Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3 Operation Twin Shells has begun and Ubisoft has introduced a batch o?f new Streamer Charms for you to acquire.

While Skopós is the highlight of Year 9 Season 3, several Operator and weapon buffs and nerfs have also made their way to shake up the game's meta. Amidst all of the action, why not take some time to enjoy all the new and returning charms of some of your favorite streamers from the Rainbow Six Siege community?

New Streamer Charms in Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3

In Y9S3, three new?? Streamer Charms have been introduced:

• Priest
• nonomiyamika
• alyttleton

All returning Streamer Charms

Here is a list of all the returning Streamer Charms in Siege this season:

• Alfredoplays
• AnneMunition
• Beaulo
• Bighead
• BikiniBodhi
• Bnans
• Braction
• Drid
• FastAnne
• Gabbo
• Heideltraut
• Interro
• JerichoFive
• JessGOAT
• Jynxzi
• Just9n
• KingGeorge
• KittyR6
• LagonisR6
• Lil_Lexi
• Lt Custard
• Lusorkoeffizient
• MacieJay
• Mag6
• M3ry
• Matimi0
• MrBboy45
• Narcoleptic Nugget
• Nesk
• PaladinAmber
• Patife
• Pengu
• RazaH
• REMGURI / 렘쨩
• Rubsarb
• SexyCake
• Sha77e
• Shorty
• shroud
• SilphTV
• Tatted
• Tranth
• Varsity
• WhiteShark67
• yo_boy_roy
• z1ronic
• Zander
• ziGueira
• GarfieldIsDoc
• Supr
• RyyFyy
• FoxA
• Nerdengenheiro
• Rainbow6itacom
• Minimichegga
• JostRekt
• JustRyuk
• Paluhh
• Poxonlox
• TheLionerYT
• itsSpoit
• Retalha
• FooYa
• IceCold
• Athieno
• Marciu
• Rembeey
• rasco100
• Vetelcito01
• OneShooter
• Scythe
• Jenz
• Frankystrings
• Eternal_regina
• Pxppy
• Skyte
• Ru_rumiiiin
• Anifex

How to get Streamer Charms in Rainbow Six Siege

The only?? way to get your hands on these Streamer Charms is by subscribing to their Twitch channel. Your Ubisoft account must be linked to Twitch for automatic transfer of the charms.

Ubisoft releases new charms every season and brings some back?? too from previous iterations.

The post All Streamer Charms in Rain??bow?? Six Siege Y9S3 Operation Twin Shells appeared first on Destructoid.

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Twin Shells has finally been released and we have a new Defender joining the roste??r,? Skopós.

Skopós is the 37th Defender, and another 2-Speed 2-Health Operator, joining Rainbow Six Siege in Yea??r 9 Season 3. She will be rocking t??wo Pantheon Shells, basically robots acting as Operators, in a single round. Although you can control only one at a time, the inactive Shell will still provide a lot of value to a round.

All Skopós weapons and gadgets

Skopós uses the new PCX-33 as?? the only primary weapon. It's a .??308 caliber Assault Rifle with a 745 RPM fire rate and comes with a 3.30-second reload speed.

For the secondary firearm, you get to use the P229 pistol. Other Operators such as Hibana, Echo, Goyo, and Grim also have?? this weapon choice in their loadouts.

Coming to the gadgets, you get to choose between Impact Grenades or Proximity Alarms.

Skopós abilities explained

Skopós controls a pair of V10 Pantheon Shel??ls and justifies the intel or support role in a match. The active Pantheon Shell acts as an Operator while the other acts as an Observation Tool, protected by a reinforced s??hield.

While playing as Skopós, you can operate only one Shell at a time but you can always?? switch between them at will. If an enemy kills one shell, you lose connection to both shells. That's how you eliminate Skopós while playing as an Attacker.

How to unlock Skopós in Rainbow Six Siege

To unlock Skopós immediately in Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 3, you have to purchase ?the Premium Battle Pass which costs 1,200?? Credits.

Otherwise, you have to wait 14 days (from September 10) for the early access perio?d to get over and spend 25,000 Renown t??o unlock her.

The post All Skopós abilities and weapons in Rainbow Six?? Siege & h?ow to unlock appeared first on Destructoid.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 3 is upon us, and will add a brand-new Operator to the roster, Skopós. Before its official release, you can try this n??ew Defender on the Test Servers, and at the time of writing, some players have already figured out a counter for her.

Skopós is the first character in the game who can control two Shells (charac??ters) in a single round, albeit one at a time. When one? is active, the other one gets protected by a large deployable shield and then acts like a bulletproof camera or drone.

The method for countering Skopós is simple, yet effective, and all you need is a Claymore. You can see this in action below, in a clip from Rainbow Six Siege pro Dream's stream.

The clip is from a match on Oregon, where Dream kept one of the V10 Pantheon Shells in the southwest corner of the Small Tower Office. The opponent IQ placed a Claymore right in front of the deployable shield, and as soon as Dream switched to that Shell, the shield was removed, triggering the Claymore, and resulting in an inst??ant kill.

If you check the clip above, the space between the Claymore and the shield was negligible. Let's take an example �you're playing as Skopós and have kept one Shell for flank watch but it's not active as you're busy defending a site, an Attacker w??ith Claymores could sneakily trap you into this counter. So, it results in a guaranteed kill most of the tim??e, as Skopós won't have any control during the shield removal animation.

Claymore's Detection System is getting a buff in Year 9 Season 3, where the delay between activation ??and explosion will be removed. So, that makes this counter even better, and we might get to see it happen frequently when Operation Twin Shells drops on September 10, 2024.

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Rainbow Six Siege Operation Twin Shells will arrive in September 2024 to set Year 9 Season 3 in m??otion, with a plethora of Operator and weapon changes.

Year 9 Season 3 of Rainbow Six Siege has a? lot to offer. Some of the highlights include a new Greek Operat??or Skopós, Siege Cup Beta, anti-cheat improvements, Drone Boost feature, and a lot more.

So, if you are wondering what the release date of the new season is alo?ng with the time, here's everything you need to know.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 3 release date and time

Rainbow Six Siege Operation Twin Shells will be released on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. Here ??a?re the release times according to different time zones:

• 6 a.m. PT / 9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. BST

At the time of writing, the test servers are up. So, if you want to try th??e new features before its official release, simply download the test build from the Ubisoft client.

What's new in Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3?

Skopós is the highlight of Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 3. She's the new Defender in the game who can control two shells named as Talos and Colossus, in a?? single round. Technically, you'll be playing as two Operato?rs where she will control her pair of V10 Pantheon Shells, with only one being operable at a time.

She also gets a new exclusive Assault Rifle, PCX-33. Se??veral Operators such as Nøkk will be significantly buffed while Solis and Dokkaebi will be nerfed.

Siege Cup Beta is another new thing for the Rainbow Six Siege PC community. It will work similarly to how Premier mode works in Valorant, where teams of five compete against the best of the best from their regions.?? The beta will be limited to players from the EU and NA regions only.

Apart from that,? we will also get the Versus AI 2.0 playlist �allowing you to finally defend against AI Attackers such as Ash, Nomad, Sledge, Thatcher, and Thermite.

The post Rainbow Six Siege Y??9S3 Operation Twin Shells release date: What you need to know appeared first on Destructoid.

Operation Twin Shells, Rainbow Six Siege's Year 9 Season 3, will pack a lot of punch with a new Defender and mul??tiple buffs and nerfs for fan-favorite Operators, gadgets, and weapons.

Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3 will be released in Sep?tember 2024. Considering all the changes it will bring along, we'll witness another shift in the ongoing meta. ?The introduction of Skopós will change how Attackers approach the bomb sites, and the Siege Cup Beta will take the competition to a level further.

In Operation Twin Shells, Nokk gets a great buff wh?ile Dokkaebi and Solis are nerfed.?? Ash mains will be sad, as the R4-C is getting a slight nerf as well. Claymore, on the other hand, gets an unexpected buff. Let's now take a look at all the Operator and weapon changes.

All Operator balancing in Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3

Dokkaebi

• Logic Bomb

  • Initial charges: 0
  • Refill time: 45 seconds
  • Max. resources: 2

Nokk

• Hel Presence Reduction

  • The ability does not deplete automatically upon activation. Only the time glitching consumes resources.
  • Max. resources: 10 seconds
  • Time for complete refill: 120 seconds
  • Min. resources to activate: 20%

Solis

• Spec-IO Electro-Sensor

  • Base SPEC-IO Changes

    • Only the center of the Screen will detect enemy gadgets.
    • Gadgets will not show their identity until on Overclock Mode.
    • Minimum required energy to use the SPEC-IO reduced to 50% (was 100%)

  • Scan Mechanic redesigned into Overclock Mode.
  • Overclock Mode will identify every gadget in the center of the screen.
  • Overclock Mode lasts for 10s.
  • Overclock Mode has 1 charge ability at the start of the round.

    • A charge is added every 25s.
    • Max Charges per match are 3.

  • During Overclock Mode the SPEC-IO will emit a Warning Signal.

    • Only Observation Tools withing Solis detection range (12m) will see it.

All weapon balancing in R6 Y9S3

FMG-9

• Recoil on PC

  • Reduced first kick.
  • Reduced horizontal recoil.
  • The recoil will remain stable for longer during a sustained fire burst.

• Recoil on consoles

  • Reduced lateral recoil.

R4-C

• Base Stats

  • Magazine: Reduced to 25 bullets (from 30).
  • Ammo: Kept with 6 magazines. Number of bullets reduced to 151 (from 181).

All gadget balancing in Rainbow Six Siege Y9S3

Claymore

• Detection System

  • Removed delay between activation and explosion (from 0.2 seconds).

