Ubisoft’s XDefiant is currently in closed beta, allowing us to get hands-on time with this free-to-play first-person shooter. The game doesn’t come packed with any real innovations, but it did surprise me in how well it delivers a classic arcade shooter with really enjoyable maps.
XDefiant is a curious mashup of Ubisoft properties. This shooter brings together characters and settings from other big Ubisoft titles, including Tom Clancy’s The Division, Watch Dogs, Far Cry 6, and more. The game doesn’t seem to have a storyline to tie all these characters together, but the matches are quite fun, so I don’t even question the lack of game lore or shared connections. Although jumping from a Far Cry-themed map to a Division one in New York City–each with corresponding announcers–might sound jarring, I didn’t find that to be the case.