Ubisoft’s XDefiant Is Another Letdown For One Type of Assassin’s Creed Game

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XDefiant Assassin's Creed

As a fan of both XDefiant and Assassin’s Creed, the fusion of these two worlds in the form of the Assassin’s faction within XDefiant has been an exhilarating experience for me. The brief glimpse into the modern-day Assassins, with their iconic hooded attire, hidden blades, and Eagle Vision, has left me craving more.

While XDefiant is unfortunately shutting down in June 2025, the Assassin’s Creed faction has provided a tantalizing taste of what a fully-fledged modern-day Assassin’s Creed game could offer. The seamless blend of current-day firearms with traditional Assassin’s Creed abilities demonstrates the potential for this concept, and I eagerly await Ubisoft’s decision to explore it further in future releases.

The short-lived presence of the Assassin’s faction serves as a bittersweet reminder of what could have been, but also offers hope that we may yet see a dedicated modern-day Assassin’s Creed experience in the near future. I can only hope that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Infinity hub will pave the way for such an ambitious project and allow fans to fully immerse themselves in the world of the Assassins as they wage their eternal war against the Templars.

With its launch scheduled for May 2024, there was considerable excitement surrounding XDefiant, as the action-packed first-person shooter multiplayer game promised to incorporate characters and factions from various popular Ubisoft intellectual properties. This unique blend of well-known IPs offered a diverse range of visual styles and abilities among the game’s characters, and by tying the title to established and cherished franchises, it aimed to captivate a broad spectrum of gamers.

Although there was much anticipation about the game XDefiant, it is now scheduled to close down in June, approximately a year after its debut. This unexpected turn of events has caused some of the game’s ambitious post-launch content to be released prematurely, such as an intriguing faction modeled after Ubisoft’s renowned Assassin’s Creed series. Like other factions within XDefiant, this AC-inspired group is well-suited to contemporary combat, providing an engaging broader view of what the narrative conflict in a fully realized current-day Assassin’s Creed setting might look like. Fans have longed for a comprehensive modern-set AC title, and the bittersweet inclusion of the Assassin’s Creed faction in XDefiant serves as a painful reminder of the potential this concept holds.

XDefiant Briefly Puts the Spotlight On a Relatively Unexplored Aspect of Assassin’s Creed

In the third and final season of XDefiant, they introduced a faction reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed. This season dropped an abundance of content for future seasons simultaneously. One of the three new factions is called the Assassins. These operators carry the distinctive hooded appearance synonymous with the legendary brotherhood, and their arsenal and abilities mirror those from the action-adventure series that inspired them.

In this game, you’ll find elements reminiscent of “Assassin’s Creed” such as the famous Eagle Vision for spotting foes, the signature Hidden Blade, shocking Cherry Bombs, and the mighty Apple of Eden that provides temporary teleportation. These Assassin’s Creed-style features are skillfully integrated with XDefiant’s contemporary backdrop and heavy reliance on modern firearms, demonstrating the feasibility of a modern-based Assassin’s Creed game.

In contrast to the well-known sequences set in contemporary times that are found in many Assassin’s Creed (AC) games, this series is predominantly recognized and characterized by its historical settings. These have encompassed various eras such as Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and soon, Feudal Japan with the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The earlier periods provide a more suitable backdrop for the franchise’s specialties, including parkour escapes, intense hand-to-hand combat, and intricate assassination plots. Many of these elements might be less effective or even absent in the modern technology context of today.

XDefinat’s Assassin’s Creed Faction Can Hopefully Spur Forward a Modern Release For the Franchise

Regardless, Ubisoft doesn’t hesitate to offer fans captivating peeks into the contemporary intricacies of the Assassin Brotherhood and its relentless conflict with the Templar Order. It’s no surprise that many gamers yearn for a complete modern-day adventure to delve deeper into this setting. The combat sequence in Assassin’s Creed 3, set in the modern day, was a significant part of the game’s narrative and demonstrated that a well-rounded current-day AC experience could be successful for the franchise.

Unfortunately, players won’t get to delve deeply into the modern ways of Ubisoft’s Assassins faction in XDefiant for much longer, as only a brief sneak peek has been given. Fingers crossed that with the launch of the Assassin’s Creed Infinity platform, Ubisoft can concentrate on producing distinctive and ambitious Assassin’s Creed experiences without hindering mainline game releases. If so, perhaps XDefiant’s temporary faction might serve as a source of inspiration for a dedicated modern-set Assassin’s Creed game in the not-too-distant future, satisfying fans’ longing for this type of experience.

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2025-01-05 00:04