Rainbow Six Siege X Aims To Breathe New Life Into The Shooter, But Don’t Call It Siege 2 – GameSpot
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Ubisoft is marking 10 years of Rainbow Six Siege with a brand-new mode, as well as drastic improvements to classic 5v5 game modes.By
James Carr
on March 13, 2025 at 12:00PM PDTUbisoft has unveiled Rainbow Six Siege X, the next evolution of the multiplayer shooter, coming at the start of Y10 S2 on June 10. Not to be confused with the Rainbow Six Siege 2 some may have been expecting, the update makes a ton of changes to Rainbow Six Siege, big and small. Those include the first new permanent game mode since launch, the 6v6 Dual Front, which is designed to provide a new tactical experience for long-time players, as well as a friendly mode for new players to learn the game.Ahead of the big reveal I got to spend a few hours playing Dual Front, as well as the classic 5v5 mode on modernized versions of existing maps, which have drastically improved lighting and textures, plus a few other changes to the classic formula. While the name and framing might make it seem similar to other live-service titles getting major updates as sequels, like Overwatch 2, Siege X is more about bringing the decade-old-shooter up to modern standards, without losing anything in the process.Dual Front is a new permanent 6v6 mode coming to Rainbow Six Siege X when the update launches. This mode features one large map, with two lanes on each side and a neutral zone in the middle. Each lane has two sectors, which serve as small maps, leading into the enemy team’s base. Team’s will be tasked with taking control of the enemy sectors, one at a time, while also defending their own. How you decide to split up your team of six is up to you, and when players are killed, they do respawn after a roughly 30-second wait. When you respawn, you also have the option to swap operators, with a mix of offensive and defensive operators available. Matches are expected to last around 20-25 minutes, with a maximum of 30 minutes, which lined up with my experience while playing. A match could end much quicker if one team moves through sectors without much resistance.While the mode sounds overwhelming on paper, in practice it’s a distilled version of Siege. Each sector has a small building, like a gas station or firehouse, which serves as the map. These sectors are also mirrored structurally, so each team has the exact same objectives, although each side of the map does have a slightly different aesthetic. Each team only has one sector active at a time, so the action gets focused into the smaller area. These feature multiple potential sites for planting a bomb, with one chosen randomly at the start of the match. During my time playing Dual Front, I found the mode to offer tons of new strategies not present in the main 5v5 mode.In our first match, the team split up into groups of three, one focused on offense and one on defense. The enemy team ended up doing something similar, but after we took over the first enemy sector, they shifted to having more team members on defense, allowing us to send some defenders on the attack. You can get from one end of the map to the other fairly quickly by moving through the neutral zone in the center, but you risk running into enemy players. You also have the option to move through your own sectors and base for a safer, but much longer path, but there is nothing stopping you from moving from one objective to another as needed.Where the strategy comes in, is that you don’t know just how many players on the enemy team are focused on each objective. At the start of the second match, we sent five people on attack and left one on defense. This worked out well for the first set of sectors, as their defense wasn’t prepared for that many people, and the attackers didn’t know just how many people were defending our objective, causing them to play too cautiously against a single defender.The other new wrinkle here is that the operator limitations are no longer based on offense and defense. Dual Front will feature a pool of operators–35 at the launch of Siege X–which will rotate twice per season. Creative Director Alexander Karpazis told me that the number isn’t set in stone, with plans to shift the pool significantly and with built-in synergies, to allow for the mode to feel different season-to-season.I picked Frost, a defensive operator who can place bear traps that will down enemies who step on them. After pushing on offense and planting on their sector, we had to defend it for a few minutes as the capture meter ticked up. With a defensive operator and access to wall reinforcements, I was able to lock down the objective for us to hold it, quickly shifting our offense to defense.As for future plans for Dual Front, Karpazis told me that while the current plans are to evolve the map every season with small changes and different operator pools, but depending on the community’s reaction to Dual Front, there could be more maps and even potentially a ranked mode in the future.Dual Front also gave me a chance to see some of the new additions coming with Siege X that will also appear in the classic 5v5 mode. Rappelling has been upgraded, adding the ability to sprint along the side of buildings and to turn corners. New “Destructible Ingredients” are additions to the environment that provide new tactics. For example, fire extinguishers are now present, which create a smoke screen when shot and will concuss nearby players. There are gas pipes, which spew fire when shot before exploding, letting you block off a pathway temporarily, or blow up any gadgets nearby. These are found throughout the Dual Front map and the new 5v5 modernized maps.Rainbow Six Siege X will also include five modernized maps: Clubhouse, Chalet, Bank, Kafe, and Border. Modernized means multiple pretty significant changes, but none of them are to the map layouts themselves. Those are the same, including the bomb sites, but the feel is quite different, thanks to some improved looks.The three