Ubisoft has revealed Tom Clancy’s XDefiant, a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter which will combine numerous Ubisoft IPs into a series of playable factions with customizable characters.
According to the blog on Ubisoft’s website, the game will feature four factions at launch to choose from, including the Wolves, Echelon, the Outcasts and the Cleaners, based on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell & Tom Clancy’s The Division respectively. A reveal trailer for the game posted on YouTube actually shows these factions function as classes, with each having their own unique abilities for players to use in-game.
One of the more striking aspects of Tom Clancy’s XDefiant lies in the visual design, with levels and character design having a lighter colour palette with a more cartoony aesthetic, reminiscent of titles like Sunset Overdrive. In a separate video, executive producer Mark Rubin explained the decision behind this, stating “We wanted to bring a very different take on the attitude that is… normally associated with Clancy.”
Players familiar with FPS titles will be happy to see popular classic 6v6 modes here like Team Deathmatch, Domination and Escort. However, player reception seems to be less than positive, with the reveal trailer for the game sitting on 11k dislikes to 8.4k likes at the time of writing. This still stems from a lack of a new entry in the Splinter Cell franchise with the last entry being Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist in 2013.
As of now, there is no current release date. However, XDefiant will launch on both current and next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles as well as PC, Stadia, Luna and Ubisoft Connect. Additionally, players can register for the beta here where US and Canadian PC Players can access the beta from 5th August.
Words by Alex Green
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Header image ©Ubisoft