It’s been a few days since Rainbow Six Extraction dropped across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms, and the response seems to have been warm. Or, warmer than the reception Ubisoft’s games have been getting lately, at any rate. The revival of the Left 4 Dead style, proc-gen PvE shooter rolls on, with more titles to come later this year and into 2023.
But Ubisoft has gotten in relatively early. Extraction represents a tactical take on the genre, marrying the precise teamwork of Rainbow Six Siege with a classic contagion outbreak scenario. Indeed, fans may recognise Extraction as an expanded version of Siege‘s popular Outbreak LTE. In Extraction, players must move in squads of three to complete objectives in a three-zone mission structure. Each zone contains a proc-gen level with a randomised objective and a 15-minute timer. Between each zone is an airlock, similar to the safe rooms of Left 4 Dead. They are a safe, impenetrable space for the player to heal up, reload, and take a breath before moving on. Entering the airlock and moving to the next zone resets your 15-minute timer.
Depending on how each step of the engagement goes, there are extraction stations in each zone. You don’t have to complete all three zones if the mission is going poorly. Rather, it is better to cut your losses and extract your Operatives than lose them to the enemy. Lost operatives are not killed but are considered Missing In Action, and therefore unplayable until rescued. The next time you run that level, one of your objectives will be to rescue and extract your fallen comrade.
The game is currently receiving mostly positive reviews from critics. The critical score currently sits at 74 across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC versions of the game. Two-thirds of the critical reviews are well-and-truly positive, while the remaining third express mixed feelings, drawing the average downward. Neither the PS5 nor Xbox Series X version has a single negative critical review.
The player reviews tell a similar story, though the score is lower. At a Metacritic score of 55, there are more positive reviews overall, but negative reviews run a close second. Mixed reviews run a distant third across all platforms.
None of that may matter to Ubisoft’s numbers, of course. The game made a splash when it was announced it would debut on Xbox Game Pass for both Xbox and PC platforms on launch day. Being able to hop in and try the game out for the price of a Game Pass sub will have doubtless done wonders for the player count. Kotaku US’ Zack Zweizen this week opined that Extraction should be the next Game Pass title players consider grabbing.
Did you get to jump into Rainbow Six Extraction over the weekend? How did you find it? Let us know in the comments below.
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