, featuring period weaponry and resistance against occupying forces.
There is still plenty left to learn about the wider campaign, but its choice of battlefield already helps The Defiant stand apart in a genre that has rarely been short on World War II games. This time, at least, we are not heading back to Normandy.
