Rainbow Six Extraction
by Quinn Levandoski
reviewed on PC
In the near future, a deadly malady bursts out of nowhere to bring New York and other major cities to their knees. Dealing with the fallout of this biological desolation, an elite group of military operators must navigate overrun locals to gather information and protect important persons. Nope, I'm not describing The Division; I'm talking about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction.
There was once a time when Tom Clancy's name was synonymous with somewhat plausible military fiction novels, and for a while, that reputation carried over to video games like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon (I'm not going to write Tom Clancy's before every single title in this review). The Tom Clancy franchises have also dabbled in futurism for quite some time, but Rainbow Six Extraction marks the most significant thematic departure seen thus far. The opening cutscene depicts giant black tendrils destroying the Statue of Liberty, and it quickly becomes apparent that a mysterious alien parasite is overtaking most of the world. It's up to the player to control various operatives and combat hives of hideous monsters. It's a horror game through and through, and I applaud the developers for going all-in on something so different (even if I like the idea of Extraction more than I actually like the game).
While the whole alien horror thing may catch some Tom Clancy fans off guard, those that have spent time with 2015's Rainbow Six Siege will likely be quite familiar with what's going on here. The game ran its Outbreak event in 2018 that saw the Siege operators travel to New Mexico to investigate an extra-terrestrial threat wreaking havoc on a small town. Extraction builds on this premise and also keeps much of its Siege roots intact. Aliens aside, the biggest difference between this game and Siege is that Extraction is strictly a PvE experience. Despite this change, the game actually uses a selection of Operators taken directly from Siege with occasional minor tweaks. The character models and weapons appear to be the same, and Operator abilities are largely the same except for minor tweaks to how particular tech functions.
Team Work Makes the Dream Work
Extraction is centred on dropping teams of players (or individuals, but the game is clearly meant to be played with friends and microphones) into three-tiered missions with each section tasking operatives with accomplishing a specific, randomized objective. These tasks range from tagging Archaean hives to extracting people to safety, but almost all of them ask something different than pure combat. Teams will certainly have to take down enemies, but it’s perfectly possible (and often preferable) to use recon tools and stealth to avoid unnecessary fights. This is a good thing, because I didn’t find the actual fighting to be particularly memorable. Extraction is at it’s best when teammates can coordinate to, say, blast holes through multiple walls to open up new pathways and avoid unwanted attention.
One unique twist is that teams don’t actually have to make it through all three legs of a given mission. After each subsequent area/objective is complete, players have the choice of either entering an airlock and continuing on or heading to an extraction point to end the mission and keep their XP. Even more interesting is that downed Operators need to be evacuated or they’re actually removed from the roster of characters; they're greyed out and unavailable to play until the player does another mission to get them back. It’s a pretty cool system that adds some tension and consequence to missions beyond XP. When playing with a group, this can occasionally lead to some good debate on what to do based on everyone’s health and resources. In practice, though, I found that most groups ended up just pushing on regardless of the situation.
Keeping Things Fresh
While it’s tempting to play the same Operator to unlock all of their tech and perks (not to mention getting comfortable with their role in a group), I recommend that players try to diversity as much as possible to avoid burnout. While Extraction is fairly novel in its mix of tactical gameplay and absurd setting, things can get repetitive. The three objective segments in each mission do shuffle, but since they’re handled one at a time it’s hard to avoid a sense of "been here, done that" after a few hours. This is a live service game, and more missions and events will be coming out soon, so time will tell if Extraction has the legs to stay engaging after a few weeks or months. To be completely honest I’m fairly burnt out on so many games asking players to "buy in" to an ecosystem of timed events and XP grinds, but that’s personal preference and not an objective criticism of the game.
Rainbow Six Extraction is a bold game for the Tom Clancy brand that jumps head-first into an over-the-top, absurd mix of horror, sci-fi, and military realism. It does at times feel more like a Siege DLC than a stand-alone game, but it’s a solid option for players not interested or intimidated by Siege's intense PvP community. There are several interesting design decisions meant to encourage teamwork and decision making in each missions, though I’m not sure if there will be enough variety without PvP to keep players hooked long-term.
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7.3
fun score
Pros
It is nice to see the brand trying something new, there are some interesting group decisions, environmental destruction makes for fun tactical options
Cons
Missions can get repetitive, the experience is significantly worse without friends willing to use their microphones, and combat-heavy objectives aren't as good as others.