The Second World War has provided the backdrop for countless first-person shooters over the years, but there are still plenty of stories from the conflict that games have barely touched. The Defiant is looking to explore one of those lesser-seen perspectives by putting the Chinese resistance against the Japanese invasion at the centre of its campaign. While the gameplay shown during Gamescom feels familiar to anyone who grew up with classic World War II shooters, the setting gives the game a reason to stand out from the crowded genre.
What we know
The Defiant is a story-driven first-person shooter developed by Hangzhou Hoothanes Entertainment and published by 4Divinity. Rather than revisiting the familiar battlefields of Western Europe, the game focuses on China’s War of Resistance against the Japanese invasion. Its campaign spans different locations and situations, from the snowy forests of northeastern China and occupied towns to villages behind enemy lines and the streets of Shanghai. The story also explores several parts of the Chinese resistance, including the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, underground radio operators and the Canal Detachment.
The game is built around multiple characters and chapters, with the different stories offering varying perspectives on the conflict. Alongside conventional infantry combat, the campaign is expected to include situations involving espionage, sabotage and other approaches to the war. The characters themselves are fictional, while the battles and environments are rooted in real historical circumstances.
Weapons are an important part of that approach to authenticity. The Defiant features a sizeable collection of firearms from the period, including rifles, submachine guns, pistols and machine guns. Among the examples are the Hanyang 88, Mauser C96 and SIG Bergmann Model 1920. The intention is for the weapons, environments and battles to help recreate a period of history that is rarely represented in games.
The Defiant is in development for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, although a specific release date has not yet been announced. The PC version is the one covered by this preview.
What we saw
This preview is based on an early demo build of The Defiant, which we played during a hands-on session at Gamescom after meeting with the development team. The session provided an opportunity to experience part of the campaign in a snowy region of northeastern China, while the developers also discussed the game’s design, its historical setting and the development process behind it. The demo offered a relatively short but combat-heavy slice of the campaign, giving us a first impression of how the firefights, environments and cinematic presentation are coming together.
What we thought
The setting immediately makes The Defiant interesting. For many players outside China, the conflict being portrayed here is a largely unfamiliar theatre of the Second World War, and that alone gives the game a sense of identity. Instead of another trip through the battlefields that have appeared repeatedly in World War II shooters, the demo placed us in a snowy Chinese landscape occupied by Japanese forces. It is a perspective that games have rarely explored, and the promise of following different characters through different parts of the conflict suggests that there is plenty of room for the campaign to tell stories that players haven’t encountered before.
The actual shooting, however, is considerably more familiar. The demo follows a largely linear structure, moving from one confrontation to the next as enemies appear in scripted encounters. Taking cover, returning fire, throwing grenades and waiting for health to recover are all mechanics that will be immediately recognisable to anyone familiar with the classic Call of Duty or Medal of Honor campaigns. That familiarity isn’t necessarily a problem, particularly for players who miss that more straightforward style of single-player military shooter, but there is little in the basic combat loop that feels particularly revolutionary at this stage. The weapons themselves are considerably more convincing. Rifles have weight and impact, automatic weapons kick convincingly, and the accompanying sound design gives each shot plenty of presence. The historical selection of firearms also adds another layer of character to the otherwise traditional gunplay.
The demo’s difficulty helped give those familiar mechanics a little more tension. Rather than feeling like an unstoppable soldier mowing down everything in sight, there were moments where the sheer number of enemies made survival feel like an achievement. A particularly tense sequence near the end placed us on a small hill with enemies closing in from multiple directions, turning what could otherwise have been another routine firefight into a desperate last stand. Barely managing to hold out made the encounter considerably more memorable. At the same time, some of the movement and interaction currently feel somewhat sluggish, with the demo offering a relatively restricted way of navigating its environments. That fits the deliberate throwback character of the campaign, but it also means The Defiant will have to rely heavily on its scenarios and storytelling to keep the experience from feeling overly familiar.
Visually, there is considerably more to be positive about. The snowy environments, damaged buildings, trenches, trees and wartime debris create a convincing atmosphere, while the changing weather and destruction help sell the sense of being caught in an active battlefield. The weapons are also presented with detailed animations, strong muzzle flashes and suitably forceful audio. Most importantly, the presentation works together with the setting to make the Chinese battlefield feel like more than a simple change of scenery. There is still plenty that we haven’t seen, and the early nature of the build means some elements are likely to change before release, but The Defiant already has a compelling foundation. Its gameplay may deliberately look backwards to an earlier generation of war shooters, yet the story it wants to tell is one that games have rarely told from this side of the conflict. That combination is enough to make The Defiant one to keep an eye on as development continues.