The Defiant is a new shooter from the Chinese developer Hoothanes. In an interview with MeinMMO, Game Director Kong Yuheng explained what the vision for the shooter looks like.
The Defiant is a shooter that takes place during World War II, but deals with an unused setting. The game actually takes place on the battlefields of the Second Sino-Japanese War. This war lasted from 1937 to 1945 and is likely unknown to many Western players.
MeinMMO editor Niko Hernes was able to play a segment at gamescom for 15 minutes. The tight difficulty level particularly stood out. After the brief playtest, Game Director Kong Yuheng explained more about the game, gameplay, difficulty, and the duration of the shooter in an interview with Nikolas Hernes.
“As authentic as possible”
MeinMMO: The game is a lot of fun and very difficult, but I like challenges. One important thing about The Defiant: World War II is a frequently used theme in shooters, but your game has a very special and different perspective – namely, China. Why do you think it is so unique compared to other games in this genre?
Game Director Kong Yuheng: Because, as you mentioned, there are many shooters based on World War I and II, but there is not a single one that depicts a Chinese battle in World War II. However, World War II was somewhat of a global war, and we hope to depict what happened in China at that time.
Many Western audiences do not have much knowledge about this. Some are very curious, while others know nothing about it. That’s why we want to show with this game that we also made a significant contribution to World War II and sacrificed many people.
MeinMMO: How does the setting of the conflict reflect in the weapons and gameplay?
Kong Yuheng: We have conducted historical research. So, as far as the game goes – for example, the weapons, as you mentioned, and the locations – we traveled to the actual places to take photos and videos. We then brought these back to the studio. Our technician is also a military expert. We will try to recreate everything as authentically as possible to reflect what was actually used back then.
MeinMMO: Can you tell us more about the mission design? Is it very action-oriented, or are there also quieter sections or stealth segments?
Kong Yuheng: In this part [that was playable at gamescom], it’s just about shooting, and in other parts, we have different tasks. For example, in other chapters, there is also espionage, and then there are stealth sections. So different strategies to fight the enemy [and] different tasks.
“China is developing rapidly”
MeinMMO: A question about China as an emerging market for games. Looking at gamescom and other fairs, there are so many Chinese games in various genres these days – action games, shooters… What makes China so special in the gaming sector, in your opinion?
Kong Yuheng: As you just mentioned, China is currently developing very quickly in the game industry, as the country has accumulated a large number of game experts, game talents, and gaming knowledge over several years of development. So we have a lot of experience in research and development in the game industry. Additionally, for example, in these kind of high-quality games, we have outsourcing companies and also a lot of experience in these areas.
MeinMMO: Back to The Defiant – how is the story structured since it is a single-player game? Is it more about several small stories or a larger story?
Kong Yuheng: We have four chapters. Each chapter is a standalone story, but there is a point that connects the four. Additionally, we use four different locations, four different seasons, and of course, there are different weapons and tasks in each chapter. But we also have a co-op mode, so there is a solo and a co-op mode – Four to six players together.
MeinMMO: Do you have an idea of how long it will take to complete the game?
Kong Yuheng: The four chapters take 10 to 12 hours.
MeinMMO: As for the difficulty – I really like it – will there be several difficulty levels?
Kong Yuheng: Yes, different ones. But in this version, we haven’t implemented that yet. However, in the final version, we will set various difficulty levels.
MeinMMO: Is it more of a difficult section, or am I just bad at the game?
Kong Yuheng: No, it is quite difficult, but it is a later part of the overall story.
MeinMMO: Are there other sources of inspiration for the game besides history?
Kong Yuheng: I think the inspiration simply lies in our familiarity with this genre and our artistic expression based on this genre.
MeinMMO: How did you structure the teams during the development of the game?
Kong Yuheng: In our development team, we work together. Some take care of planning, others focus on aesthetics, and others on program design. So we all have the same goal: to present our game. We have different responsible people for different departments, and then we work together.
MeinMMO: Thank you very much.
Kong Yuheng: You’re welcome.
The interview was conducted by MeinMMO editor Niko Hernes.
What do you think of The Defiant? Will you take a closer look at the World War II shooter upon release? There is no date for its release yet. The game will be released on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series. At gamescom, there were more highlights for genre fans: A Cyberpunk shooter does what only Super Mario could do: I’m looking forward to a damn mustache
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