As popular as Rainbow Six: Siege has been for years now, it's clear as day that the game doesn't really serve the same niche as R6 used to, back in the day of Raven Shield or, heck, even Lockdown. A dedicated PvP game that riffs on hero shooters of yore, Siege is its own beast in this day and age, and that's what may have gotten you, too, to consider whether now's the time to play Rainbow Six: Extraction, instead!

Now, to be perfectly clear, Extraction isn't a classic breach and clear game, either. Using Siege's baseline and one of its more infamous time-limited events, R6: Extraction is a PvE cooperative stealth shooter where objective completion is absolutely crucial. In a way, it's a more casual GTFO!

While the game's been somewhat overlooked since its release late in 2022, we found ourselves enjoying it quite a bit. To that end, we'd like to explain why we think you, too, should give Extraction a fair shot. In more ways than one, it's entirely unique, and it shows what the contemporary Tom Clancy franchise could potentially pull off.

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Now's The Time to Play Rainbow Six: Extraction - Here's Why!

We'll be completely honest here: R6 Extraction is every bit as good as the likes of Back 4 Blood and World War Z: Aftermath. It falls behind in some ways, to be sure, but it more than makes up for it in others. In fact, each of the three featured games has a niche of its own that, depending on your preferences, may make you enjoy one over the others.

• WWZ: Aftermath features the biggest zombie hordes ever seen in a video game
• Back 4 Blood delivers L4D-style assault gameplay with an inventive progression system

And now, at long last, with Extraction finally available for purchase on PC via 2Game, we can add it to the list. We haven't yet decided which of its features is the most important to us, but down below, we've prepared a key shortlist of its biggest upsides. Check them out!

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#5: It Delivers on Its Promises

From the get-go, Extraction's central conceit has been to expand upon R6: Siege's infamous Outbreak event. Facing off against a viral, extraterrestrial infection that rapidly takes over key areas across the world, the Rainbow Six team needs to duke it out with the fungal hive-mind using guns, gadgets, and guile. And, what do you know, the game succeeds in showing just how dangerous this strange new foe is.

While it may seem like a straight-faced FPS, like Siege itself, Extraction banks far more heavily on its excellent stealth systems. These are compounded further by the fact that you can easily get overrun if you don't keep a close eye on all the aliens around you, and they do spawn infinitely if you don't keep them in check. Add classic Siege wall destruction mechanics into the mix as well as a few curious new gizmos, and you've got a winning combo right there.

#4: It's a Slower, More Focused R6: Siege

Extraction plays almost exactly the same way Siege does. At its core, though, the game is incomparable with its PvP predecessor simply because the tension doesn't come from duking it out with other players. Instead, alien mobs patrol the area and you need to avoid and/or deal with them - however you see fit. Gunfights need to be kept short and players need to stay as aggressive as possible, all the while trying not to alert the entire hive to their presence.

It's a difficult game, make no mistake, but the difficulty is remarkably fair! For one, there's always the option to ditch the objective and run. And, depending on your fireteam, you may rely on that escape button rather often. This is a game where the level itself will eventually end up conspiring against you, thanks to the creeping mold thing that covers everything. In most cases, you want to stay stealthy for as long as possible and, when push comes to shove, have an escape plan at the ready.

#3: It's All About Objective Completions

And, indeed, objectives are your bread and butter in Extraction. No matter how many Archaeans you gun down, the fungus/mold can always make more. There's no outgunning the threat this time around, you see. Instead, the goal is to reconnoiter, extract key information, keep people safe, and develop a way to safely contain the threat. It's really quite like XCOM when you see it in practice.

Furthermore, the game's features that help you avoid combat get underlined this way, too. Sure enough, sometimes you'll need to hunt down, destroy, or capture certain types of Archaean drones. In almost every case, however, there's a stealthy way of going about your job. The balance present here is quite incredible indeed. Makes it all the sadder that the game's been so overlooked since its inception.

#2: It's Going to Remind You of Older R6 Games

This is a strange idea, we'll concede, but it's true. Extraction has more in common with the old Rainbow Six games than it does with Siege. Naturally, it all boils down to its PvE versus PvP gameplay loop, but the way the game feels plays a big role here, too. Namely, you'll need to strategize your approach on the fly and execute it with pinpoint accuracy. Archaean scouts are everywhere, and they will inevitably end up pinning you down. The where and how of this problem, however, lies in your handling of the objective at hand.

Fans of Vegas and Lockdown are almost certainly going to find Extraction lovely due to this approach. And, obviously, there's the issue of aliens being the target of Rainbow's surgically applied rage this time around, but the core principles do indeed stay the same.

#1: It's More Fun Than You (Probably) Think

The simplest possible truism about a video game is whether it's fun or not, and it's almost funny to see this element of gaming get overlooked during the critical assessment. Here's the good news, then: Extraction is fun. It's the tense sort of fun, where you don't always know whether your team will get out of the mess you've made for yourselves. And then you consider the fact that, if one of your operatives gets lost, you'll need to mount a tricky rescue operation while you could be assessing the Mold instead.

While we're big fans of Ubisoft's output in general, we often find ourselves enjoying the most overlooked titles the most. Extraction didn't leap into the limelight. We're not sure why, exactly, that ended up being the case, but the lack of marketing is bound to have helped. So, we can't help but recommend leaping into the fray with this one while there are enough players to go around. It's a complete product that delivers a surprisingly fun experience. In the end, that's really what matters the most.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction vs. Siege

For our last point of contention, there's the comparison of Extraction and Siege we need to take into account. While the two games do have a similar gameplay core, Extraction and Siege couldn't be more dissimilar otherwise. Whereas Siege is an excellent PvP multiplayer game focused on tactical, gadget-based combat, Extraction is a tense solo or co-op PvE shooter. Don't expect to get the same sort of gameplay experience from the two, then.

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