Rainbow Six Extraction Impressions

Developer – Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher – Ubisoft

Platform(s) – PlayStation 5 (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, PC

Release Date – January 20, 2022

Disclaimer: Review Copy was kindly provided for this Review

I’ll start by saying I’m not the biggest Rainbow Six Siege player you’ll find. I’ve delved into the game here and there over the years but I haven’t put as much time into it as I have with other online FPS games such as Halo and Overwatch. Rainbow Six Siege has its audience but it simply wasn’t something that held my attention long enough to play consistently.

Rainbow Six Extraction is a spin-off of Rainbow Six Siege. In Extraction, you’ll work alone or together in a group of 3 to fight aliens known as the Archaeans. You’ll go around each level completing different objectives such as “destroying nests” or “killing an elite enemy”.

I went into Rainbow Six Extraction hoping for a game that keeps my interest long enough to play on a daily basis. Some hours of playtime later, I’ve put time into the game and I can’t say it had delivered on what I had hoped it would.

I know there’s a group of people who are downright sick of Ubisoft games in general but I’ve never fallen into that category. Games like Riders Republic and Immortals Fenyx Rising are standouts as my recent favorites. I even still enjoy the Assassin’s Creed games even though I agree they’re way too long in length and bloat.

I knew that Rainbow Six Extraction wouldn’t stray too far from the Rainbow Six Siege formula. Still, a part of me was yearning for Extraction to differentiate itself just enough that it would feel fresh. I suspect that many will have differing opinions across the board for Rainbow Six Extraction but I can’t help but feel the game is overall uninspired in many of its elements.

The cutscenes are incredibly brief and the storyline is next to nonexistent. Operators don’t feel too different from one another as I’d like. Also, It’s fairly obvious that Ubisoft wants you to experience Extraction in a group. The deeper you get into the game, the difficulty spikes this game has when you’re playing alone is apparent. I’m not saying it’s too incredibly hard or anything but your experience will definitely be a better one when you’re playing with others.

The overall mission and level design doesn’t differ substantially the more you play. Every mission feels the same because you’re doing the same objectives and fighting the same enemies on a consistent basis. You’ll go here and destroy an enemy nest and then you’ll unlock an area somewhere else while fighting enemies along the way and it’s just rinsed and repeated with barely any change-up.

The game does do some things right in its sound design, its graphics, and even its gunplay in some instances but the cons of this game far outweigh the pros. I didn’t have as much fun as I hoped and the game couldn’t shake its overall bland feeling. It shouldn’t have been standalone and I feel it could have been an expansion to Rainbow Six Siege instead of a full-fledged release.

I didn’t want to dislike Rainbow Six Extraction and I was hoping it would surprise me. Ubisoft has tons of IPs that appeal to me, but Extraction feels like a game that had potential but was flawed by a lack of overall direction. I don’t see the game holding a consistent player base after its first week or two. I’m looking forward to other games from Ubisoft such as Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and still look fondly on Rainbow Six Siege. Rainbow Six Extraction just feels uninspired and won’t offer much for new players or old ones at that.