This change has affected the majority of Attackers suc??h as Ace, Ash, Blackbeard, Brava, Capitão, Flores, Glaz, Grim, IQ, Jackal, Kali, Lion, Maverick, Osa, Sens, Striker, Thatcher, Twitch, Zero, and Zofia.

Proximity Alarm

• Scoring

  • Removed the Scoring Award triggered when an enemy activates a Proximity Alarm.

This change has affected multiple Defenders such as Alibi, Castle, Caveira, Goyo, Mira, Rook, O??ryx, Sentry, Skopós, Smoke, Solis, ??Tachanka, Tubarão, and Wamai.

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Ubisoft has officially revealed our first look at Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Twin Shells. This is the third season for the game's ninth year, and somehow, the team is still finding wa??ys to surprise me as a fan who has been playing since the game's initial launch.

I saw Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Twin Shells early, and what I was shown looks like it'll have a big impact on the game when it arrives on September 10, 2024. New Operator Skopós, hailing from Greece, is a wheelchair user whose mentor and friend you may recognize as a recent villain in the game's story. She's transformed her wheelchair into a base of operations through which she controls?? not one, but two robotic shells that stand in as her presence as an Operator in a match, and the way they work is really going to mix up how ??you play as an Attacker and Defender.

You in the shells

Skopós' shells are named Talos and Colossus, but their names don't matter as much as how you use them. Skopós' gadgets are split between the shells, and you'll pick which one you load up as at the start of the match. When in control of a shell, th??at machine becomes the act??ive shell. For all intents and purposes, it's an Operator like any other, though it only packs one of the gadgets you picked, yet it has an advantage no one else does.

The second shell, the one you're not controlling, becomes your idle shell. The shell crouches do?wn and deploys a shield in front of it, but it's not shut down. Instead, you c?an switch between all available cameras and that idle shell to gain more intel. The idle shell will alert you when it's being attacked, and you can switch control to it if an Operator's ability is about to fry it or destroy it for the match.

What I think most playe??rs will do is use their idle shell as a shield to hide behind while they attack or defend. It takes a while to move t??hat shield, and your second shell is vulnerable while you do so, but if you can perfect moving and switching between them, these shells can make for one extremely deadly Operator.

The shells have been modified so they're EMP-proof but far from indestructible. To protect them, Skopós enters Rainbow Six Siege with? the all-new PCX-33 assault rifle and a P229 as her secondary. She's a two-speed, two-health O??perator, landing her right in the middle and a potent addition to both the Attacking and Defending sides.

Siege Cup Beta and onboarding

Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Twin Shells will introduce the Siege Cup Beta for PC. This is the ultimate form of competitive Siege gameplay, and if all goes well, the feature will be rolled out to all platfor?ms with Y9S4. With e??ach Siege Cup, teams of five players must sign up and clear their schedule to ensure they can play every match from start to finish until they're eliminated or win.

As you'd expect, the rewards for Siege Cup are going to be some of the most exclusive in the game. Additionally, mat??ches played in both Siege Cup and Ranked Mode will now also earn players Competit??ive Coins. These can be spent on rare cosmetics, which gives you another reason to hop into the toughest modes in the game.

To keep you limbered up between matches, the shooting range will automatically load up, so you can keep shooting and movin??g around without getting still while everything is set up behind the scenes. All of this is great for experienced players wanting a top-tier experience, but Ubisoft is also working hard on the onboarding p??rocess and keeping the game as free from toxicity as possible.

For example, Versus AI 2.0 is being introduced with Ope??ration Twin Shells, which finally allows players to get some practice as a Defender with an AI te?am of Attackers hitting them and getting them used to the traditional Bomb gameplay.

The reward and post-game experience are also bei??ng refined. Instead of having a few screens showing all the progress you've made and experience gained, everything is being simplified into one end screen. Your battle pass progress, profile level, and anything else that you can gain experience for at the time will all be recorded on a single screen. So it doesn't matter if there's a time-limited event or you're grinding for levels to hit Ranked Mode; you'll see it all and should be able to understand it without missing a thing.

Between Y9S2 and Operation Twin Shells, Ubisoft has reorganized its anti-cheat team to be broader and stand as one of the largest in the games industry. I was told that there are six anti-cheat systems in play at any one time in a Rainbow Six Siege match??, and usually, there are more swapping in and out. This is something Ubisoft takes very seriously and is always looking to improve, so you s?hould see less cheating in the game as time goes on.

The first Siege Cup will be somewhat of a Guinea Pig for what ??you can expect. Its anti-cheat system is akin to moving a book between shelves, bookcases, and floors in a library. Ubisoft believes it will help preve?nt cheaters from attacking the game or ruining the core experience.

Toxicity obviously hurts any game, and Ubisoft wanted to clarify that its anti-cheat systems are also hitting toxic players. 75% of bans now happen 12 hours sooner, and all toxicity is being taken into account when judging if a player needs to be banned?. This includes team-kills, bad language, and general bad behavior. But the good thing is, you won't be punished if you're on the same team as a player deemed toxic by Ubisoft's processes.

Balance is key

Last but not least, I think it's important to discuss the balance updates being made with Operation Twin Shells. Solis, Dokkaebi, and Nokk are all having a few changes, and I'm pretty excited about Nokk's. First, Solis' ability will now only use the center of the screen while active, and can be overclocked to reveal all gadgets in the area with reworked visuals so you know what you're looking at. You'll need to wait?? for the overclock to charge before you can use it again.

Dokkaebi now begins the match with 0 chargers and gains one every 45 seconds for up to 2 per round. Ubisof?t noticed she was a tad overpowered and needed to be taken down a smidge, which is what it hopes this tweak will achieve. I tend to ignore her ability for the most part, and it never really gets in my way, but I can understand why this needs to happen.

Nokk's ability?? is seeing the most impactful change, with a shift from a time-based limit to a movement-based one. So you can activate the HEL device to make her incredibly difficult to see, hide her from cameras?, and dampen her footfalls, and just sit there. The ability will go on cooldown after you've moved a certain distance, made a number of shots, or a combination of actions.

These balance changes and Skopós make Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Twin Shells a season you don't want to miss. I'm intrigued to see ho??w players make the most of the new Operator's shells, what these balance changes will do to the meta, and which Operators are the most played?? in the game.

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Rainbow Six Siege: Operation New Blood is the game's second season for its ninth year. It looks back at the ga??me's past to make old Operators more viable while providing meaningful updates that will make the game healthier and offer more to seasoned veterans and newcomers.

Operation New Blood doesn't bring a fancy new Operator to the table in Rainbow Six Siege. Instead, it goes right back to the beginning, to an Operator that's more of a meme than anything else and transforms them into a viable ??character you can take into any match. Ubisoft invited me to a press briefing on the new season to show me what it's all about, and I'm confident everyone, whether you're brand new to the game or have played since day one, will appreciate the impact it's going to have.

Recruit gets remastered as Striker and Sentry Operators

The part we all care about in each new season of Rainbow Six Siege is, of course, the new Operator. As I've already mentioned, Operation New Blood doesn't add a new Operator beca??use the team has completely revamped and remastered Recruit.

That's right; the operator who caused everyone ?in the lobby to start a recruiting party is no longer there. Recruit now has two Operators: Striker for?? Attackers and Sentry for Defenders. They each feature slight visual tweaks so you can tell them apart, with Striker wearing a rappelling harness and Sentry donning a helmet.

The differences between the two are so much more than skin-deep, though. Their ability is to equip two of any of the gadgets available to the team they're on. In many ways, this is ??so much more powerful than any other Operator abili??ties because you can create a character with gear that plays to your strengths without limitations. You can lay unexpected traps as Sentry to catch out incoming Attackers with combinations they can't predict and bring the tools that fit you best as Striker to force Defenders to think outside the box.

The customization bleeds a little into the weapons the pair can equip. Striker can use the M4 and M249 primary and ITA12S and 5.7 USG secondary weapons. Sentry has a choice between the Commando 9 or M870 primar?ies and C75 Auto or Super Shorty secondaries. As with the gadgets, it's up to you how you equip your Operator s?o you have every advantage when going into a match.

The reason the development team opted to remaster Recruit is because he was basically never used, as was the intention. He was there if you did??n't have an Operator to choose from as a backup, and because multiple players could use him, an unwritten rule evolved where everyone had to be Recruit if there was one Recruit in a lobby.

Now that Recruit is Sentry and Striker, only one player can use them, so there are no more Recruit parties. That's a small sacrifice to make for the ability to bring an unexpected and overpowered loadout into e??ve?ry match, though. No longer is Recruit a joke. These new Operators should have teams quaking in their boots.

Fenrir and Solis reworks

In addition to Recruit's glorious remaster, Ubisoft wanted to begin examining other Operators and bring them in line with the modern meta. With Operation New Blood, Fenrir and Solis are being reworked, so their abilities are slightly weaker, meaning teams don't need to build aroun??d them or specifically counter them.

Solis' SPEC-IO Electro-Sensor is a nightmare because it picks up electronic devices Attackers are using, be they drones, traps, or other devices, and pings them for the en?tire team. That ability is still intact, but it's being limited to a 10-second capacity from 15. You'll also need to allow the glasses to fully charge before using them again, so you've got to make every use count.

Furthermore, Solis now can't use this ability during the Prep Phase, and even once that's over, she can't detect stationary drones that aren't being used by an Attacker. So you could place a dro??ne in the Prep Phase and use i?t in the middle of a match to work around Solis' ability now.

