[7] Official game servers, community forums, and social media outlets were shut down by owning company Gamigo on April 29, 2021.

[9] The Ark Hunters are injected with an EGO (Environmental Guardian Online), a symbiotic, neuro-muscular bionetic implant developed by Von Bach Industries, which helps players navigate the Bay Area and gives them access to unique abilities.

[10][11] The game takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area, 15 years after the devastating Pale Wars between Earth and a loose alliance of extraterrestrial races known as Votanis Collective.

Player characters are enlisted as "Ark Hunters" by industrialist Karl Von Bach to search the Bay Area for advanced and expensive alien technology.

During their final approach Von Bach reveals to Grant that he is searching for the remaining components of a terra spire to attempt to restore the earth and hopes to be hailed as a hero.

He orders Von Bach and his Ark Hunters to prepare for landing as they pass over the Golden Gate Bridge and ruins of San Francisco.

As the player straps into their escape pod alongside Joshua Nolan and Irisa from the companion TV show the carrier is attacked by an unknown force.

Eventually the player regroups with Cass Ducar and the two overcome an army of mutant clones from the now defunct Earth Military Coalition (EMC) and escape the immediate vicinity.

While searching for leads on the remaining components, Cooper's ranch comes under attack by Raiders, a hostile gang faction that seek to loot and pillage the bay area.

[citation needed] It started as a collaborative effort between Trion and Syfy to make a video game that ran alongside a television series.

[18] It features the same map, story, missions, NPCs, enemies, sounds, HUD, and other assets from the first game; however, the four classes have been replaced with four new ones, each of which has its own EGO power tree.

"[40] The Digital Fix similarly gave it seven out of ten and said that it "settles into its rhythm very nicely and becomes a game that is so easily picked up and played you cannot help but fall for it a little.

"[41] National Post gave the PlayStation 3 version a score of six out of ten, saying that it "seems simply to offer yet another big open world filled with weapons to collect and creatures to kill.

I won’t deny that I’ve had moments of fun blowing holes in Hellbugs over the last week, but it was of a flavourless variety I could have derived from any number of other third-person shooters.

"[42] The Escapist gave the same console version two-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "a middle-of-the road third-person shooter that never seems to fully capitalize on its alien-filled, post apocalyptic setting.

"[35] Metro UK gave the Xbox 360 version a similar score of four out of ten and said, "A mix of low budget, (relatively) high ambition, and mediocre execution, Defiance is a hard game to hate but an easy one to lose interest in.