Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft Entertainment
Director(s)	Andrew Witts (Game Designer) Xavier Marquis (Creative Director) Sebastien Labbe (Producer)
Composer(s)	Paul Haslinger Ben Frost
Engine	Anvil-Next/Realblast Destruction
Platform(s)	PC Xbox One Xbox Series X Playstation 4 PlayStation 5
Release date(s)	December 1, 2015

"Are you ready, to Siege the day?"
— Rainbow Six Siege TV Spot

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is the thirteenth installment in the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Franchise developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft Entertainment. it is the latest game to be released since Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and is considered a successor to the now-cancelled Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots.

Inspired by counter-terrorist activities across the world, Siege puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players.

Unlike previous installments, the game features no singleplayer campaign and offers an online mode, though it does allow players to play offline in single-player tutorials called Situations.

It was released worldwide on December 1st, 2015.

Synopsis

Team Rainbow has been deactivated since 2012. In their absence, many new terrorist organizations emerged as a result. One such organization, the White Masks, came into prominence in 2015 by spreading chaos all across the world, sharing no discrimination with who they terrorize. With their ultimate objective unknown, they become a large enough threat that Team Rainbow was reactivated. Under the leadership of Aurelia Arnot, Operators were gathered from all across the world.

After successfully stopping a biochemical attack on Bartlett University, Six performed a eulogy for those who had lost their lives in the attack and many like it but also told of how Team Rainbow was back and that they would be ready to defend the world where needed. In 2018, Aurelia Arnot resigned from the position of Six and was succeeded by Harry Pandey.

Overview

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege offers dozens of different Operators to choose from, each hailing from multiple Counter-Terrorist Units from across the world. Only one Operator may be chosen from each specialty per round and cannot be changed until the round is over. Each Operator features a selection of different weapons, abilities, and equipment. Customization items, such as weapon skins and Operators themselves are obtained through earning and spending Renown.

Matches are conducted in a 5v5 manner, with each player only receiving one life per round. As such, it is extremely important to communicate with teammates and plan assaults when attacking or defense when defending. Attackers start each round with 45 seconds to send a Drone to survey and detect items in the environment, allowing players to find enemies and targets and mark them. Defenders, on the other hand, have the ability to fortify their location and prepare for the inevitable assault by the Attackers. This is done through setting up Reinforced Walls and Barricade around the area as well as deploying unique abilities to help defend the area such as with Bandit's Shock Wires or Mute's Signal Disruptors.

The game features the "three main pillars" - teamwork, tactics, and tension. Each map features multiple locations for both the Attackers and Defenders to choose from, greatly increasing the importance in conducting surveillance. Each map is designed to be close-quartered oriented, and have an emphasis on verticality and destruction.

The destruction system allows players to break structures by planting explosives on them or to make bullet holes on walls by shooting it. The environments of the game feature a layered material system, in which environmental objects of different materials show different reactions to player's attack. Players may gain tactical advantages through environmental destruction, and that the system aims at encouraging players to utilize creativity and strategy. In order to create a realistic gameplay, a bullet penetration system is featured, in which bullets deal less damage when they hit enemies through structures. This creates an ever-changing environment on the map, making it vital for players to be aware of their surroundings and work together.

Operators

The game features a character-based system for multiplayer matches in the form of Operators. There are currently fifty-four available Operators, each hailing from various international Counter Terrorism Units (CTUs). There are two types of Operators: Attackers and Defenders. As their name implies, Attacking and Defending Operators feature unique skills and gadgets that are specialized for their respective role. This also applies to how much health or running speed an Operator may have.

Players may only choose one Operator per round. Additionally, once an Operator is chosen, it will be locked out from being chosen by other players. Aside from the default Recruit Operator which has no special ability of its own, all Operators must be purchased with Renown or R6 Credits. The price of DLC Operators drops every twelve months, with older Operators costing significantly less than newer Operators.

Weapons and Equipment

Each Operator has access to one to three primary weapons, a secondary weapon, and two gadgets. There are currently seventy-seven weapons and thirty-six gadgets. Each weapon is unique to specific Operators. Weapon performance may be customized through the use of weapon attachments. Each weapon has up to four available attachment slots. Weapons may also be personalized by equipping Charms and Weapon Skins.

