Rainbow Six Siege X: Free-to-Play, 10 More Years, Huge Revamp!

Hard to believe, but it’s been 10 years since Rainbow Six Siege was released! Over that decade, we’ve seen new operators, maps, changes in gameplay dynamics, and numerous battle passes. Yet, here we are, still going strong with one of Ubisoft’s successful live service games. To our delight, the upcoming Rainbow Six Siege X is not the end but rather a celebratory makeover that kicks off another 10 years of support for this cherished shooter game.

If you’ve been a regular visitor to Siege’s gaming areas over the past decade, you’d recognize that it stands out in the fiercely competitive realm of live service games. This tactical shooter has managed to create its own unique space, offering intense, methodical first-person combat where one bullet can significantly alter the course of a fight.

Currently, Siege boasts approximately 80 distinctive characters to pick from, spread across 26 maps and several competitive modes. This raises an interesting question: what’s next for this game? Enter Rainbow Six Siege X, a future version designed to refine the core aspects of the game, offering tactical streamlining, technical enhancements, and strategic expansion in select areas.

To kick things off, we’re making Rainbow Six Siege available for free! Newcomers can test out the game in its casual modes and gain access to as many as 26 operators. If you want the full experience, including the ranked competitive modes, you can opt for the paid version which unlocks the entire roster. For those who purchased the game prior to a certain date, you’ll retain all your access privileges and even receive special rewards linked to the years you’ve played Siege!

Players with free or premium membership will all get to play Siege X’s latest permanent game type called Dual Front. In this 6-versus-6 mode, players take turns attacking and defending three enemy positions and three of their own. This is unique in Siege as it’s the first time that both attacker and defender characters can cooperate together, and they’ll be doing so on the biggest map the game has ever featured. It bears some resemblance to Breakthrough from Battlefield, where players must seize and hold the initial position, then advance to subsequent points until finally capturing the final objective.

This unique version of Siege offers a fresh twist, featuring a symmetrical map, unlimited team respawns, operator swaps, and a broader gameplay scope. We gave it a quick spin (our PC seemed to malfunction, not the game itself), but the scale felt a bit off for us. Despite this initial impression, we’re open-minded about this new mode, as we didn’t get enough playtime to fully immerse ourselves in its rhythm.

To maintain an engaging experience even after the initial release, Dual Front offers a restricted selection of characters that are periodically swapped out every month. This ensures that the possible combinations remain varied and exciting.

If you’re not intrigued by Dual Front, perhaps the fresh graphical overhaul will catch your attention instead! Siege X has made significant changes to its lighting system, enhanced material quality and resolution, refined major surfaces, and boosted shadow effects. Five maps (Clubhouse, Chalet, Bank, Kafe, and Border) are set to debut with Siege X, with three more modernized maps entering the game with each new season.

frankly speaking, the direct comparisons won’t leave you amazed; this update is primarily beneficial for frequent users. Casual players might not spot any changes. However, although it’s quite subtle, it significantly enhances the realism of each map, and you may find the difference more apparent when you actually play them.

Integrating a sense of realism into the gameplay comes with the introduction of first-person shadows in Siege X. This feature allows players to determine if they are exposing their location by casting a shadow as they navigate corners, among other areas. It’s an added tactical aspect that enhances the experience in Rainbow Six Siege.

Enhancements to the visual aspect include:

1. A unique weapon inspect animation for every single weapon within the game.
2. A revamped menu design, featuring a quicker and more reactive user interface.
3. Upgrades to the navigation of the battle pass system for improved functionality.

We appreciated the addition of an E-Sports section, allowing users to find out about upcoming Siege Invitational events as well as viewing them live. Ubisoft also intends to revitalize the in-game shop at a later time.

In addition to focusing on visuals, Ubisoft is also working to enhance the gameplay experience in Siege X by allowing players to sprint while rappelling and round corners, a feature many have asked for. Additionally, various destructible items like fire-spewing gas pipes, concussive smoke emitting fire extinguishers, and metal detectors will be scattered across maps, providing more interactive gameplay elements.

In addition to that, we’re also enhancing our sound system, which we’ve dubbed Audio 2.0. While Siege already had decent audio quality, demonstrations have shown significant advancements. The new system allows for better spatial awareness of sounds, enabling listeners to discern precisely where the noise is originating from. Moreover, it provides a more authentic echo effect based on the specific barriers in the environment.

Absolutely, for beginners or those returning after a break, this whole thing might seem overwhelming. However, with an improved tutorial system in place, players can gradually unveil additional game modes and operators during their first 20 levels. This is intended to help newcomers grasp the game as they progress, while introducing them to competitive modes at a steady pace.

In higher intensity games, certain players may become a bit irritable or aggressive. To address this issue, Ubisoft is dedicating effort behind the scenes to enhance their anti-cheat and anti-toxicity measures. They aim to foster a more positive environment by rewarding good behavior and penalizing bad actions as time goes on throughout the year.

In an era where numerous live-service games struggle, such as Ubisoft’s own XDefiant, it’s refreshing to witness a game like Siege still prospering after all this time, and even expanding its seasonal content at an increased rate. Unlike some games viewed as desperate attempts to attract players, Siege X isn’t seen as a last resort for Ubisoft; instead, they view X as the start of another 10 years of exciting content ahead.

While Siege X may not be the radical transformation some expected, Ubisoft’s approach to enhance existing features instead of drastically altering them seems shrewd to us. It offers fresh reasons to engage, updates to the fundamental gameplay, and hints at an abundance of upcoming content. It might not attract hordes of newcomers, but as former players, we’re definitely intrigued to re-experience this strategic gameplay.

2025-03-13 22:07

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