Finally, Solis' detec??tion rate has been decreased to force players using her to step out of their comfort z??one a bit more. You've got to weigh up the risk of exposing yourself against the possible rewards of traps and drones you think you've seen.

Fenrir is having his F-NATT Dread Mine capacity dropped to 4?? from 5 and activation codes have also decreased from 4 to 3. This means he has fewer mines to detonate and can only lay three effective traps before the ability is useless, so players using him have to think much more carefully about how they'll use the mines they have.

You can't waste mines now. You've got to consider where Defenders will be, what the main routes are, how you want to push enemy players into a specific room or trap them somewhere, and make every mine count. The goa?l with these changes was to make Fenrir less scary, and he certainly sounds it with his ability curtailed.

With the launch of Operation New Blood, Fenrir will also lose barbed wire as a gadget and get observation blockers instead. Once again, this makes him so much less of a threat, so you don't ?need to build a team or pick an Operator t??o specifically work against him.

Maps and modes

Map filtering comes to Rainbow Six Siege this season. This allows you to pick any map across ranked and non-ranked matches to get into the matches you desperately want to play. It should help players practice on the maps they're uncomfo??rtable wit?h but also let us casual players stick to the maps we know so we can be useful for our team.

Later during Operation New Blood, Rainbow Six Siege's Attrition mode will return as a limited-time event. The rules of these matches eliminate all previously used Operators over rounds, and five are eliminated before you even start. I??t encourages play with new characters but als?o chaotic gameplay as players attempt to win using gadgets they have no idea how to work.

Ubisoft took a look at the Stadium Alpha and Bravo maps this season because they know they're fan favorites, but they're not built for regular ??play. That's not changed, with better routes and clearer lines of sight to objectives specifically, so each map can be played like a traditiona??l match and used more frequently.

It's no secret that Rainbow Six Siege is a difficult game to get into. Operation New Blood changes the onboarding process to make it a bit more approachable. The Versus playlist is getting loads of new content, with more playable Operators like Blackbeard, Ace, and Hibana, and AI Defenders playing Vigil and Thunderbird to help provid?e a more realistic experience for those lea?rning the ropes.

There's also a new training mode, Endless Drill, that pits players against dummies they must hunt down and kill in a colossal building?? consisting of multiple floors. This training session can last for 60 minutes and sounds br?utal, but it'll help you figure out the mechanics you must know in every match without someone shouting at you or shooting you for being new.

Player protection

Speaking of player toxicity, Ubisoft is keen to reduce it as much as possible. It's still working on the Reputation System that will eventually track your games played and the ratings others h??ave given you based on your behavior, but it's not quite ready yet.

More immediately, Ubisoft has made what ??it claims to be a seven-fold improvement in how it makes bans, resulting in 60% more player? bans and a huge reduction in toxicity. It's also working on DDoS detection and a slew of other systems that will make it easier to detect cheaters and create a safer space for everyone.

Marketplace and Membership

After a successful stint in beta, the Marketplace is opening up to all players above Level 25 in Rainbow Six Siege from June 25, 2024. This is where you'll be ??able to buy and sell cosm??etics using R6 Credits, meaning each one you earn now has far more value. I think the best part of Marketplace will be the ability to complete cosmetic sets you've got pieces of from past events or just get the entire set from someone who doesn't want it.

The last new feature Rainbow Six Siege is getting with Operation New Blood is Membership. Think of this as the Fortnite Crew subscription of Rainbow Six Siege. The Membership fee, which is $9.99 per?? month or $79.99 for the year, awards you exclusive Epic cosmetics and the Battle Pass's premium track. If you renew your Membership every month, you'll get even more items, such as Operator Cards, for that loyalty.

Operation New Blood is a season that seeks to level the playing field in Rainbow Six Siege, so it's easier to get into and compete against long-time fans once you've developed the necessary skills in its upgraded training. The aspects I'm most excited about are ?Sentry and Striker because I can't wait? to ruin the enemy's day with my insane loadout and erratic behavior. I'm sure this will bode well for Attrition when it arrives, too.

The post Rainbow Six Siege Y9S2: Operation New Blood remasters Recruit, updates Fenrir and Solis, and opens th??e Marketplace appeared first on Destructoid.

The best FPS games to play are those with tight controls, badass weaponry, and gameplay that tests you to your?? very limits. The following games certainly do that as you blast your way through enemies with a typically powerful arsenal.

Apex Legends remains to be one of the best battle royale games out there, while Doom Eternal provides single-player fans with a juicy campaign packed to capacity with t??hrill. Here are all the best FPS games you can play right? now.

[caption id="attachment_369717" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via EA[/caption]

Apex Legends

Apex Legends is a battle royale that came out of nowhere in 2019, courtesy of EA and Respawn, and has taken the world by storm. Moving around th?e world is excitedly energetic as you can slide and wall climb anywhere you please. Each character has their own ability to a??dd to the chaos, such as Caustic dropping poisonous canisters onto the battlefield and Gibraltar summoning a bombardment toward their foes. It's free to play and is crossplay compatible, so you can join games with your friends in a snap as well. The costumes you can buy are also pretty out there �as you can see in the picture above.

[caption id="attachment_480038" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via EA[/caption]

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3, despite releasing more than a decade ago, still warrants playing today. The shooting feels spot-on and feels heavier than the likes of Call of Duty and Titanfall. The bigger maps allow for thrilling sniping action, and you can ride vehicles like tanks across the battlefield. There are some smaller maps like Operation Metro as well that will test your skills with its narrow hallways and diverse battle environments. This game has a strong map variety. The Battlefield series focuses more on teamwork as you can resupply your pals on the squad and revive them from death; it's much more strategic than a game of Team Deathmatch. It would be great if the Battlefield series could stand tall again.

[caption id="attachment_480042" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via 2K[/caption]

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 is my most nostalgic FPS, and it could be yours too. It has a hilarious script with a devious, unruly antagonist who thinks too much of himself. However, the main highlight is collecting loot. As you defeat enemies and bosses around the world, you'll collect all sorts of weapons each with their own stats and gimmicks to use on foes. I remember laughing and playing with my online friends every week. The game's so entertaining that I beat the game through the mediocre streaming service OnLive and still enjoyed it.

Its sequel Borderlands 3 looks better and runs impressively, but to me, the m??ore engaging experience is the second entry in the series due to the characters and weapons you'll find.

[caption id="attachment_369853" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Activision[/caption]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brings everything you love about the series. A spectacular array of weapons, detailed multiplayer maps, and a thoroughly entertaining campaign. This series is the pinnacle of the FPS genre as each gun feels impactful and the controls are on point. The new maps, which include Breenbergh Hotel and the Valderas Museum, are also highlights �presenting depth and a wide range of scenarios from short-range to long-range c??ombat. It's just a shame this game is su??ch a storage hog!

[caption id="attachment_400393" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot via CD Projekt Red[/caption]

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red weaves an intriguing story led by the custom player character, V, and their companion, the mysterious Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves. Som?ehow, Silverh?and slowly takes over your mind, narrating a fasci?nating plot from beginning to end.

And if you soured on Cyberpunk at launch, now may be the time to revisit. CD Projekt Red has pushed a ton of updates since launch, and the heavy patching was enough to draw mass player attention two years later. Even if the story isn't your thing, the g??unplay's still decent, with all manner of weapons to find among the open world of Night City and beyond. There's also the badass Phantom Liberty expansion that features Hobbs & Shaw actor Idris Elba. 

[caption id="attachment_369878" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Valve[/caption]

Counter-Strike 2

The most intense FPS you can play is Counter-Strike 2. Available as a free-to-play title, this game offers intuitive shooting controls and will require precise shots from you to win. Beloved maps like "Dust 2" and "Office" require deep strategy as you manoeuvre through their tight corners. The system in which you buy each weapon also adds to the pressure of the game �Spend t?oo much and you'll be stuck with a pistol for one round.

[caption id="attachment_400394" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Valve[/caption]

Left 4 Dead 2

This one’s an oldie but a goodie, and it's likely almost all of your friends on Steam have it. In Left 4 Dead 2, hordes of zombies rage toward you and three other unlucky companions as you relentlessly unload against decaying foes. There are multiple types of swarming undead like the Spitters, who blast acid, or bulky infected that charge in without a moment’s notice—aptly named, you guessed it, Chargers. It’s intense, as the chaos demands you need to be alert at all times. However, Valve does provide some levity within the game’s funny dialogue. Left 4 Dead 2 certainly has aged well; the dedicated community proves as much.

[caption id="attachment_369883" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Bethesda[/caption]

Doom Eternal

If multiplayer isn't your bag and you want a shot at some intense FPS gameplay, Doom Eternal will call you. You'll be ripping and tearing through demons as you shred bullets into them with your powerful weapons. The environments look unique as they're hellish and post-apocalyptic. In addition, the music will keep your heart pumping while you take on some of the toughest bosses in gaming. If you decide to pick up Doom Eternal, you'll be in for a thrilling time.

[caption id="attachment_369884" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Ubisoft[/caption]

Rainbow Six Siege

If you're tired of Counter-Strike and want to dive into more gadget-based encounters, Rainbow Six Siege should interest you. You're setting up barricades, blasting explosives, and using an axe to dent the walls to either save the hostage or keep hostiles away. The shooting is intense as only a few bullets can seal your fate, and that rush of danger is what keeps many players coming back for more.

[caption id="attachment_369885" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Nintendo[/caption]

Metroid Prime Remastered

Metroid Prime has never looked better, thanks to Nintendo and its fantastic remaster. The game has stellar design, entertaining puzzles, and thrilling bosses to face along the way. The exploration of the worl?d is key in the game and returning to past areas with new abilities is super satisfying. The remaster has improved the game significantly with a more modern two-stick control method.

