Rainbow Six Siege x Comments are in progress

I play a lot of competitive shooters – I mean a lot of Competitor scorer. Is it an unfortunate son? Gray area warflip the card fragpunkor crush and grab finalsthis is my default “Game Night with Friends” type because I went to school many years ago. Even after thousands of hours of playback, Call of Destiny, Infinity and Valorant are scattered in the action of the Rainbow Six series, standing out and feeling good. Now that Rainbow Six Siege will celebrate a massive new update in the form of Rainbow Six Siege X, it seems like a great time to reevaluate how this popular tactical shooter can be among peers after a decade of tweaks, updates and add-ons.

It's great that the fundamentals of the siege are as strong as ever. The bomb is the new mode of headlines: both teams take turns to attack and defend, trying to strengthen the bomb, or fight to weaken it. The setup has been around for decades (and a core pattern like Counter-Trike), but Siege's unique intrinsic and destructive mechanisms make its version stand out, and both sides of the coin are very interesting. I like to throw away a bunch of temporary walls, set up razors or other boobie traps, and prepare to ambush attackers. And, it's equally satisfying, knowing that another team has built similar defenses and blows the walls with some Thermites to bypass all the defenses and throw them to the enemy. Fast kill time rewards the location of the Twitch skill, and I thank the relatively slow AIM-DOWN-SITES animation for forcing you to decide how to participate before fighting. This is a Sagittarius for a thoughtful person.

The cast of playable characters is an impressive 75 operators. Everyone has a different load and a slightly unique play style, only half of it is reserved for attackers when defending, while the other one is playable. Whether you want to hit the wall like a sled with a big hammer or hit the wall at high speed for Oryx, they do a great job. Surprisingly, the Siege X update didn't get Rauora a few months ago, but didn't add any new people to the roster.

In addition to the bomb, the Siege X has added a new 6V6 mode called Dual Front, but so far I haven't grown on me. Here, both teams have one area to attack and another one to defend at the same time. Although only 37 of only 75 operators are qualified choices, there is no limit to which type of characters you can use. The single available map is huge, combining fast siege time, which means you tend to spend a small match duration in actual action. Unlike in a bomb, you can rebirth after death, which seems to make it a good mode for beginner new players, but so far I feel like it does take away the pulse volume that makes it a siege.

Siege X is built around a limited free play model. I say limited because, while you can definitely play Siege X for free, it locks in some key modes like rankings and Siege Cups, followed by a paywall. If you want to access these fees, it will cost about $20. This seems like a weird option for something that already has a strong store and battle pass system, especially when other popular games (like Marvel competitors) don't have any such breakdown between paid and unpaid players. The community has long been a bit tired of the slow and durable operators of progress, driving people toward paying battle passes, but the reforms to siege XI still need to spend more time freeing things to make people feel how good or worse.

One of the signs of siege has always been the way you can walk through walls, leak obstacles, or hit attacks from the ceiling, but it feels as if you can use this restarted update. For all the walls you can pass through, there are still surprisingly invincible obstacles like thick walls, some window coverings, and the flexibility of any furniture that softens its destructive system, rather than more modern games. This is especially true on rooftop maps, which limits the option of vertical violations to a small number of scheduled access points. Since Siege first paved the way, other games will also figure out that these limitations do stand out. I'm not saying that siege requires you to literally fall down the house, but I can't throw the bomb under the bomb like the bank in the final and then throw it under the floor, which does stick out.

Thanks to its excellent sound design, a decent audio system, especially the headphones have been the advantage of siege, and Siege X has significantly improved it. The explosions and gunfire sounded as always, but it was the ability to find the direction of the general sound and really impressed me. Finding enemies to try to attract your enemies has been convenient, but the revised soundscape can now eat more details. The most important difference I hear is in the footsteps above and below you – once you have learned to identify the difference between the Boomy noise above and the more hollowed-out sound below, you can start closing your eyes and identifying exactly where the threat comes from, a cool gameplay-based bonus that can focus your attention on the details.

I really like the escalation of some other extreme situations. Rappelling is one of the most interesting offensive choices to be siege X: Tactical Spider-Man upside down, and it's very satisfying to have the enemy watch the stairs and doors fall, although the practical use in combat has been somewhat limited until now. That's because if the enemy sees you, the rope tends to leave you with a sitting duck or pinata. However, the new option of sprinting along the wall or jumping around the corner means being discovered is not instant death, so I found myself using it more. Most importantly, new destructible objects (such as gas pipes and fire extinguishers) can be shot to form flames or smoke. This is rare in combat, but it does have a really cool movie style with just a little bit of area control that I really appreciate.

To sum up, I was ready to make a final judgment on its new iteration when I returned to the siege early enough. I can certainly say that Siege X is fun and mastering each operator will be enough to keep me busy for a long time. I'm a big fan of most new additions, such as improved sound design, more mobile partnering and destructive elements, although at this point I don't know if the double-faced forward will be the destination mode – I need to give it more time to gel before writing it out. Overall, I think I'm eager to continue playing and evaluating this solid step, so stay tuned for the full review next week.