Gamemodes

The game features three main gamemodes - Situations, Multiplayer, and Terrorist Hunt. The Situations gamemode features ten tutorial missions that allow players to practice gameplay concepts offline against bots and gain a better familiarity with the game. The PVE gamemode Terrorist Hunt returns from past installments of the series, sharing many gamemodes with Multiplayer. It also features the "Classic" gamemode which tasks players with eliminating a set number of terrorists based on difficulty who have fortified themselves on a map.

Multiplayer features three sub-gamemodes: Bomb, Hostage, and Secure Area. Each multiplayer gamemmode is 5v5, with players having four minutes in a round to complete the respective objective. Matches are won once at least three rounds have been won.

Playlists

Matches are played by first choosing a playlist. The playlist selected will determine the overall rules for each match as well as what maps are available. Maps are rotated periodically in each playlist throughout each season.

• Quick Match - Standard playlist. It has no restrictions on matches. This gamemode offers a place for beginner and intermediate skill levels to play in a fair environment.

• Ranked - Competitive Playlist. Available for players once they have reached level 30. While similar to casual multiplayer, Ranked features small gameplay changes for competitive play. For instance, players have the option to choose their spawn rather than it being random and become ranked based on their performance against the enemy team. Players must win at least two more rounds than the opposing team in order to secure a victory, meaning a team needs to win at least four rounds, allowing a maximum total of nine rounds able to be played.

• Newcomer - Beginner playlist. Offers no restrictions like Quick Match except that it is only available to players under level 50

• Unranked - Offers the same rules as Ranked but will not rank players based on their performance.

• Arcade - Offers special limited-time gamemodes that have minor gameplay differences to core gamemodes and are smaller in scale to seasonal events.

• Custom Game - Allows players to create their own matches with custom rulesets. Progression is not obtained in Custom Game matches.

• Seasonal Events - Themed limited-time events that offer modified or new maps and have drastically different gameplay to core gamemodes.

Maps

The game originally featured a total of ten maps at launch, with an additional twelve maps added over the course of Year One, Two, Three, and Four. New maps are based around the theme of their respective expansion and are released for no additional cost.

Customization

The Operation Dust Line expansion introduced cosmetic customization to the game. Cosmetics offer no gameplay advantage and may be purchased through Renown or R6 Credits in the in-game store. Special cosmetics may also be obtained from seasonal promotions or special events. Cosmetics are available in five rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Cosmetics not currently available in the in-game store may only be obtained through Alpha Packs which are awarded for winning multiplayer matches.

Several cosmetic customization options are available in Rainbow Six Siege:

• Weapon Skins
• Charms
• Headgear
• Uniforms
• Elite Sets

Downloadable Content

"We made a commitment to treating our game as a service and investing in it for the long term. Our vision was not a game that you'd play through and 'beat', but something you'd regularly come back to. In order to do that, we'll be actively supporting Rainbow Six Siege with gameplay balancing and tweaks (plus detailed patch notes), events and competitions, and four major content releases with no paywall on gameplay content."
— Ubisoft

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege currently features sixteen expansion packs. Expansions are released every three months at no extra cost to players in the form of seasons. Expansions include additional content and major gameplay updates such as new Operators, maps, limited-time gamemodes, or cosmetic items. The release of expansions also mark the start of new seasons in Ranked.

Expansions

Year One

• Season 1 - Operation Black Ice - Feburary 2, 2016
• Season 2 - Operation Dust Line - May 10, 2016
• Season 3 - Operation Skull Rain - August 2, 2016
• Season 4 - Operation Red Crow - November 17 2016

Year Two

• Season 1 - Operation Velvet Shell - February 7, 2017
• Season 2 - Operation Health - June 7, 2017
• Season 3 - Operation Blood Orchid - September 5, 2017
• Season 4 - Operation White Noise - December 5, 2017

Year Three

• Season 1 - Operation Chimera - March 6, 2018
• Season 2 - Operation Para Bellum - June 7, 2018
• Season 3 - Operation Grim Sky - September 4, 2018
• Season 4 - Operation Wind Bastion - December 4, 2018

Year Four

• Season 1 - Operation Burnt Horizon - March 6, 2019
• Season 2 - Operation Phantom Sight - June 11, 2019
• Season 3 - Operation Ember Rise - September 11, 2019
• Season 4 - Operation Shifting Tides - December 3, 2019

Year Five

• Season 1 - Operation Void Edge - March 20, 2020
• Season 2 - Operation Steel Wave - June 2020
• Season 3 - September 2020
• Season 4 - December 2020

Year Six

• Season 1 - March 2021
• Season 2 - June 2021
• Season 3 - September 2021
• Season 4 - December 2021

Year One Roadmap

Year Two Roadmap (May 2017 Update)

Year Three Roadmap

Year Four Roadmap

Year Five Roadmap

Year Six Roadmap

Limited Time Events

Limited Time Events are short-term events that are accompanied by an exclusive themed gamemode and exclusive themed cosmetics. The can then be obtained through gameplay or special Alpha Packs.

