Souls-like and Rogue-lite Influences Give Rainbow Six Extraction a New Flavor

The Rainbow Six series has a storied history in the gaming industry. With nearly 25 years having passed since the original dropped back in 1998, the franchise has understandably had to undergo some growing pains along the way. However, hot off a long, highly successful run with Siege, Rainbow Six Extraction arrives as the first completely new Rainbow Six game in 6 years.

So with all of that pressure coming to bear, what exciting new features does Rainbow Six Extraction offer to long-standing Siege fans and newcomers alike? Well, as it stands, the influences on this squad-based FPS seem to provide some of the most significant changes to the established formula that Rainbow Six fans have come to know.

Souls-likes and rogue-lites are among the freshest and most exciting genres in the gaming market today, so the choice to draw from them was probably an easy one for Ubisoft Montreal. However, it’s how these genre influences are implemented that makes Extraction so fun and addictive to play.

Sending its operators into cities that have been ravaged by an insidious alien parasite, Rainbow Six Extraction gives you 15 minutes to complete your objective before moving on to the next of three areas. Much like a rogue-lite, the risk versus reward ratio skews so that you’re rewarded for taking more considerable risks and gambling with the life of your operator as well as your teammates.

Each area contains more challenging enemies and more complex challenges. Still, players who make it through the whole gamut will come away with more experience for their operators, more overall game progress, and a chance at unlocking new equipment and weapons. For those who aren’t so lucky, though, all is not lost.

As is the case with many Souls-likes, Rainbow Six Extraction allows players the chance to go back and regain their lost experience with each new incursion. In fact, your small stable of operators will remain lost for an extended period of time if you don’t rescue them, restricting your ability to perform operations and perhaps even keeping you from utilizing the tactical advantages of your most effective operators.

While Extraction is plenty of fun on its own, it’s the implementation of these new elements that keep the game so thrillingly addictive. The drive to get your operators back and regain your experience will have you hitting replay within seconds of dying, and when you lose a second or third operator, that’s when things start to get really intense. Now you’ve got a grudge to settle with that alien scum, and you won’t stop until you bring your best and brightest back to base.

Whether Rainbow Six Extraction will grow to be the tactical online FPS juggernaut that its forebearer was remains to be seen, but with a solid foundation and its huge Siege fanbase likely to become early adopters, the latest game in the Rainbow Six franchise is off to an exciting and enticing start.