most important changes are to textures, lighting, and sound. For textures, the majority of surfaces had their resolutions doubled, creating more detail in the environments. There is also an optional 4K texture patch on PC, allowing players with high-end rigs to enjoy even sharper textures. This combines with a new lighting system, meant to provide more realistic shadows and illuminations. In practice, this changes the way maps look significantly. Not only are areas like the brick walls of Clubhouse far sharper in detail, but the new lighting system allows the red brick to have a more saturated look.All of this comes together to create a noticeable and significant coat of paint on these maps. While much of this doesn’t necessarily impact gameplay, there are some aspects that do. For example, the new lighting system creates more detailed and realistic shadows for players. It also allows you to see your own shadow, which is important because standing too close to a doorway could mean casting a shadow into the next room, potentially giving away your position.The audio improvements also make a huge difference. The main improvements here are the direction, reverb, and muffling. Now, when gunshots or footsteps are heard, it’s much clearer which direction it’s coming from, both horizontally and vertically. In Dual Front, I was able to give much clearer callouts to my teammates when I heard enemies approaching, thanks to the improved sound. The reverb now changes based on the size of the room, and gunshots heard through walls are more muffled, making it easier to tell not only which direction a sound came from, but if it was in another room or not. In a methodical, tactical shooter like Siege, audio is incredibly important and these improvements felt immediately noticeable in match.Siege X is launching with five modernized maps, but Ubisoft confirmed that, each season, three additional maps will get the modernized treatments. Starting in Year 11, brand-new maps with these features will start to be added regularly as well.Part of the hope for Siege X is that it will create another opportunity for new players to jump into the multiplayer shooter. Dual Front, a mode with respawns, is a big part of this push, but Ubisoft is also moving Siege to a “free-to-access” model. This model will allow players to jump in for free, with a guided experience from level 1 to 20.While the onboarding will certainly make the new-player experience easier, Karpazis did point out that the barrier to entry can’t be completely removed, since Siege is a game with over 75 operators, all of whom have different special gadgets to use. There will still be an intense learning curve for new players, but the hope is that this more on-rails start will at least ease some of that pain.This onboarding experience will unlock new modes, tutorials, and operators as they level up, with a total of 26 operators unlocked in this leveling experience. Free players can enjoy everything Siege has to offer, with two exceptions: Ranked and the Siege Cup, ranked tournaments that serve as the most competitive offering Siege has. Unranked, TDM, Dual Front, and any other mode can be accessed by free players, with no time limits or restrictions. Karpazis told me that he expects many players to play the game exclusively for free, although it’s important to note that free players will still be able to purchase microtransactions, like new operators and cosmetics.Karpazis told me that this new model makes it easier than ever for new players to try out Siege, with Dual Front as a premier mode to attract them, without compromising the Ranked experience of Siege. He said that the price of the game to get access to Ranked and Siege Cup isn’t changing from what it’s currently at–$20 USD, but regularly discounted. He also noted this decision should help to curb Smurfing–making a new account to play in lower-ranked lobbies–an issue that many free-to-play shooters have struggled to deal with.Ranked is also getting a minor change to the way operator bans work. Instead of teams going back and forth, making multiple bans at the start of a match, each team will simultaneously ban one operator before each round, shortening the time it takes to get into a match and allowing for more strategic bans based on which operators the other team picks. These bans are reset when teams switch sides and all bans are disabled in the event of overtime.For longtime players of Siege, they will be happy to know that nothing currently in the game is going anywhere. All of their cosmetics and purchased operators will be available with Siege X, and existing players will receive some in-game rewards as well. While Ubisoft didn’t tell us what the rewards are, players will receive them for each year of Siege they have played and a special badge based on which year they first started playing.Rainbow Six Siege X surprised me, as I was expecting a far more massive overhaul to the shooter, similar to over live-service games in the space. Instead, Ubisoft has chosen to not touch what players love about Siege and what makes it unique, which is the methodical, slow-moving tactical-shooter gameplay focused on breaching and defending spaces. Dual Front builds upon that idea, giving more flexibility without compromising the core premise, and importantly, not replacing anything. The modernized maps feel like meaningful improvements, even if the changes are more on the periphery than in the core gameplay. Siege X is attempting to thread a needle that has alluded other multiplayer games, but a focus on adding without removing features or drastically changing the core of the game makes Siege X feel like an update that could satisfy both new players and people who have been playing for a decade.Ubisoft also teased that there are some reveals for Siege X that haven’t been shared just yet, with a Reload event in May, prior to the launch of Siege X. A Siege X closed beta is also now underway.Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.comUse your keyboard!Log in to comment
