It’s been a rocky road for Rainbow Six Extraction, the game that was previously known as Rainbow Six Quarantine (and very briefly known as Rainbow Six Parasite, though that was never officially its name). After getting announced at E3 2019, the game sort of faded into the background, but now, several delays and a name change later, Rainbow Six Extraction has finally been re-revealed. It’s releasing in just a few short months, and here, we’re going to talk about the biggest new details that we’ve learned about it.
SETUP
Rainbow Six Extraction is set three years after a cataclysmic event, when a meteor crash landed in a quaint town in New Mexico and unleashed an alien parasite on the world. The it was initially believed to have been contained, the parasite, known as Chimera, began appearing in various cities across the United States. To respond to this new and terrifying global threat, Eliza “Ash” Cohen, Dr. Elena “Mira” Álvarez, and Jordan “Thermite” Trace came together and formed the Rainbow Exogenous Analysis and Containment Team (or REACT), an organization combined of highly trained operators who must now work together against this alien threat.
ARCHAEANS
Rainbow Six Extraction is a PvE affair, unlike the PvP Rainbow Six Siege, and players will be banding together to fight against the aliens known as the Archaeans. Each match will see three players heading into one of several locations, and as far as the aliens are concerned, the recent gameplay deep dive gave us a look at quite a few of them, with several different kinds having unique strengths and weaknesses that players will have to contend with and exploit using various weapons and gadgets.
OPERATORS
Of course, the operators are the heart and soul of a Rainbow Six game, and Extraction is going to have several familiar faces. At launch, the game is going to have eighteen operators, each offering a unique play style. Of these eighteen, nine have been revealed so far. There’s Finka, the reviving specialist, who comes equipped with the SPEAR .308 assault rifle. Pulse can detect several points of interests, including enemy nests, and starts off with the M1014 shotgun. Doc can fire off the health pistol to help teammates, but also uses the SG-CQB shotgun in combat. Meanwhile, Sledge uses a tactical sledgehammer that can stun parasites and destroy walls to create new paths, and he uses the M590A1 shotgun.
MORE OPERATORS
But what about the other five operators that have been revealed so far? There’s Alibi, who can deploy a decoy from Drones to lure and distract any enemies in the area, and uses the Mx4 Storm SMG. Vigil can disrupt enemies and make himself undetectable, and uses the K1A1 machine gun. Hibana can use remote sticky explosives, and comes equipped with the TYPE-89 assault rifle. Ela can throw sticky proximity mines that stun enemies, with the Scorpion EVO 3 machine gun being her starter weapon. Finally, there’s Lion, who can detect all moving enemies in an area for a medium duration, and uses the V308 assault rifle.
CONTAINMENT ZONES
What about the maps where you’ll be taking on these excursions and challenges? At launch, Rainbow Six Extraction will have twelve maps, or as they’re referred to in the game, Containment Zones. These twelve Containment Zones will be set across four different major United States cities. Each map is touting quite a bit of replayability, not only because they will each feature procedurally generated challenges, but also because the further you proceed in any Containment Zone, the more the challenge will ramp up, which should make for a nice progression of pacing and action.
MISSING IN ACTION
This is definitely one of Rainbow Six Extraction’s more interesting systems. Each Containment Zone will house several sub-zones, and each sub-zone will have its own mission that you’ll need to accomplish before being able to progress further. But after accomplishing each mission, the game will ask you to make interesting risk-reward choices- you can either extract your squad and claim all the rewards you’ve netted up until that point, or you can take the risk of heading deeper and facing progressively tougher challenges for better rewards. If things go badly, your Operator goes Missing In Action, which means they’re temporarily rendered unusable- to get them back, you’ll need to head on a rescue mission.
CROSS-PLAY
Rainbow Six Extraction is launching as a cross-gen game, and in total, it’s going to be available on like half a dozen platforms. Thankfully, Ubisoft has confirmed that the game will support full cross-play across every single one of those platforms. Meanwhile, full cross-saves and cross-progression have also been confirmed. That’s something that we’ve been seeing regularly in Ubisoft games thanks to Ubisoft Connect, so it’s nice to see it continuing with Rainbow Six Extraction as well.
PRE-ORDERS
There’s still some time before Rainbow Six Extraction releases, but pre-order bonuses have been confirmed. Anyone who pre-orders the shooter will receive the Orbital Decay bundle with exclusive Epic items, including the Orion uniform and headgear for Finka and Lion, the universal Vaporized weapon skin, and the Crashlander charm. Finally, Ubisoft has also confirmed that anyone who owns and plays both Rainbow Six Siege and Rainbow Six Extraction will instantly unlock all eighteen of Extraction’s operators in Siege as well.
EDITIONS
As you’d expect from a major AAA release, Rainbow Six Extraction is also going to have a Deluxe Edition to purchase. While a standard purchase of the game will cost the regular $60 across all consoles, the Deluxe Edition will cost $80. In addition to the base game, the Deluxe Edition will include the Obscura Pack, which includes weapon skins and charms; the React Strike Pack, which will include gear, charms, and skins, a 6x Crisis Boost, and a 10% discount on all items in the in-game shop; and the Noxious Touch Pack, which includes uniform and headgear for Alibi.
LAUNCH
So when exactly does Rainbow Six Extraction launch? Well, it’s not that far away. The game will release in just a little over three months, on September 16 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. Hopefully, we’ll be learning more about the game until that time- more specifically, how Ubisoft plans on supporting it following its release. Their post-launch support for Rainbow Six Siege has been spectacular, to say the very least, so here’s hoping they can replicate that with Extraction as well.
