Ubisoft added a new operator and Rainbow Six Siege’s first map since 2019 to commence the game’s seventh year of seasonal updates. Despite the launch of Rainbow Six Siege’s spin-off game, Rainbow Six Extraction earlier this year, Ubisoft still appears committed to the longevity of its competitive PvP FPS. Part of that commitment includes renovating the core experience with regular seasonal updates, including new operators, game modes, and improvements to Siege’s current framework.
The developers expressed their reluctance to pursue a sequel to Rainbow Six Siege last year, explaining to fans that they would rather continue to improve the original before building Rainbow Six Siege 2 as a completely new game in a different environment. The developers would rather spend resources to continue to evolve Rainbow Six Siege, especially after it reached a massive 70 million player count milestone. Rainbow Six Siege’s North Star operation, which launched on June 14 of last year, was the game’s twenty-first expansion and introduced a new defender, Thunderbird, as well as nerfs and gameplay changes that considerably altered the meta.
On YouTube (via PCGamesN), Ubisoft North America dropped the trailer for the Year 7 Season 1 Demon Veil expansion, which adds a new Operator and the first new map since 2019 to Rainbow Six Siege. The Operator is Azami, a Japanese defender that can repair breached surfaces and can fulfill either a roamer or anchor role depending on her loadout. Her unique gadget, the Kiba Barrier, transforms from a launchable kunai into a bulletproof disc. The gadget’s radius is wide enough for a player, but its lengthy cooldown prevents Azami from spamming the bomb site. While bullets do no damage, the barrier can be destroyed with explosives and melee strikes. Azami two loadouts include the 9X19SVN SMG, an aggressive weapon for Rainbow Six Siege players looking to attack, as well as her ACS12 slug shotgun, which is better for anchoring the site. She also has a D-50 as her secondary, as well as either barbed wire or impact grenades for her support gadget.
Beyond Rainbow Six Siege’s newest Operator, Ubisoft added the first new map in over three years. The map, named Emerald Plains, is an Irish castle estate with a rustic appeal. With few destructible objects as cover, several playable floors, and a rooftop overlooking a lounge area, Ubisoft has crafted the new map with intentions to throw it into the ranked rotation. The new update also permanently added the team deathmatch mode to Rainbow Six Siege with an improved spawn system. There were also a few reworks to the game’s operators and quality of life changes similar to Rainbow Six Siege’s North Star update.
With over seven years of consistent updates, Ubisoft has maintained Rainbow Six Siege’s massive popularity. The game’s new map, Emerald Plains, will bring a slew of new strategies to the game’s meta, especially if Ubisoft intends to introduce it into the competitive map rotation. Currently, only 14 of the game’s 20 maps are in the ranked map pool, and a fifteenth will require Siege players to learn the ins and outs of the Irish castle. With multiple stories, a roof, and several vantage points, Emerald Plains will likely require advanced strategies to perfect, much like most of Siege’s ranked maps. As this is the game’s newest map since Siege’s Outback map from Operation Burnt Horizon, players will likely want to jump in and explore the sizeable estate.
Source: Ubisoft North America/YouTube (Via PCGamesN)