Competitive arena shooter XDefiant is now free to play on Xbox Series Five game modes will also be available at launch: Occupy, Domination, Zone Control, Escort and HotShot. The final mode in particular has become a hit with players during the game’s early access betas, and Associate Creative Director Scott Crisostomo and Systems Designer Patrick “Aches” Price are here to tell us more.
In HotShot, players not only have to eliminate their opponents, but also collect the bounty tokens that they drop. Collecting a fallen enemy’s bounty secures your team a point, while collecting a bounty from your own fallen teammate denies your opponents that point. The player who currently holds the most bounties in the game becomes the HotShot and is marked for all players to see, but also receives improved movement and aiming speed (ADS) and, most importantly, three points for each bounty he holds receives.
“It was a lot of fun to watch,” Price said after the closed beta last year. “Players loved becoming a super soldier with super fast movements and ADS speed. Watching players play HotShot showed we were on the right track to create a mode that players hadn’t seen before.”
Due to the unique abilities of its factions XDefiant does not have a Team Deathmatch (TDM) mode at launch. Instead, the developers saw HotShot as a way to match TDM’s free-flowing, run-and-gun pace while maintaining the objective philosophy that their faction gameplay was designed for.
“HotShot almost became a moving target,” Crisostomo says. “You want to collect the other team’s bounties, but if there’s an enemy HotShot, you want to take them out. And if your team has a HotShot, you want to protect it.”
Since bounties are worth three times as many points when collected from the HotShot, the game mode, which could have been a freeform game, has an added layer of depth and strategy. “The smart move is to actually run as a group and not run to pick everything up,” Crisostomo says. “Instead, get your kills in, but summon the HotShot to collect them.”
With his improved movement and aiming speed, the HotShot is the strongest player in the game, but he also has a huge target on his back. Not only does eliminating the HotShot prevent the opposing team from benefiting from the significant bounty score bonus, but the HotShot also drops three times as many bounties when killed. “We felt that players should be rewarded for taking out the HotShot because the HotShot has so many benefits,” says Crisostomo. “That means if you take out the HotShot and collect its bounties, you’re almost guaranteed to be the next HotShot.”
XDefiant starts with four additional game modes: In Occupy, teams have to collect points by conquering a constantly changing zone. In Domination, teams fight for control of three static zones. Escort sees one team trying to move a package along a linear path while the other team tries to stop it. Zone Control tasks attackers with capturing consecutive zones as they move through a map, while defenders must fight to stop them until time runs out.
Don’t miss your chance to be the HotShot, XDefiant is now available for Xbox Series X|S!
XDefiant
UBISOFT
XDefiant is a free-to-play first-person online arena shooter where you compete against each other in fast-paced battles. With crossplay available at launch, you can play with friends on different platforms. Customized Loadouts Choose from a wide arsenal of weapons, accessories and gadgets to optimize your play style. Combine any weapon with any faction and unlock new options as you progress to perfect your playstyle. Factions Fractions come from the legendary Ubisoft worlds and represent different classes, each with unique abilities and Ultras. Choose any character from any faction to create your team of 6 players. Change your faction at any time during the game to suit your strategy. Maps, Modes and Mayhem: Play across a diverse selection of 14 maps at launch across a variety of Arena and Linear modes, including Zone Control, Escort, Occupy and more. Fight in casual games or climb the ranks in competitive ranked mode. New Content Every Season Every three months brings a new season with a brand new faction, new characters, new maps, new weapons, new cosmetics and events. As a live game, XDefiant will deliver an exciting experience season after season with a wide range of fresh and entertaining content. This game uses Smart Delivery and allows access to both the Xbox One title and the Xbox Series X|S title.