Early reviews for Rainbow Six Extraction dub it an interesting continuation of the pre-established Outbreak game mode that gets stuck in its repetitiveness and dated engine. A day-one launch on Game Pass, Rainbow Six Extraction has found stable footing among reviewers, who praise its strategic team-based elements and satisfying gunplay. Some reviewers seem torn about Extraction’s progression mechanics and MIA system, though, with some panning its inherent repetitiveness. Even more, while the Rainbow Six franchise has always had a learning curve, the difficulty scale in Extraction was a particular target for critique, with reviewers claiming the game has trouble with difficulty tuning, akin to the early days of Back 4 Blood.
Building off of Rainbow Six Siege’s limited-time Outbreak game mode, Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Extraction follows Team Rainbow’s REACT Operators as they attempt to deal with the previously contained Chimera Parasite as it wreaks havoc across the United States. In teams of three, players are dropped into one of many Containment Zones, in which they attempt to complete various objectives – similar to GTFO and Back 4 Blood. With the option to extract prior to completing all available objectives, operators are forced to decide between gambling their lives or retreating for limited rewards. Deemed a well-constructed combination of Siege’s stealth-based strategic gameplay and PvE elements, early reviews for Rainbow Six Extraction are primarily good, if not bogged down by Siege’s dated engine and a frustrating difficulty scale.
According to many reviewers, one of Rainbow Six Extraction’s biggest successes is its gunplay, which takes a lot from the highly competitive Rainbow Six Siege, putting emphasis on headshots and fast reflexes. The game also seems to boast well-designed AI that controls Rainbow Six Extraction’s Symbiote-like parasites, which makes stealth, accuracy, and teamwork a key component to successful extractions. What seems like a particular problem is the MIA system that takes an Operator out of the fight until they’re rescued from the Containment Zone. While arguably an interesting system, the mechanic has been said to foster repetition, in which players are forced to level up alternative Operators through similar incursions. Read on to see what early Rainbow Six Extraction reviewers have to say about the game so far:
Kyle Gratton – 3/5 – Screen Rant
“Extraction is fun, and that's what is most important, but it frequently feels derivative of Siege. That's not always bad, but it amounts to an experience that is deliberately designed to ensnare players into its recursive gameplay. Rainbow Six Extraction's individual parts make for a very solid foundation, but the interesting gameplay mechanics get lost in a repetitive mission structure.”
Keith Stuart – 4/5 – The Guardian
“What it feels like then is a tactical co-op shooter crossed with Call of Duty’s zombie mode crossed with the XCOM turn-based strategy games. You’re not just hunting and shooting the aliens, you’re investigating their biology and using it to create new defences (which is very XCOM), but occasionally a mission will require you to defend a key section for several seconds as the monsters team toward you, which feels very like zombies, or any frenzied horde mode shooter.”
Luke Winkie – 7/10 – IGN
“In Extraction, Ubisoft successfully brings the series to its wildest frontiers yet, but while this high-stakes co-op creates thrills out of the gate, it doesn’t seem to have the same staying power as its competitive cousin.”
Morgan Park – 73/100 – PC Gamer
“It's the anti-Left 4 Dead—a precise, grueling survival game about keeping your head down and never poking the bear. If you do, Extraction's sadistic AI takes over, eager to punish the smallest lapse in judgment.”
Jordan Ramée – 7/10 – GameSpot
“It's here that Extraction presents its most compelling hook, while also highlighting what is potentially its greatest weakness: Your squad's success is entirely dependent on good communication and a fair bit of democratic discussions around whether the squad should push on or extract early, and this debate evolves over the course of the mission.”
Austen Goslin – No Score – Polygon
“Putting the drab tone aside, at least the shooting feels great. All of Extraction’s underlying mechanics come from Rainbow Six Siege, and as far as realistic sim-lite shooting games go, it’s about the best there is.”
While most of the reviews compliment Rainbow Six Extraction’s sci-fi storyline and worldbuilding, praising the game’s progression system, in-game atmosphere, and soundtrack, some key mechanics have created contradicting responses. For some, the MIA system adds an abundance of pressure to the game, putting emphasis on teamwork and well-thought-out strategy in a good way. Others, however, pan the game’s repetitiveness and claim Extraction fails to replicate Siege’s complicated meta-game, warning that it won’t maintain its predecessor’s longevity. Instead, reviewers have compared Rainbow Six Extraction to a generous DLC expansion pack to Siege’s PvP competitive gameplay – especially since Ubisoft priced it at $40.
For most reviewers, it seems Rainbow Six Extraction succeeds at providing a diverse Rainbow Six experience, trading in the hyper-realistic military atmosphere for one riddled with grotesque creatures and an engaging sci-fi world to explore. However, while it may serve out thrills, some reviewers fear its repetitive nature and lack of diverse meta could see it struggling to maintain Siege's long-term success.
Rainbow Six Extraction releases January 20, 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Stadia, and Luna.