The remaster has impressed us with its graphical upgrade. "Metroid Prime Remastered is a fantastic renewal of the classic GameCube title," said Zoey Handley in their Destructoid review."It now looks like how our brains tell us it looked the first time we played it." It's one of the best FPS games to play as it offers a great opportunity to get caught up on the lore before the fabled Metroid Prime 4. 

[caption id="attachment_400391" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Ascendant Studios[/caption]

Immortals of Aveum

Immortals of Aveum may have flown under the radar for FPS fans, but it’s certainly worth gearing up for. The magic-based t??ake on the genre is refr?eshing, with spectacular effects and outstanding (and demanding) graphical capabilities all around.

The story is dull as hell, but the combat is a constant thrill. You'll take on mighty bosses—like the mega-nasty dragon, Howler—with all manner of tools at your disposal. We've got a running list of Immortals tips and tricks outlining some of th??ose special abi??lities, shields, and the game's handy whip (which also works for traversal).

[caption id="attachment_480063" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Blizzard[/caption]

Overwatch 2

I will go out on a limb and declare Overwatch 2 is one of the best FPS games you can play right now. It doesn't have the best support from its developers with dull events, but when you can talk about the general gameplay, few other games match it. This hero shooter has characters each with their own abilities that can change the stat?e of battle.

Tracer can rewind time while Pharah can leap into the air and reign down rockets from above. Everyone has their role to play and like Battlefield 3, if each team member contributes, it can feel incredibly rewarding. The maps are well-designed with capture points that keep you on your toes too. While I think Blizzard has dropped the ball in recent years, I won't forget the incredible memories of playing Overwatch with my friends; that's why Overwatch 2 is on this list.

[caption id="attachment_480047" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Superhot Team[/caption]

SUPERHOT

Superhot is an incredible FPS, especially if you play the game in VR. This post-modern graphical style is m??atched up with a unique gameplay system. Time stops when you are standing still, but when you move, your foes will move towards you and fire their weapons. You can shoot with a pistol?, but there are other tools at your disposal you can grab, use, or throw like a sword or an assault rifle.

"It’s a shooter at heart, but Superhot brings something fresh and unexpected to the FPS genre," said our review. "It mixes thrilling, action-packed combat with meticulous, precision planning, and somehow these opposing ideas are able to unfold simultaneously." This? mix of a puzzle g??ame with an FPS is a fantastic way to spend your weekend.

[caption id="attachment_480059" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via EA[/caption]

Titanfall 2

Before Apex Legends, there was Titanfall 2. This shooter has clever level design within its single player campaign and somehow manages you to care for this mech robot that assists you during battle. You can even get inside the mech and cause chaos below to your victims. There's wall-jumping, intriguing platforms to jump on top of like being in the middle of an apartment-making factory, and cool weapons to utilize throughout the campaign. The campaign is the star e?vent for me, but others say the multiplayer is a fantastic time too.

[caption id="attachment_369891" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Riot Games[/caption]

Valorant

Last up is Valorant. It combines the fluidity of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the ability-focused gameplay of Overwatch to create a triumphant FPS in and of itself. The maps are fantastically designed, and the weapons all feel great to control. It's heroes' abilities add further strategy to the original Counter-Strike-like formula as you create barriers with toxic gas, resurrect fal??len allies, and activate seismic charges to shake up the opponent's standing.

The post 15 Best FPS Games to play appeared first on Destructoid.

From bad to bad-ass

I come from an era of gaming where updates didn't exist. If a game was bad or broken when the cartridge hit store shelves, there was no fixing it. Sorry kiddo, but you're stuck with Pit Fighter until your next birthday or holiday. Today, updates are expected, whether it's a?? day-one patch that developers have to crunch to get out or that thing where Nintendo withholds completed content from its sports games to add them in as updates later. While we old-timers may lament the era of gaming where everything worked at la?unch, the truth is I have no idea where this industry would be without them.

I mean, if you think delays are bad now, imagine a world where a post-launch update still didn't exist. Sorry kiddo, but you're stuck with your vanilla copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on PlayStation 3.

Thankfully, we do have updates. Updates that not only squash bugs developers couldn't nab during produc?tion but can literally save a game from a terrible launch and turn it into something millions of people w??ill want to play. That's what this list is all about.

Here are the ??top 10 games that got better with updates.

[caption id="attachment_365965" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

10. Cyberpunk 2077

Of all the games on this list, Cyberpunk 2077 easily had the most high-profile disastrous launch since the Diablo III release debacle. After numerous delays, the game landed with big sales and even bigger outrage. O??n PC, it played just fine. If you were one of the millions who picked it up on console, well, your mileage would vary. The game was riddled with bugs that rendered it virtually unplayable on the PS4 and Xbox One. Current-gen consoles didn't fare all that much better.

Thankfully, with updates, the game is now in a state most people would ??call "What it should have been what I bought it." The game is playable on all the hardware it's available for. Yes, I know that's tepid praise given the time and money CD Projekt Red sunk into this gam?e, but given how poor this game was when it was released, getting it to the state it's in now was no small hurdle for the developers.

9. Fallout 76

Fallout 76 should have been a complete disaster. Its launch was riddled with game-breaking bugs and a massive controversy over a canvas bag. People complained about the lack of NPCs in the world as they tried their best to break the game with nuclear weapons. Any other developer might have moved on from the project given its reception, but Bethesda stuck with it, dispatching droves of patches. These updates added new modes and content—including NPCs—and fixed as many bugs as you can with the janky-ass Creation Engine. In 2020, it received four massive updates, including the version 2.0 update that many saw as the turning point for the game. By 2022, Fallout 76 had more than 13 million players worldwide.

8. Fortnite

Given what the game is today, it can be difficult to remember what Fortnite was actually like when it first launched. While most people now know it as the game where Ryu from Street Fighter can shoot Spider-Man in the face with a shotgun, the first Fortnite was a cooperative PvE survival game. That was before Epic Games caught wind of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and decided to make its own 1v100 shooter. That move proved to be one of the most financially sound decisions in gaming history as Fortnite is now a billion-dollar IP with millions of players around the world. It's also a damn good shooter that has b??een updated throughout its life, forever tweaking the formula and adding new skin??s to keep people playing (and paying).

7. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Seige

One issue with game updates is that they can often distort just how bad a game was at launch. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Seige is a perfect example of this. Today, it's one of the top esports titles in the industry, and reviews at launch were mostly positive. But the people who were there from the beginning remember just how shakey those first couple of months were for the multiplayer shooter. In fact, things got so bad Ubisoft almost took the game offline. But consistent updates from the team at Ubisoft Montreal �including gameplay overhauls, reworked maps, and a roster of uniquely designed operators �saved Seige and made it one of the most important and successful titles in?? U??bisoft history.

6. Star Wars Battlefront 2

When it launched, Star Wars Battlefront 2 actually wasn't that bad of a game. It controlled well, had an enjoyable if insipid single-player mode, and was a generally fun shooter. Unfortunately, EA knew the title would be huge given its predecessor, 2015's Star Wars Battlefront, sold like hotcakes despite its lack of content. Knowing this, the publisher and its developer DICE decided to load Battlefront 2 with an annoying assortment of microtransactions that made ?consumers mad. And not mad in the, "I'm going to complain about this online" way, but made in the "Let's all work together to get this changed" way.

Fans united against EA's handling of the game, and by 2018, the publisher relented and unlocked all the heroes in the game, which was one of the key sticking points for players. The entire situation was an embarrassment for EA. I mean, how many other game companies have made the Guinness World Record Book for the most downvoted comment on Reddit?

[caption id="attachment_365980" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

5. Street Fighter V

Street Fighter V had plenty of bugs and connection issues at launch, but its biggest problem was its disappointing dearth of content. While 16 fighters is a decent enough number for launch, the vanilla release lacked a story mode and an arcade mode, the latter of which has been standard in the industry since Street Fighter II first took the world by storm. Post-release updates corrected these mistakes, adding a cinematic story mode just a few months after launch and an arcade mode with the debut of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. Future updates would add more content and characters to the game, eventu??a??lly making it one of the most well-rounded fighters Capcom has ever produced.

4. Ark: Survival Evolved (Switch Release)

The original Switch release of Ark: Survival Evolved had the distinction of being one of the worst games available for the best-selling console. Developer Abstraction made a pretty big deal out of getting the game to run on the hardware, but when people actually got to see it in action, it wasn't exact??ly something people should be proud of. The game was?? a complete mess with awful graphics and terrible framerates.

Fixing this game would require more than mere updates. It would require an entirely new build. And that's exactly what Studio Wildcard did. Working with the team at Grove Street Games, the Switch version of the game was completely rebuilt, becoming one of the best examples of Unreal Engine 4 on the hardware. And that was something of a surprise given that GSG was also responsible for the poorly received Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy �The Definitive Edition.

3. Aliens: Colonial Marines

Including Aliens: Colonial Marines is a bit of a cheat here as it was never fully fixed with an official update. The game was released in 2013 to poor reviews and tepid sales, becoming yet another forgetting experience in the Aliens universe. A big part of the issue was the poor AI of enemies, which in comparison to the excellent Alien: Isolation released one year later, was embarrassin??g for such a high-profile game.

While developer Gearbox Software couldn't amend the issue, a modder in 2017 found a way to significantly improve the game's AI by correcting a spelling mistake in the code. "Teather" became "tether," and the aliens in the game started behaving as they should have all along.  So hats off to modder jamesdickinson963, who decided to go line-by-line through the Aliens Colonial Marines code to find that little error.

