Defiance event infects San Francisco with mysterious plague, definitely not zombies

Clearly I'm not the person you want to count on in a future world of aliens, Arc Hunters and cross-media synergy. The new TV tie-in update for Defiance challenges players to eradicate an infection and develop a cure to send to the titular town of the TV series. To which my response would be, "nope". Surely it'd make for better telly?

"In the latest crossover event from Trion Worlds and Syfy, beginning on June 3rd," writes Defiance developer Trion Worlds, "players will be challenged to eradicate the infection that is afflicting San Francisco's residents and work through all new content to discover a cure in order to send it to the town of Defiance before the outbreak there gets any worse."

That means a new game mode - The Plague Sieges - along with eight emergencies, two pursuits, a data recorder and mission series that will run June 10-17th. The infection will then crop up in a June 17th episode of the TV series, with what's sure to be an appropriately transmedia-ish plot-line.

Is anyone still roaming the San Francisco apocalypse? Our review found a game that didn't offer enough reason to persist. I'm not sure a zombie event, even with Dramatic TV Integration, is going to make up the shortfall.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.