Tom Clancy published his first novel, The Hunt For Red October, back in 1984. I like to think that even back then, he knew nearly 40 years later a major video game publisher would one day attach his name to a seemingly endless string of first-person shooters.
Tom Clancy's XDefiant is the latest instalment in this proud lineage of games. Announced yesterday, Ubisoft's newest shooter is a free-to-play affair that mashes up various factions from a number of previous Tom Clancy games across a variety of multiplayer modes. It's coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles, PC, and Google Stadia later this year, with full crossplay expected at launch.
Take a look at the reveal trailer below:
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"Welcome to the party," reads the game's YouTube trailer description. "Tom Clancy's XDefiant is a free-to-play, fast-paced arena shooter that combines intense gunplay with personalized loadouts and specialized factions, as teams of gunfighters - called Defiants - battle for domination."
XDefiant is being developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, and the creative leads boast the game features "fast-paced firefights meet punk rock moshpits". I have no idea what that means either, but I'm sure someone felt very clever for having come up with it.
The 6v6 shooter will allow players to choose between a number of familiar factions: The Echelon (Splinter Cell), the Wolves (Ghost Recon), the Cleaners, and the Outcasts (both from The Division). Each faction boasts its own set of special abilities, traits, and "ultras", which essentially look like they'll be very similar to the Ultimate abilities in Overwatch.
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Naturally Ubisoft intends to support this game for years to come, which means more Defiants will be added to the game later, bring in characters "from the Tom Clancy universe ... and beyond." Rayman crossover confirmed.
You'll be able to change up your Defiant's loadout to choose your own primary and secondary weapons, as well as an attachment and special device. Better still, this loadout can be adjusted whenever you respawn in the middle of a game, giving you the chance to adjust your strategy as needed.
At first glance it's clear Ubisoft is going for a slice of the Call Of Duty: Warzone pie, but there are also a lot of similarities to hero shooters like Overwatch baked into the gameplay. Whether or not this mashup of genres and characters will be a success remains to be seen, but the first public PC test for XDefiant takes place on PC August 5. Head to the XDefiant website to take part.
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Featured Image Credit: Ubisoft