2. Final Fantasy XIV

When it launched in 2010, Final Fantasy XIV was a wildly underwhelming shell of a game with bad gameplay, a terrible interface, and a lack of polish throughout. Sure, the game looked outstanding, but looks can only get you so far. It was an absolute mess, and to save the game, Square Enix brought in Naoki Yoshida, aka Yoshi-P, to right the ship. Having just come off the successful launch of Dragon Quest X, Yoshida would have the monumental task of creating content for the original version of FFXIV while also buildin??g an entirely new version that would replace it.

In 2013, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launched to great reviews from press and players alike, cementing the Square Enix title as the new king of MMOs. As of 2023, the game is still going strong with no signs of slo??wing down.

[caption id="attachment_365970" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

1. No Man's Sky

No Man's Sky is what I consider to be the poster child for the power of post-launch updates. The game was one of the most highly anticipated titles in the ?run-up to its 2016 launch promising players an entir?e universe of uncharted planets to explore. Those pre-release trailers sold it as something you'd never forget, and, well, if you bought the game at launch, chances are you won't soon forget how lousy it was. Its initial release just couldn't match what players were expecting.

But the developers at Hello Games stuck with it, releasing a bevy of updates over the next few years that improved nearly every aspect of the game while adding features that have made it arguably the best space sim ever created. Version 4.0 launched in 2022, bringing the game to Nintendo Switch and overhauling the experience for the benefit of all players. The original version of No Man's Sky n?ow only exists in old memes and YouTube videos that in no way repre??sent what an amazing game it has become.

The post 10 games that got way better with updates appeared first on Destructoid.

Enter the AR world of new Defender Solis

Rainbow Six Siege is about to enter the final season of its seventh year, with the arrival of new event Operation Solar Raid. Not only will this season bring players an intriguing new operator, but it will also add some long-awaited new features to R6S including the long-in-development crossplay and cross-pr??ogression.

Rainbow Six Siege players can now link their accounts across multiple platforms via Ubisoft Connect, transferring their rosters, purchased items, currencies, Battle Pas progress, and statistics to all PC and console accounts, (while also earning a free Alpha Pack for the trouble). Once connected, players can start doorkicking with or against their friends across PlayStation?, PC, and Xbox platforms. If, however, this is not your vibe, then fret not, as you can disable crossplay via an option in the game's menus.

In addition, Operation Solar Raid launches a newly over??hauled Ranked Playlist. As noted by the developer, player rank is no longer decided by MMR, but by how many Rank Points are won, (or lost), after every Ranked match. A Rank has five divisions, and each division requires 100 Rank Points to advance to the next. A new Rank, Emerald, has also been added, sitting between Platinum and Diamond.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPxQBGe2drM

Our new operator is Colombia-born Ana Valentina Diaz, better known ??by her call sign, "Solis". Diaz has worked her way up through the darkest territories in South America, rising through the ranks of first the National Police, and then the National Intelligence Directorate, where she was noted for her extraordinary surveillance and counter-intelligence skills. Focused and precise, with exquisite attention to detail, the plain-speaking Solis is a master of reconnaissance and adaptation.

Solis bespoke gadget —The SPEC-IO Electro Sensor �reflects her surveillance abilities and her mind for electronics. This full-helmet Augmented Reality unit allows Solis ??to uncover all electronic devices through walls and obstacles �immediately pinging them for her teammates. As a Defender, Solis is essentially a version of OG operator I.Q. �albeit one who plays for the opposing team. Solis is one of the first members of Rainbow Six splinter division "Ghost Eyes", led by the reliable, yet unstable, hand of Caveira.

You can see So?lis in action at 3:14 in the trailer abov??????????????????????????e.

Operation Solar Raid la?unches December 6 on all pl?atforms

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NieR gets ready to breach and clear

The NieR series has crossed over into the worlds of PUBG, Soulcalibur, and Final Fantasy XIV. And now, NieR also joins the cameo ranks of Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege.

Ubisoft revealed today that a NieR cosmetic bundle is making its way into Rainbow Six Siege, arriving on No??vember 21. The bundle isn't the only one on the way, either. A stinger at the end teases more to come, with 2B's boots and this tagline: "A YoRHa soldier is approaching... Glory to mankind!"

Looks like we'll learn more on November 21, when Ubisoft reveals the entirety of its next season, Operation Solar Raid. There, according to Ubisoft, we'll get more "NieR goodness" for Siege.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=D13DlspkIvE

NieR and dear to our heart

The bundle shown off today is for Maverick, an Attack operator with a blowtorch. The set looks like it includes a cosmetic skin based off the brother Nier's appearance, rath?er than Papa Nier. I do like the design of the guns, as it's reminiscent of the black-and-gold aesthetic of the Shades. Grimoire Weiss is included in the bundle too, seemi?ngly as a weapon charm.

As I mentioned before, this is hardly the first NieR crossover. Both the original NieR and NieR: Automata have crossed over into other games. In some cases, like Final Fantasy XIV's raid series, they even contain some additional detai?ls f??or fans.

I doubt Rainbow Six Siege will hold any deep lore tidbits, but I can't rule it out. It's a goofy and enjoyable crossover though, and one that made me fondly reminisce on series director Yoko Taro's response in our latest interview with him.

The post The latest NieR crossover is ?with Rainbow Six Siege appeared first on Destructoid.

The smallest little siege you ever did see

Rainbow Six Siege, one of the most successful shooters in the history of the genre, is preparing to go pint-sized today, with the launch of the first closed beta for Rainbow Six Mobile, which go live presently on Android devices in select territor?ies.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceKBhaJD41k&t

Rainbow Six Mobile, essentially a scaled-down edition of the excellent tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege, hopes to replicate the nail-biting five-on-five action as teams of Attackers and Defenders battle it out in order to protect or capture numerous objectives, all taking place against the backdrop of meticulously designed maps, where a single foot wrong will put your chosen operator out of commission. Siege is renowned for its exceedi?ngly tense gameplay and reliance on strategy, teamwork, and lightning-fast reactions, which developer Ubisoft hopes will be reflected even on the smallest ??of screens.

Anyone willing to jump in on the action can sign up over at Google Play, in hopes of being invited to the party. It should be reiterated that the beta is currently on Android devices only, though an iOS equivalent is expected in the near future. The Rainbow Six Mobile beta is currently accepting players from the United States, Canada, Mexico, ?Brazil, India, Singapore, and the Philippines. So, unfortunately, European fans will have to stay frosty for the time being.

The post Rai??nbow Six Mobile closed beta ?launches today in select territories appeared first on Destructoid.

Yakuza heroes (don't) cameo in new DLC

You might have heard the hot scoop that Kazuma Kiryu is about to guest star in Rainbow Six Siege. Well, he isn't, but his suit and haircut sure are. Ubisoft has announced that it is collaborating with Sega to bring character skins of the Yakuza hero �as well as his one-time love interest and ass-kicking partner,?? Kaoru Sayama �to its popular o??nline squad shooter.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rnZeKj9SWM

The Rainbow Six Siege Yakuza Bundle, which launches on all platforms today, includes looks for Siege's resident "Team Japan," Hibana and Echo. In addition to the character skins, new weapon skins will kit Hibana out with a Police-themed rifle skin, while Echo gets a pearl-colored rifle skin emblazoned with the legendary Dragon of Dojima. Though these are, essentially, Siege characters in co?splay, it's still pretty weird to see even a dollar store Kazuma carrying a gun. Later this season, a ne??w Elite skin will see Echo transform into the wildly unpredictable Goro Majima, as teased in the above trailer.

This is not the first time Rainbow Six Siege has ventured into "guest skins" territory. Back in 2020, Rainbow squad leader Ash got her Lara Croft on, while 2021 saw Zofia don the iconic S.T.A.R.S. garb of Resident Evil's Jill Valentine. These crossover costumes are part of Rainbow Six Siege's continued progression into a wider universe of lore �evolving from its nationalistic and stringently militant, roots into a more approachable, character-driven, alternate universe. Another example of this new direction lies in the icky, sci-fi sensibilities of 2021's Rainbow Six Extraction,?? which saw the counter-terrorist team battle a literal alien invasion.

Rainbow Six Siege and Rainbow Six Extraction are available now on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms. The Rainbow Six Siege Yakuza Bundle is available on all platforms today.

The post Yakuza’s Kazuma and Sayama are(n’t) joining the Rainbow Six Siege roster appeared first on Destructoid.

Operation Complete

Big news from the world of Rainbow Six Siege, as veteran designer and current Creative Director Leroy Athanassoff has announced that he is stepping down from the rol??e. Athanassoff's departure comes as the popular team shooter prepares to embark on its seventh year of operation.

"I wanted to let you know that due to personal reasons, I will be leaving my role of Creative Director on Siege to pursue other opportunities at Ubisoft," said Athanassoff in a statement. "This isn’t a decision I make lightly �I love this game and this community, and I’m so proud of everything our team has accomplished togeth??er over the last two years �but I’m confident that it’s the right one, and the team has given me their full support. Don’t worry, I won’t be going too far, and I have a feeling that my journey with this incredible game is far from over."

"I want to thank Alex (Karpazis), the entire Siege team, and you �our amazing community �for an unforgettable experience. I can’t wait to see where Siege goes next!"

Athanassoff has worked on the Ubisoft multiplayer shooter since its rocky inception back in 2016. Starting out as a designer for the title, Athanassoff responsibilities within the Rainbow Six Siege universe grew alongside the title's popularity. Athanassoff would become the Game Director for Siege in the summer of 2017, before eventually taking up the role of Creative Director in 2020, following the departure of team leads Xavier Marquis and Alexandre Remy.

