XDefiant stands as an ambitious yet short-lived attempt by Ubisoft to firmly break into the world of fast-paced first-person shooters, with the game’s premise seeing an interesting blend of arena shooter and hero shooter mechanics. The early hype around the title was greatly boosted by its free-to-play nature and the way it pulled from a wide range of other Ubisoft franchises in the creation of its varied in-game factions.
The factions for XDefiant are directly taken from other IPs such as Watch Dogs, Far Cry, and Splinter Cell, with these factions influencing a range of special abilities that the player can choose to weld in-game. Sadly, with XDefiant being set to completely shut down in a few months’ time, Ubisoft has had to play its hand early with a lot of post-launch content, with an Assassin’s Creed faction being added to the game in December 2024. The AC franchise’s iconic and powerful Apple of Eden appears as an ability for this faction, which could be an indication as to how the ancient artifact will be implemented into the upcoming multiplayer AC game, currently code-named Assassin’s Creed Invictus.
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XDefiant’s Shutdown Leaves a Lot of Potential Far Cry Content on the Table
The shutdown of XDefiant leaves some gaps that could be filled by Ubisoft elsewhere, and Far Cry could take inspiration from a lot of its content.
XDefiant’s Multiplayer Approach To Assassin’s Creed Could Hint Towards Invictus
While the Assassin’s Creed franchise is primarily known for its immersive single-player experiences, the franchise has had a lot of success with multiplayer modes in the past, with the tense PvP of games like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood being very well-received by the IP’s community. As Assassin’s Creed has moved firmly into the realm of more open-world RPG-like experiences, this kind of supplementary multiplayer content has essentially disappeared, although the upcoming Invictus is boldly aiming to change this.
Invictus was announced alongside a wide range of upcoming AC projects such as Assassin’s Creed Hexe, with Invictus seemingly being a big part of Ubisoft’s plans to supplement the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Infinity hub, which will be the go-to place to access all AC content in the near future. The only real information currently known about Invictus is that it will be an entirely multiplayer project, with many fans logically assuming this will provide the same kind of PvP and deception-oriented gameplay as past online experiences for the series.
The fairly recent introduction of the Assassin’s Creed faction to XDefiant could be an excellent way to gain a better idea of how Ubisoft is planning to translate the core themes and mechanics of AC to a multiplayer setting in Invictus, with XDefiant‘s use of the Apple of Eden being one particular area of interest. The Apple of Eden is central to the AC faction’s Ultimate Ability in XDefiant; players can use this powerful move to instantly teleport to an enemy player and wipe them out with the faction’s Hidden Blade ability.
XDefiant will be officially shutting down on June 3, 2025, just over a year after its release in May 2024.
XDefiant Proves the Multiplayer Potential of the Apple of Eden Going Forward
While it makes sense to use such an iconic part of Assassin’s Creed as a powerful faction ability in XDefiant, it would make less sense in an official AC title such as Invictus to give each player access to such a coveted and destructive artifact. It seems likely that Invictus will not use the Apple of Eden as freely as XDefiant, yet there is still clear room for the artifact to be used in a more nuanced way.
For example, the Apple of Eden could appear in Invictus as an objective mode like Halo‘s Oddball gamemode, with players having to briefly work together to take down whoever is holding the Apple and welding its immense power. There could be great utility in allowing a singular person to find and use the Apple of Eden in certain Invictus modes, with the target this puts on a player’s back being worth the enhanced abilities, and XDefiant‘s AC faction may be an excellent indicator as to how Ubisoft is laying the groundwork for this kind of inclusion in Invictus when the game eventually launches.
- Released
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May 21, 2024
- ESRB
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T For Teen due to Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Ubisoft San Francisco