One thing that's remained consistent until the end is finding games pretty easily, at least for me here in the UK. I've hopped on XDefiant multiple times in recent weeks and have never struggled to get sessions going, and that's true here on the final day as well. There's plenty of folks still enjoying the game and all of that final Season 3 content - and that's with me using the game's input-based matchmaking to lock out mouse & keyboard players as well.
Touching on that final content drop for a moment, it's a real shame that XDefiant has ended the way it has. Prior to last December — when Ubisoft announced the closure and added all of its finished content — the game felt quite bare, and I think that contributed to it struggling to retain players. Now though, with all the extra maps, modes, factions, weapons etc. in place, XDefiant actually feels like a complete game, just as its sunsetting process comes to an end.
The above shots, for example, are taken from a cool-as-heck Rayman -themed level that wasn't even finished at the time of its hasty release, but it still shows the potential that XDefiant had. On this map, you find yourself bouncing around on jump pads, collecting Yellow Lums and getting stuck into skirmishes amongst environments that feel totally different for a first-person shooter. The game's final update also added Prince Of Persia and Assassin's Creed levels for the first time - XDefiant really was starting to stretch its legs right as they were cut off.
Ultimately though, the game's closure brings into focus the somewhat temporary nature of lots of video games these days. XDefiant really could have done with some offline, single-player modes to bolster its offering - and they could have even remained playable beyond today had Ubisoft had the foresight to build such features. We're not necessarily saying a full story campaign here, but even some horde-style modes and other AI-focused ways to play could have worked. Sadly, with the game's purely online nature, XDefiant will simply cease to exist after today.
Image: Watch Dogs 2's 'Nudle' Offices Represented In XDefiant Look, I get that XDefiant hardly reinvented the wheel, and it didn't set the world on fire either. Despite enjoying the game's back-to-basics approach during my review time last year , I always understood that this probably wouldn't be enough to sustain the experience in the long run. It was simply a fun shooter that provided a nice, casual alternative to the likes of COD these days, and I think with a better content plan and more offline features, XDefiant could have been a real mainstay amongst the console shooter market. There really aren't that many casual FPS options out there anymore!
With that, all I can say for now is goodbye to XDefiant; its limited player base really was defiant to the end. Hundreds of people worked hard on this game for years , and I reckon their endeavour is worth a shoutout here in what's quite a tough time for game closures . This doomed Ubisoft FPS is now set to fade away, but I'll definitely remember the fun times I had with it, even if those fun times ended up being pretty fleeting in the end.