Under Athanassoff's directorial leadership, Rainbow Six Siege has grown from a relatively grey online shooter to an example of excellence in the genre. Athanassoff's turn at the head of the table has seen Rainbow Six Siege reach beyond its "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" roots, with a heavier emphasis placed on appealing, charismatic, and engaging characters, as well as deep lore cinematics, a refocus on esports, and an increasingly inclusive and LGBTQ positive roster of operators.

In opening up Siege's world, lore, characters, weapons, and gameplay, Athanassoff has only served to broaden the horizons of what "Rainbow Six" can be, while simultaneously adding heart and character to its explosive and chaotic universe. Athanassoff's contributions toward making Siege the spectacular title is it today?? �still enjoyed? by millions of players �cannot be underestimated.

In Athanassoff's stead, Ubisoft has appointed Alexander Karpazis as the title's new creative director. A Ubisoft veteran since 2017, Karpazis has most recently worked as a designer and art director for Rainbow Six Siege, and is thus partly responsible for the game's transition from grumpy dude-bros in dusty warehouses to a more colorful cast of characters within an overall more welcoming visual design. It will be interesting to see what Karpazis brings to the role as Siege enters the first season of Year 7.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 7 is expected to ?launch at some point in Ma??rch 2022. The Six Invitational 2022 tournament is currently scheduled to take place between February 8-20, 2022.

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Rolling (Rainbow) Sixes

Rainbow Six Siege players who wish to take their window-smashin', flash-bangin' action out of the digital realm and into the dining room should keep one eye on Kickstarter today. Mythic Games is finally ready to launch its crowdfunding campaign for its previously announced Rainbow Six Siege board game, which look?s to recreate the tense, strategic, and explosive action of Ubisoft's tactical shooter in tableto?p form.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQyg0wY0HYg

Mythic Games' Kickstarter campaign will go live in just an hour from now and is expected to feature a ton of new information regarding 6: Siege The Board Game and its release, along with numerous backer goals/rewards pertaining to exclusive operator miniatures and expansion sets. Various tabletop gaming websites have already managed to get their paws on an early edition of 6: Siege, and have explored the? boxed components and play rules of this ??intriguing project.

Check out this 6: Siege The Board Game overview video, from Geek & Sundry's Becca Scott.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9yKro9O6Xg&t=1s

As you may be aware, I'm a dedicated Siege fan, but I am most definitely out of the loop when it comes to tabletop gaming �I fell off the table some years ago �but maybe 6: Siege will be the title that reignites my interest in the scene and the many cool titles that have passed me. I'll be checking out the Kickstarter when it goes live in sixty short minutes and I'm looking forward to the reveal. I can see how the tactical world of Rainbow Six Siege would make for a brilliant board game experience but, much like the core theme of Siege itself, the key to success will lay entirely in the ??execution.

The post Rainbow Six Siege Board Game Kickstarter campaign goes? live today appeared first on Destructoid.

...But console crossplay operators will have to stay frosty

During today's Ubisoft Forward presentation, alongside the gameplay reveal of Rainbow Six Extraction, the Rainbow Six Siege development team finally announced crossplay and cross-progression for the tactical, team-based shooter. It took long enough, but it's finally en route, fellow Siege fans.

The new features will allow PC, Stadia, and Luna players to jump into the field together from as soon as June 30. Unfortunately for console operators, the PlayStation and Xbox editions of Rainbow Six Siege will not be joining the crossplay party until "early 2022". That's admittedly a bit of a rough wait, but given Rainbow Six Siege's dedicated community �which continues to grow years after the title's release �these new? additions will h??elp grow the excellent shooter title into the new generation.

In the meantime, check out this new animatic, focusing on new North Star operator, Thunderbird.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt8HCVcg9Uk

The post Rainbow Six Siege gets cross-play and cross-p?rogression on PC, Stadia, and Luna June 30 appeared first on Destructoid.

Thunderbird is Go!

For the past few seasons, Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege has added multiple new weapons, gadgets, and techniques to reduce your opposition to dust — regardless of whether you're playing Defender or Attacker. To date, only Doc and Finka can be considered anything close to "healers" within Siege's fast-paced, fast-dying universe. But that's all set to ?change come the tactical shooter's newest season.

Operation: North Star welcomes new Defender Mina Sky, better known by her call-sign "Thunderbird". Heralding from the Indigenous Nakoda nation, Mina grew up with a deep love and reverence for Mother Earth, dedicating her early life to the study of? both hydrology and medicine. Now a trustworthy pilot, a fearless explorer, and a master of field adaptation, Mina's brave heart and skillful application of aid under fire saved the life of Rainbow operator Saana "Nomad" El Maktoub, an act which brought Mina to attention — and eventual induction — at Team Rainbow.

Thunderbird brings with her ??the hi-tech Kona Healing Station, a mobile unit that heals any teammates located within its field. Additionally, the Kona can get downed operators back on their feet, allowing for squad revival at a distance, when line-of-sight is too risky a proposition. The Kona must be installed by hand, so deploying the device at predictable points of conflict — such as a bomb site or chokepoints — offers a distinct advantage for the defending team. Though a powerful tool, the Kona needs to cool down between each wave of healing, and can be readily destroyed by gunfire or explosions.

A 1-Armor, 3-Speed operator, Thunderbird can quickly move into?? position to set her Kona Station during prep phase, before transitioning to fast and efficient field work once the lead starts spraying. Thunderbird can be equipped with a SPEAR .308 AR or a SPAS-15 shotgun, with the Bearing 9 automatic pistol and the tried-and-tested Q-929 handgun as her secondary ??options.

Alongside the arrival of Thunderbird, Operation: North Star will see another classic map rework. This time around, it's the turn of Brazil-based war zone "Favela". One of the largest and most labyrinthine of Rainbow Six Siege's maps, Favela has now been redesigned in order?? to create stricter directional paths and wider open areas. The developers hope that the design will cause less geographical confusion and will prevent players from getting lost.

While the m?ap's interiors have received a major overhaul, its exterior are almost unrecognizable — at least from an aesthetic standpoint. Now set in the late-evening, Favela is spotlit with dramatic and immersive new lighting and framed with an overhead fireworks display... not to be confused with the fireworks you and your squad are letting off within the town's walls.

Over on the Rainbow Six Siege test servers, the dev team will be rolling out some of its previously teased new mechanics. These include the new health system, which will denote both health and armor as a single number. Also joining the test server is the ability for D.O.A. Defenders to retain access to their field gadgets — for example Maestro's Evil Eye,? or Echo's annoying Yokai Drone. This is a concerted effort to increase players' interactivity options once left full o' holes and out for the count. Should the new mechanics prove successful, they will be added to the main game at a later date.

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Mira, in the Garage, with the ITA12L

You might remember, back in 2020, we reported that Mythic Games was in the early stages of devising a tabletop version of Ubisoft's intense multiplayer shooter, Rainbow Six Siege. Well, it seems that the game maker is getting set to launch a crowdfunding campaign, which will hit Kickstarter later this summer.

Titled 6: Siege - The Board Game, the finished product will see two players battle i?t out in typical twitchy Siege fashion, seemingly picking their way through a small-scale map as one of a selection of the game's huge roster of operators �stylized as cool miniature playing pieces.

Details are still thin on the ground, but Mythic has released the first images of the playing board, featuring a top-down view of the playfield, space-based movement, and 3D models for cover and door barricades. Just from this single image, I'm really intr?igued as to how the final game plays, particularly as each player moves their team into strategically chosen positions. Given that Siege is all about surveying the scene and out-thinking the opponent, it seems a well-suited brand for tabletop gaming.

You can sign up to receive notifications when the Kickstarter campaign is live, but don't fret, as we'll be sure to give you a ful??l recon report once Mythic is ready to spill all of the vital deet?s.

//twitter.com/MythicGamesMG/status/13?917996186613882??91?s=20

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It's the end of the world as we know it...

It's tough being a member of melodramatic counter-terrorist strike team Rainbow. One moment your saving hostages and Fuzing your own teammates, the next you are literally the last hope for the continued survival of all mankind. At least that's what's Rainbow Six Siege fans are being led to believe in the multiplayer shooter's bran??d new event: Apocalypse.

Kicking off today and running through May 18, Apocalypse is a limited-time event th?at sees a handful of Team Rainbow's operators tasked with protecting the last bastion of life after some dreadful, ungodly war. The new mode sees a team of Defenders — comprised of Maestro, Melusi, Rook, Smoke, and Valkyrie &??mdash; protecting Earth's last living plant from a team of Attackers, consisting of Fuze, Gridlock, Maverick, Nomad, and Twitch.

What this essentially boils down to is a scaled-down variant of the "Bomb" game mode, with the intriguing difference that Defenders can transport the plant (or "bomb") around the map, making it harder for Attackers to pinpoint its whereabouts. To even up the odds, Attackers have access to room scanners, offering them a heads up as to whether a Defender is in an adjacent room (but not telling them exactly where in said room they are located).

In keeping with the Apocalyptic theme, the new mode takes place of the much-maligned Outback map, which looked like Judgement Day before it got its apocalyptic overall. Of course, all of the participating operators receive delightfully Mad Max-style skins, which are available to purchase in Rainbow Six Siege's Alpha Packs. The very coming of the Four Horsemen might be on the horizon, but there's always room for Loot Boxes. I must say that Melusi in particular looks very badass, like she's just wandered in from Apex Legends.

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Funniest shit I've ever seen

Recently I've been lamenting that Rainbow Six: Siege was a turning point in the way it presents itself. Gone are the days of being married to the stuffy spec-ops tactical gruffness aesthetic, and here to stay was a new age of goofy costumes and animations. For the most part, I've been on board with all they've done. I have been known to chase drones dressed as a giant slice of pizza so I'm not above some silliness??. Today's news might be a bridge too far though.

