Tom Clancy's XDefiant Announced as New Free-to-Play FPS Title

Fans of the Tom Clancy series of games will need to shift their thinking and wait for another Splinter Cell iteration as there will be a new game under the franchise - except, this one will be a free-to-play multiplayer FPS, called XDefiant.

As tweeted by the new game's official Twitter on July 19, XDefiant will be a "free-to-play, fast-paced arena FPS from Ubisoft San Francisco."

On top of that, the game will have players using various abilities to help secure kills, akin to one of the hotter FPS games to play right now, Valorant. Players will play the game with a "Defiant," a player's in-game character, in which they can choose several factions, primary and secondary weapons, attachments and a device for a loadout, "then tweak it on the fly to adapt to an ever-changing battlefield."

As to what the abilities that players are able to equip their Defiants with are is currently unknown, however, Defiants will have "traits, abilities and ultras" on top of selecting a faction. Though this was revealed on the announcement trailer and may not be in the final game, there were two abilities on the screen to choose, the largest icon seemingly being the ultra ability, and a device that was a grenade.

Tom Clancy's XDefiant Announced as New Free-to-Play FPS Title

As part of the game play reveal trailer, there will be four different factions that "are inspired by maverick groups from across Tom Clancy's games and beyond," according to creative director, Jason Schroeder.

These are the four faction classes to choose from:

• Wolves, a tank class
• Cleaners, an assault class
• Echelon, a support class
• Outcasts, a healer class

Though the visuals of the game look towards more of the "Cyberpunk" style, executive producer, Mark Rubin, stated that the priority of the game was invested on its gunplay.

"We put a lot of care into how our weapons look and feel," Rubin said. "We've crafted every weapons attachment for precise, satisfying gunplay."

The game modes that the company has revealed so far will include a competitive 6-v-6 arena, Domination and Escort modes with rotating maps for players to play on.

The game doesn't have a slated release date at the time of writing this, but will open its first test session for those who register for it on Aug. 5 for PC players in the US and Canada, but it is guaranteed for all who register that they will be able to join the test period. Although the test period will be exclusive to North American PC players, the game is slated to have a release on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and the next-generation consoles of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.