SHANGHAI, 30 July, 2026 — Developer Hoothanes and publisher 4Divinity have released a new gameplay trailer for The Defiant and announced the game's first public demo at ChinaJoy 2026 in Shanghai. Attendees can play the story-driven first-person shooter at booth N1-G201 until August 3.
The game puts players in the principal battlefield of WWII in the East, which China fought in the mid-20th century and remembers as the War of Resistance. The brutal conflict cost the lives of countless Chinese soldiers and civilians. The Defiant tells the story of the WWII war from the Chinese perspective, a side rarely seen in video games.
The Defiant unfolds across occupied villages, frozen forests, fortified supply routes, and enemy-controlled urban zones. Every environment is shaped by guerrilla warfare and survival behind enemy lines. Missions shift between stealth infiltration, close-quarters firefights, sniping, urban espionage, and sudden large-scale assaults.
Hoothanes has built The Defiant in Unreal Engine 5, recreating the era down to the arsenal Chinese fighters carried: the Hanyang Type 88, the Mauser C96, Bergmann MP18 submachine gun, and more. The studio brings the same care and authenticity to the story, writing toward the harshness of the War of Resistance, and what it cost the people fighting for survival and their homeland.
The Defiant is set to launch on PC via Steam and consoles. Players can wishlist it now on Steam.
For more information on The Defiant, players can follow 4Divinity on YouTube | X | Instagram | Facebook | Discord | Website