Rainbow Six Extraction on Xbox Series X
Rainbow Six Extraction started life as an incredibly popular limited-time game mode for its PvP predecessor, Rainbow Six Siege. Following the positive reception, Ubisoft opted to turn the mode into its own full-fledged game, giving players a chance to step into the boots of their favorite Operator once more and take on the Archaean alien threat. Much like Siege, Extraction offers up some compelling tactical shooter action that can be booted up for a quick 20-minute blast with some friends, or for hours at a time as you grind out XP to level up your Operators. However, also like Siege, Extraction flails a little when you’re not playing with others.
The premise here is simple — following an unidentified Russian Soyuz capsule crashing in the city of Truth or Consequences, an epidemic was triggered and Rainbow HQ launched Operation Outbreak in an attempt to collect data and contain the disease. The event raised questions regarding the handling of future threats and so the Rainbow Exogenous Analysis and Containment Team (REACT) was formed. Unsurprisingly, the outbreak in Truth of Consequences wasn’t a one-off, with outbreaks in New York, San Francisco and Nome, Alaska all succumbing to similar parasitic infestations.
This is where you step in. Either solo or with two friends, you pick one of the Rainbow HQ Operators and venture to these four locations to learn more about the Archaean alien threat and contain it as best you can. Each of the Rainbow Six Extraction’s four locations has three ‘Hot Zones’ which you’ll drop into, which also each have three Sub-Zones, with the Archaean threat growing stronger as you progress through them.
It’s not all about just shooting aliens, though. Every sub-zone presents an objective that must be completed, including scanning Archaean nests by planting tags in them; destroying aberrant nests; capturing or taking down an elite target; carrying an explosive to a target; activating beacons to triangulate a signal; rescuing a VIP; capturing different zones; defending explosive charges, and finally, entering the Singularity to kill the Protean. If you die, your Operator will need to be rescued to recover the XP they earned in their run (and get them back home safely, of course), which can count as an objective when a rescue mission needs to be launched.
The objectives are varied enough and encourage players to adopt different playstyles. Triangulating the signal, for example, often saw me resorting to just heading from one to the other in order to triangulate the signal within the time limit, running and gunning down any enemies that tried to impede me on my all-important mission. Defending explosive charges, on the other hand, saw me reinforcing walls and using my (and my team’s) Operator abilities to create lethal traps to stop the Archaean threat from destroying the charge before it detonated.
Others, such as having to stealth takedown an elite target really test your stealth skills, as, if the enemy detects you, it’ll hunt you down ruthlessly until you manage to break its line of sight to you. In these instances, you’re best trying to remain undetected for as long as you can, using your environment to your advantage. Spot a small gap in the bottom of a wall? Go prone and squeeze through it to catch an enemy off-guard. Discovered your target patrols a set area? Hide in the darkness, out of sight and then creep up behind and stab it in the neck with your REACT Blade… for science! No, seriously, it is.
While I don’t have any grievances with the objectives currently in Rainbow Six Extraction, having spent over 20 hours with the game, leveling up my various Operators, and completing countless Incursions across all locations and their respective Hot Zones, I did feel like some more objectives were needed to keep things feeling that little bit fresher for longer. After you’ve done each a handful of times, things can start to get a little repetitive, an issue I found became exacerbated by a rather basic progression system and, for the most part, lackluster rewards.
Every objective you complete rewards you with XP. As do kills –with bonus XP earned for stealth kills, or melee attacks and other ‘Tactical’ kills– and completing Studies (think Fortnite challenges but limited to specific locations). Any XP earned will level up the Operator you used for the mission, as well as your overall ‘REACT Progression’ which is a 30-tiered rail where you’ll unlock bits of lore, the different locations, Assignments and Project Maelstrom game modes, locked Operators and REACT Tokens which can be used to unlock new gadgets and throwables for your Operators. That may sound like a lot, but you’ll unlock the majority of this by level 17. After that, it’s a largely thrill-less slog to level 30, with the final tier of REACT Tech unlocked after this and some cosmetic items.
The problem is, the cosmetic items just aren’t all that interesting, with the real cool-looking gear available in the game’s store for REACT Credits, purchased with real-life money. Had some of these been thrown into the various progression tiers, I might have felt more inclined to keep on grinding out XP, but instead I was left feeling fatigued by the time I’d reached level 17 and unlocked the final three Operators to bring the roster up to a full 18.
Given I’ve managed to get through a majority of the progression in about 20 hours, I do question how much mileage veteran and long-term players will get from the current progression system. Ubisoft hasn’t mentioned anything about new progression rails coming post-launch, either.
In terms of gameplay, Extraction does feel incredibly similar to Siege. There’s no real secret here that the two share the same engine and basically the same gameplay as far as tactical shooters go. It all remains incredibly satisfying, too. Pulling off synchronized shots with your teammates, or combining Operator abilities to perfect a Hot Zone and its objective never gets old, nor does experimenting with Operators, as the game forces you to do through its health recovery system.
After each mission, if an Operator has taken damage, they’ll be injured and you’ll need to earn XP from future Incursions to earn HP to heal them up. You can choose to use an Operator who’s not at full health, but you’ll start the Incursion at a disadvantage and more often than not, you’re gonna have a bad time when attempting this. In doing so, Rainbow Six Extraction encourages you to try new Operators, which in turn, led me to find new favorites.
Each Operator feels unique, not just because of their abilities, but because of the weapons and tech they have access to, as well as their Speed and Armor stats which drastically affect how quickly the character moves and how much damage they’ll take from enemy attacks. Level up an Operator and you’ll unlock new weapons, attachments, cosmetics, and more, making them more capable of taking on Incursions on tougher Threat Levels, too.
The core change between Siege and Extraction here comes in the fact you’re dealing with AI enemies, rather than humans, and this is where I underestimated Extraction. The AI is actually pretty darn intelligent, and when paired with the excellent level design, each location I was dropped into felt like an ever-changing Easter Egg full of surprises.
The manner in which nests are tucked away, for example, vomiting out more Archaeans seemingly every minute, or the way Grunts and Spikers will crawl through tight spaces or headbutt their way through makeshift wooden walls kept me on my toes. Each enemy has its own unique traits and weak points, constantly forcing you to change your weapon, ability, equipment, or playing style in order to most efficiently dispatch the creature before they howl and bring all their creepy mates with them.