The launch of the 2022 video game season began, which means that the gaming community has a whole year worth of shiny new games to look forward to. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, released on Jan. 20, kicked off the new year by being one of the first big name games to launch in 2022.
Because fans have been waiting for a new installment in the Rainbow Six franchise for seven years, one can only be ecstatic with the launch of a new game. That being said, fans expected exceptionally new creative concepts that adhere to the same format of previous installments for Rainbow Six Extraction.
Extraction is set in the United States where the Chimera parasite has rapidly broken out into the world and needs to be taken care of promptly. Unlike its counterpart, Rainbow Six Siege, Extraction is not a player vs. player game, but is a player vs. environment game that allows users to take on a map with three other friends. Your operators, characters that players can pick from to play in the game with their own unique loadout, are set in a map brimming with non-playable monsters, called Archæans, that players are tasked with taking out.
With the launch of a new Rainbow Six game, many people, including myself, were eager to see fresh and original operators. Yet, Ubisoft decided to launch only 18 operators, and each one of them were copy and pasted directly from Siege. This decision to reuse operators ultimately gives veteran players an upperhand in the game, which may make it difficult for newer players to find their rhythm.
Extraction includes 12 intricately designed maps filled with archetypes of Archæans that evolve as the players advance through the game. There are 13 enemy archetypes, including the Sower, Tormenter, Lurker, Bloater and the Apex. Players can take on each archetype during the 13 diverse high-stakes missions with their friends. After completing the game, Extraction incorporates post-game content like Maelstrom Protocol, which is a weekly challenge mode. Although currently there isn’t much information about Maelstrom Protocol, it is nice that Ubisoft included supplementary content to keep players coming back if they crave more.
As an IGN article points out, Extraction has been advertised as a spinoff to Siege, so people who have been supporters of the franchise will be content with the new game. However, incoming players expecting a brand-spanking-new game with the same mechanics of Siege will be underwhelmed and perplexed.
The mechanics of the game are recognizable at best, and the game doesn’t build upon anything that makes it stand out from games that have a similar style of game play. If anything, it adds a few more cut scenes and new maps, all with familiar operators. With Extraction only costing $40 for the standard edition, die-hard fans of Siege will find it worth the purchase. But for those who want to get into the franchise of Rainbow Six, it might be beneficial to check out Siege before Extraction in order to become acquainted with the mechanics of the game.