• Outbreak - March 6, 2018 - April 3, 2018
• Mad House - October 25, 2018 - October 31, 2018
• Rainbow is Magic - April 1, 2019 - April 15, 2019
• Showdown - July 2, 2019 - July 16, 2019
• Doktor's Curse - October 23, 2019 - November 6, 2019
• Money Heist - November 20, 2019 - November 25, 2019

Twitch Integration

In Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, integration with Twitch.tv through the use of an official Streamer Package, Twitch Prime content, Twitch Drop events and an official Twitch extension have been present, allowing viewers to interact with a stream actively or earn rewards for watching and participating in Twitch events associated with Siege.

The Streamer Package contains over 100 assets for use by streamers as tools for their streams, such as emotes, transitions, backgrounds, overlays, cheer emotes and animations. The official Twitch extension allows streamers to utilize a panel that appears in the stream to display their in-game stats, to create polls and challenges for viewers to vote on and for the latest Siege related news to be viewed from the stream. Both the package and the extension are free for use.

Development

The development of Siege began in January 2013. Siege was announced as a successor to the canceled Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots. Although focusing heavily on team play and realism, similar to previous titles in the Rainbow Six franchise, Siege introduced a new heavy multiplayer focus and destructible environments. A trailer shown at E3 2014 demonstrated a hostage rescue scenario, and the game initially received positive reactions.

On March 12, 2015, Ubisoft announced that a closed alpha was in development, scheduled to be released exclusively for Microsoft Windows. A closed beta of the game was also announced for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Ubisoft revealed that guaranteed access to the beta would be available for those who pre-ordered the game on any of the platforms. Players could also gain access to the beta by donating money to a charity organization called Extra Life. The beta of the game began on September 24, 2015. On March 31, 2015, a Collector's Edition of the game, titled Art of Siege Edition was announced.

On May 12, 2015, Ubisoft announced that the game would be released during the third quarter of 2015. The release date of the game was later confirmed to be October 13, 2015.

On June 15, 2015, during the Ubisoft press conference at E3, Ubisoft released multiple new trailers for the game. The trailers, which were also uploaded to the Ubisoft YouTube channel, showed some of the environments and gameplay elements found in Rainbow Six Siege. Ubisoft also announced that Terrorist Hunt, a co-operative multiplayer mode introduced in the previous Rainbow Six games, would return in Siege. It was also announced that players who purchased Siege for the Xbox One could download Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and its sequel, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 for free.

On August 18, 2015, Ubisoft announced the game would be delayed to December 1, 2015, to increase the time spent on developing the game. A season pass was announced on November 12, 2015. Players who bought this version of the game could gain early access to operators offered in DLC and receive several weapon skins.

The game featured 11 maps at launch, with more added to the game as free downloadable content. According to Ubisoft, the decision was made as they wanted to extend the game's longevity. The game supports microtransactions for players who want to speed up their progress. However, items bought by players using real-life currency are designed to not affect or change the gameplay.

It was announced at the Rainbow Six Invitational in February of 2018 that there are currently no plans for a direct sequel for the game and that they plan to support the game for the next ten years.

Reception

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege received "mixed or average" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 79/100 on PC, 73/100 on PS4, and 74/100 on Xbox One.

Trivia

• The opposing teams in multiplayer were originally named as "Rogue Spear" and "Raven Shield" respectively, referencing Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. It was changed to Blue and Orange in the release version.
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is partly based on real-life hostage events: The Lufthansa Flight 181 Hijacking (1977), The Iranian Embassy Siege (1980), and the Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002)
• Developers have also stated that they want to have somewhere between 50-100 Operators by the end of the games life cycle.

Gallery

Stills

Full size wallpaper of game cover image.

Artwork