The Defiant Rifles

Rifles are the face of The Defiant. The mountain preview put a Liao Type 13 in the player’s hands and never really put it down. Publisher materials lead with the Hanyang Type 88. The firing range added scoped snipers and hulking mounted machine guns. This page is the long-gun half of the weapons hub. Pistols, SMGs, and grenades live on sidearms.

Nothing here is a damage table. Hoothanes has not published stats. What follows is identification, historical role, and how the gun behaved in the only public hands-on.

Hanyang Type 88

The Hanyang 88 is a Chinese-made, German-derived bolt-action that served for decades. In The Defiant it is the poster rifle: Steam and 4Divinity both name it first. Expect a slow follow-up shot, a long silhouette, and a gun that feels wrong to spray. In campaign fiction it belongs with regulars and guerrillas alike. In gameplay terms it is the default “I am a soldier in 1930s–40s China” tool. If you only learn one reload animation before launch, learn this one.

Use it in open forest, village lanes with a sightline, and any chapter that is not a closet. Swap it out when the Shanghai stealth chapter asks you to stay inside neon interiors.

Liao Type 13

IGN’s demo weapon was a Liao Type 13, a booming bolt-action produced in Manchuria during Japanese occupation. That detail matters: the northeast chapter is not a generic snow level, it is a specific arms ecology. The rifle’s report and kick were part of why the preview felt heavier than a modern run-and-gun. If the shipped game keeps chapter-gated arsenals, this is the gun you should expect when the campaign plants you with the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.

Practical notes from the session: you will miss if you panic-cycle the bolt in a bayonet rush. The melee QTE exists because a bolt-action loses at nose range. Pair it with a pistol from the sidearms page rather than two long guns.

Scoped rifles

The range included scoped sniper rifles. No official model name was attached in the IGN write-up. Treat them as a dedicated long-range option for sabotage overlooks and Great Wall-style ridges mentioned in later trailers. They are a poor primary if the game keeps the two-slot limit and you still have to clear rooms.

Mounted and heavy machine guns

Belt-fed, mounted, “bullet-spitters” were available in the range. These are position weapons: bunkers, windows, maybe a train car. They are not something you hip-fire through a forest. If co-op maps include defend sequences, this is the toy a fireteam will argue over. In solo play, expect scripted emplacements more often than an inventory MG.

Steam’s store text also mentions assault rifles and a wide firearm list. Period “assault rifles” in this theatre are a careful category — do not picture a modern 5.56 platform. When a specific automatic rifle is named, it will get its own subsection here.

How rifles fit the health model

The preview’s blood vignette punishes standing in the open to work a bolt. How to Play is the combat manual; the short version is: fire, slide to cover, bolt, peek. You cannot prone in the shown build, so windowsills and low walls are weaker than you think. A rifleman who crouches behind a cart and still eats bullets should move, not argue with the art.

Loadout recipes

• Northeast combat chapter: Liao Type 13 or Hanyang 88 + C96. Grenades for clumps.
• Rail sabotage: rifle + explosives. Keep the long gun for patrols after the charge is set.
• Co-op: at least one rifleman who actually holds a lane while SMGs move.

For trailer spotting, return to the weapons hub. For chapter order, use the campaign overview. For PC install size if these assets are as heavy as they look, see system requirements.