Starting tomorrow, Siege players will be able to purchase skins based on Adult Swim's runaway cartoon success Rick and Morty. Sledge is getting ??a skin based on the Gromflomites, the antagonist to the titular Rick. Rick won't be snubbed though, because fellow SAS agent Smoke is getting a Pickle Rick costume. That's right kids??, time to meme it up in voice chat about how you turned yourself into a pickle.

It's not?? the absolute worst thing that could happen, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Sure it's harmless and it ultimately doesn't matter to me because I sure as hell won't be buying it, but...why? Why this many years after the?? meme started do you spend the capital to get the licensing and whatnot? Answers for the ether I suppose.

Gun charms ??will also be available with both a Pickle Rick and commando Rick variant.? For those inclined to buy the costumes or charms, they will be available starting tomorrow, April 15.

Give Buck back his frags.

Rainbow Six Siege [Twitter]

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Better double-check those barricades

It looks like tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege is gearing up for its new season of bu?llet-pumpin' mayhem. Ubisoft released a teaser image for Operation Crimson Heist, which is expected to bring a brand new operator, a map rework, and several other new additions to the challenging multiplayer tile.

"Getting the job done can sometimes require a more creative approach", reads the teaser, complete with creepy image of what appears to be a fella in a flat cap, a big-collared coat, and a peering pair of red spectacles. On first glance, I get a sort of "French Resistance Spy" feel from this silhouette, not dissimilar to the hero of Pandemic Studios' 2009 title The Saboteur. Has a time-traveling hipster joined Team Rainbow? We'll find out? soon?? enough.

As Rainbow Six Siege pushes into 2021, the team has begun its battle plan of only releasing one operator per season, while dedicating more time on the technical elements of Siege - from tweaking its mechanics, stomping out bugs, and on-boarding the next-gen platforms, to the addition of new gadgets, weapons, and game modes and features. Still supported by millions of players, and with a spin-off title in the works - Siege's future looks brighter than a flashbang.

Getting the job done can sometimes require a more creative approach. pic.twitter.com/AjrU2TEJnB

— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) February 16, 2021

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Give Buck his frags

Ever since Ubisoft announced that there would only be one operator released per season of Rainbow Six Siege, the team has been diligently reworking and re-balancing some of the more requested chang??es to the aging tactical shooter. Some like the Chalet rewo??rk have been good, while others have been a bit of a mystery. The Year 5 Season 4.3 patch rework falls in the latter category, albeit with some positives.

First and foremost, the biggest change (and possibly the most controversial) is the removal of Zofia's Withstand ability. Previously Zofia could get up on her own after being downed without the assistance of any other teammates – an ability unique to ?her ?without using any gadgets. This ability was at the center of heated debate over the past week after it was utilized in a pro EU match in the lead-up to the Six Invitational. No word on whether the controversy in the eSports realm was the catalyst for this removal, but the timing is rather suspect.

The most personal change for me is the fact that Buck continues to be made into something he isn't with the removal of his claymore, instead getting one of the new utility hard breaches. The patch notes state that the team wanted to lean into his "master of destruction" role and give him a hard breach. To that, I say, "go to hell." No one is going to use him for hard breach; Buck's strengths lie in his ability to play the vertical and that means being alone on a non-objective floor. The claymores we?re integral for his safety. This is on top of him losing his frags. Please Ubisoft, tell me how Buck wronged you.

Another personal attack towards me from Ubisoft this patch was the complete rework of how Kali's gun does damage. Instead of just downing everyone with one shot to the limbs, what happens to you now will be determined by what your character's speed is. One-speeds get injured from a limb shot, two-speeds get downed, and well three-speeds just straight up die. I for one can't wait for more CS:GO dropouts to sit and pick through the entire ma??tch.

So what about that positive I mentioned? Ahem.

🦀🦀🦀Pre-reinforced roof hatches are dead.🦀🦀🦀

When the idea was floated that roof hatches were going t?o be automatically reinforced at the start of the match, the collective reaction among everyone I talked to was "wtf is Ubisoft thinking?" Thankfully the idea died in the test server as it would have wrecked team balance with everyone that could bring a hard breach needing to bring one. Dodged a bullet with this one, y'all.

Other changes are a general nerf to Ash's ability wherein her breaching charge only damages out to 2m, down from 3.5m. The team also sped up the utility breaching charge from nine seconds to seven seconds which annoys me as a Kaid user but I can't complain, I guess. For those wanting to see how bad the patch is in its totality, the full patch notes can be viewed here.

Give Buck his frags back.

Rainbow Six siege Y5S4.3 Designer's Notes [Ubisoft]

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DOORS BARRICADED!

Ubisoft has taken steps to make sure that unwanted doorkickers cannot come abseiling into your Rainbow Six Siege private lobbies. A game known for its fair share of troublemakers, Siege PC player had recently found strangers brute-forcing their w??ay into private teams and then simply refusing to leave.

The hotfix, which is now live on PC, should ensure a tighter infrastructure in lobbies going forward, ensuring that only players who have at least one friend in the squad are able to enter. This will, for example, allow a friend to invite you into a private lobby that they're already a member of, but will prevent players from simply waltzing through the door like the party just started... "Yeah, Mike invited me, you know Mike... Mike". No date was offered for a similar fix for conso??le platforms, which also suffer from t??he same issue.

Rainbow Six Siege, ?which is now available?? on new platforms PS5 and Xbox Series X, will continue to implement fixes, balance tweaks, map reworks, and add extra gadgets and weapons across 2021. For the foreseeable future, Siege will only be receiving one extra operator per season, in order to better focus the d??evelopment team's time on?? improving the core game. Given the huge roster of Attackers and Defenders already available, this is the best plan of action.

Rainbow Six Siege PC hotfix means you can only play with a fr?iend in your squad [Eurogamer]

To fix an exploit where players could join lobbies uninvited, we have released a hotfix that will require PC players t?o have at least one friend already in the squad.

Thank you for all your patience!

— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) January 8, 2021

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Living in a Thermite-free world

Now five years into its lifespan, Rainbow Six Siege is arguably more popular than it's ever been. After an admittedly stumbling debut, Ubisoft's intense multiplayer shooter has gone on to attract over 55 million registered players with its taut, unforgiving, and breathless tactical gameplay. Eschewing the typical run-and-gun nature of most FPS shooters, Siege rewards? patience, planning, precise team synergy, and efficient use of weaponry to create fast-paced, heart-stopping action.

Rainbow Six Siege is the sixth entry in the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series of strategy-based shooters that took the PC scene by storm in the 1990s. In the ensuing decades, the tactical franchise has been reinvented time and again in releases such as Rogue Spear, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and the canceled Rainbow Six: Patriots. For many, Siege represents the natural evolution of the franchise, melding everything that?? came before into one explosive and utterl??y compelling title. One of the greatest shooters of all-time? No doubt.

But Ubisoft is not the first developer to create a counter-terrorist gaming experience, nor was Red Storm Entertainment - the team behind the original 1998 release Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. Way back in the late '80s, French developer Infrogames - still some years out from their industry-changing horror title Alone in the Dark - took?? its own shot at the high-drama, high-stake??s world of siege warfare.

Infogrames' Hostages released in 1988 on an array of home systems. These included the Amiga, Atari ST, Spectrum, Commodore, and even the NES (under the alternate title Rescue: The Embassy Mission). Hostages was an attempt to create an interactive version of a taut siege scenario, most notably drawing comparisons with the 1980 Iranian embassy incident - a six-day encounter that played out on live on British television, ultimatel??y concluding with viol?ent and effective intervention by the S.A.S.

Set in and around a suspiciously familiar embassy, seized by a nondescript terrorist group, Hostages is comprised of several unique sequences as a GIGN squad stor??m the building in efforts to bring the volatile situation to a close. The mission begins with the player tasked to guide a team of crack snipers to specific vantage p??oints around the embassy, creeping through the shadows and ducking in and out of doorways to avoid roaming spotlights, before securing pivotal marksman positions in the embassy's surrounding streets.

Once the team of sharpshooters is safely situated, the player can switch between them at any time. This offers a full view of up to three sides of the embassy, where the sniper can ping terrorists and hostages, and open fire should the situation be deemed appropriate. In the meantime, a three-man breach squad is dispatched by helicopter to the embassy's roof. Covered by the snipers and out of sight of the roaming Tangos, the breach team must safely abseil into position and, given the order, proceed to breach the building via a healthy dropkick through the window. (Your gal Frost doesn't feature in Hostages, so don't sweat those pesky Welcome Mats).

With the embassy breached and the kill-light now green, the entry team moves with speed and precision to sweep and clear each floor of the building. In this hybrid first/third-person sequence, the player uses synergy between both the entry team and the exterior snipers to engage all terrorists with deadly intent, whilst taking care not to bring harm to any of the hostages held within. There's no flashbangs, smoke grenades, or recon drones at play here, so move fast, aim sharp, and put your man down - because he'd do the s?ame to you.

Once the building is cleared and the situation is under control, the mission is evaluated, based on speed, accuracy, hostages rescued, and the overall safety of the team. This is reflected in a novel "newspaper report"-style closing screen, which details the player's actions, while noting any causalities or fatalities sustained in battle. So if your trigger-happy party left both terrorists and hostages peppered with lead, prepare to be c??alled out for it, y?ou absolute monster.

While Hostages only offers four conceptually simple sequences, back in 1988 the game's design was unparalleled. In a market beset by platformers and shmups, Hostages' innovation was jaw-dropping. This blend of stealth, strategy, and action was a rare experience, whilst the large sprites, adaptive soundtrack, and varied gameplay made Infogrames' release feel genuinely epic - like an interactive action movie. At last, we could all be Lewis Collins, and from the comfort of our?? ?sofas, no less.

Compared to the relentless rat-a-tat-tat of rail shooters such as Taito's Operation W.O.L.F., Hostages was a genuinely innovative and game-changing release. Infogrames also went above and beyond in regards to Hostages' 8-bit ports, with the ZX Spectrum edition not only featuring some of the best visuals ever seen on the platform, but retaining all of the stages, music, speech, and even the intro and cut-scenes of the Amiga edition - a rarity for Sir?? Clive's humble home computer.

Hostages was game design on a new level, and stands today as an early example of a genre that rakes in fortunes for modern developers. While the industry often points to franchises such as Metal Gear for popularizing tactical stealth gameplay (as well it should) Infogrames' humble home computer release deserves to included be in the same conversation. While there's no denying that, three decades later, it may come across a little quaint to our spoiled eyes, Hostages is undoubtedly one of the most in??novative and groundbreaking shooter titles ever released...

...And best of all, no-one ever Fuzed the hostage. Ever.

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Guess I should unpack my PS5

It's a huge week for Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege. Not only is new season Operation Neon Dawn now live in-game, but the intense multiplayer shooter is now available for download on PS5 and Xbox Series X, launching a brand new generation? of door-kickin', smoke-poppin', ho?stage fuzin' action.

Operation Neon Dawn brings with it Team Rainbow's first prosthetic-wearing operator: Thailand's Apha Tawanroong, better known by her call-sign "Aruni." The 2-Speed 2-Armor Defender brings the high-tech Surya Gate to the battlefield, an intelligent laser fence that attaches to doors and windows, destroying enemy projectiles and providing more than a slight burn to any Attackers crossing its threshold. Aruni will be the only operator added to the roster this season, allowing the development team time to focus on tweaking Siege's core mechanics.

Alongside Aruni, Operation Neon Dawn brings with it a map rework for Skyscraper. A new rotation has been added to the second floor, while the map's many balconies have been redesigned in an effort to channel Attacker?s indoors faster. In addition, the objective locations have been relocated for better overall balance. New accessibility options have been implemented, offering voice-to-text/text-to-voice functions, chat narration, alternate font sizes, and custom volumes ?for a variety of in-game elements.

Regarding the PS5/Xbox Series X editions of Rainbow Six Siege, all PS4 and Xbox One players can download the respective console upgrade free-of-charge, which will automatically carry over their hard-earned in-game progress. Rainbow Six Siege for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Cross-generational play within the same console "family" is implemented, with the new platforms supporting features such as Quick Resume, Haptic Feedback, and controller sound output. The next-gen editions of Siege ta??rget 120 FPS at 4K Dynamic scaling or 60?? FPS at true 4K resolution.

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Japanese operator breaches your lounge/wallet

Wealthy supporters of Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege now have a new way to showcase their love for deadly breacher Yumiko Imagawa - better known by her call-sign "Hibana" - in the form of a brand new premium statue, now available to pre-order from merch-maker PureArts.

This quarter-scale polyresin statue spot??lights the Japanese S.A.T. operator kitted out in her Elite "Onkochishin" skin. Yumiko stands poised for action with her Kyudo bow, reflecting her in-game MVP pose. For t??raditionalists, the bow can also be swapped out for Hibana's wall-destroying X-KAIROS firearm. Additionally a small-scale Japanese lantern - complete with LED - can be situated on the statue's base to create dynamic lighting effects.

If you want to?? bring Hibana flashbangin' into your living room, then now's the time to take a deep breath. Hibana will retail for $499, with the statue having a limited pr?oduction run of 999 units. Additionally, PureArts is currently shipping Hibana to addresses in North and South America only, so international fans might have to find a proxy pal to pick up the order for them. Be sure to bear in mind shipping costs and potential customs charges.

You can pre-order Hibana right now over on the PureArts website.

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Get your affairs in order...

Well, we all had a good run. We attacked, we defended, we all did our very best. Sometimes you're the spawn-peeker, sometimes you're the spawn-peekie. Either way, it is now over for all of us, from Bronze rank?? through Champi??on. Kiss your loved ones goodbye and prepare for The Last Ride...

...The Tachanka rework is now live in Rainbow Six Siege.

That's right, after years of meandering in one spot - bucket on his head, turret in his hand - Lord Tachanka is finally going mobile. The devastating Spetnasz Defender can now carry his fearsome turret anywher?e he damn well pleases, spraying death from the hip like it was ?a mere Super Soaker... A Super Soaker full of bullets... Like a gun.

If that wasn't e??nough, Ubisoft has done the unthinkable and handed Tachanka a secondary. And it's only a hell-spitting grenade launcher, one capable of banking shots off of walls and doors, laying waste to any team of Attackers foolish enough to encroachi??ng upon our man's objective. Frankly, I don't know why we don't all just stop playing right now.

To put the final exclamation point on the Lord's return, he's only gone and taken his fucking shirt off. So immovably confident in his de??vastating and unstoppable new abilities, Tachanka has decided his iconic inch-thick armor is now purely for chumps, and has replaced it ?? with inch-thicc skin.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it to??lls for thee.

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Skyscraper rework and accessibilty features also incoming

This weekend, Ubisoft officially debuted the next event headed to its tactical multiplayer shooter, Rainbow Six Siege. As previously reported, Operation Neon Dawn will bring several reworks to the super-popular esports title, a?long with brand new Defender Aruni.

Hailing from Thailand, Apha Tawanroong was one of Royal Thai Police's sharpest and most decorated investigators. Her world was shaken, however, when she was involved in a bomb blast while on an operation in Bangkok with Rainbow's Thermite, which resulted in the loss of her left forearm and leg. Undaunted, Apha underwent extensive physical and psychological therapy, before donning prosthetic limbs and returning to her field of expertise. Shortly after returning to action, Apha was approached by Rainbow's crack sniper, Kali, who recruited Apha to black ops outfit and Rainbow collaborator NIGHTHAVEN.

Aruni, a 2-speed, 2-armor Defender, brings to the party the high-tech Surya Laser Gate. Deployed over doors, windows, and hatc?hes, the Surya Gate not only damages any Attackers that step over the threshold, but also takes care of gadgets and projectiles that pass through its field, making its deployment over objectives near-essential. A small gap at the gate's base will allow for drones or well-aimed projectiles, and the generator will power down for a brief recharge period once the field is broken.

Alongside Aruni, Operation Neon Dawn will include a rework of classic map Skyscraper. The balcony area has been trimmed down to force tighter access for Attackers, while the objective rooms have b??een revised to better balance the map. An entirely new rotation has been added to the second floor of the building. Overall, The developers hope that these changes increase the speed and tactical advantages afforded on Skyscraper.

Additionally, a variety of new accessibility options are also being implemented in Siege. These include new voice-to-text and text-to-voice funct??ions, alternate font sizes, custom volume levels for multiple in-game elements, and chat narration options. Given tha??t upcoming seasons will only feature one new operator, the development team hopes to focus more time on adding new features such as these going forward.

Operation Neon Dawn goes live on the test server today, ahead of its official launch later in the season. Rainbow Six Siege is? available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One, and it will also be available to play day one on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

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Step Right In

Ubisoft has teased the next operator heading to its twitchy multiplayer shooter Rainbow Six Siege. Arriving as part of the upcoming Operation: Neon Dawn event, Aruni will be the latest in a long line of  door-kickers to join Siege's expansive roster of counter-??terrorist operatives.

From the short teaser, we see that Aruni will be equipped with a high-tech laser doorway, one that she - and no doubt her teammates - can pass through unhindered, but will probably bring the pain for?? any unlucky Attackers crossing the threshold. From this clip, I'm struggling to ascertain Aruni's nationality, but of note is the metallic flower perched behind her ear. Aruni also looks like she's been in the wars, given her facial scar and what ?appears to be a prosthetic arm and leg.

Operation: Neon Dawn will be the first event to only include one operator, as the development team is choosing to dedicate more time in the coming months to improving Siege's core elements, from match stability and map re-works, to adding new gadgets and we??aponry, all while facilitating the shooter's transition onto next-gen platforms.

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Welcome to my Nightmare

Every Halloween, Ubisoft's multiplayer shooter Rainbow Six Siege likes to get into the spirit of the season with strange and usually horrific in-game events. But seeing as 2020 is a truly maniacal year, Siege's new event, ??"Sugar Fright," is taking a particularly weird turn.

Beginning tomorrow, October 27, Sugar Fright is set within the hea??d of Canadian operator Frost, as her subconscious whisks the R6 trapper away to a dream-scape world of "candy and death." Here, four operators battle it out in new a Deathmatch-style mode, "Candy War" which? includes re-spawn abilities (a first for the notoriously punishing shooter), and the caramel-coated goal of gathering as much candy as possible before the time limit expires.

Oh, and also, everyone is now?? a freaky-ass ??bug-eyed puppet.

Yes, for a little added weirdness, a selection of operators - including Ela, Castle, Pulse, I.Q. Goyo, Zofia, and Frost ?herself are now stylized with Muppet-style heads, a nightmarish vision that has to be seen to be believed. These looks, a??long with new, candy-based weapon skins, can be unlocked in limited-time Sugar Fright packs - which are earned in-game or purchased at a cost of 300 R6 Credits/125,000 Renown each.

The Sugar Fright event ?will end on Novembe??r 10, so be sure to satisfy that sweet tooth while you can.

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