Rainbow Six Extraction is Ubisoft’s latest attempt to introduce a multiplayer tactical shooter game that allows players to team up and fight against aliens. The game was first revealed during E3 2019. But at that time it had the name “Rainbow Six Quarantine.” Later on, in June 2021, its name was changed to Extraction. And after getting delayed three times, the game has been finally released for the PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

What Extraction is All About

When Ubisoft first revealed the game, I thought it was going to be something similar to Left 4 Dead. However, it’s a totally different game. In Extraction, you are a part of an organization called REACT whose sole purpose is to eliminate the threat of aliens called Archaeans who are a big threat to Earth. These creatures first took over New Mexico, and then slowly spread their terror to other cities including, New York City, San Fransisco, and Alaska. You start out in New York and then unlock other cities as you make progress through the game.

Gameplay

If you’ve previously played Rainbow Six Siege, then you won’t have a difficult time understanding the game’s mechanics. This is because Extraction is a complete spin-off of Rainbow Six Siege. You’ll find a lot of similarities between the two, as this one also focuses on a stealthier approach towards taking down targets. You are assigned the task to complete missions called incursions, and each one will have a set of three objectives that will be divided into three different zones. Each zone will provide you with 15 minutes to complete the task. You will have the option to move on to the other zone if you are unable to complete the first objective. As for weapons, they have been carried over to the game from Rainbow Six Siege. You will find each and every weapon that was present in the mentioned game.

Rainbow Six Extraction Review — Objectives

The Operators

Rainbow Six Extraction allows players to choose from eighteen different operators, and they also have been carried over to the game from Rainbow Six Siege. Each operator has a different set of skills and tools that can assist him or her in their missions. For instance, there is an operator who can use a heartbeat sensor to detect nearby enemies, while another one is capable of destroying walls instantly. At the beginning of the game, you will have a total of nine operators unlocked. As you make progress through the game, you’ll unlock more of them. Furthermore, you will also upgrade your operator as you play with them, all the way up to tier 10. Each tier will further improve the skills and talents of the operator.

Co-Op Is More Fun

While the game allows you to take on the aliens all by yourself, you can team up with two more players to create a 3-player squad. In fact, the game has been designed for a co-op experience. However, keep in mind that as the number of players will increase, the game will automatically make things more difficult. For instance, when you start an incursion with a full squad, you’ll find way more enemies than you would if you go in solo. The most amazing thing is that if you purchase the game, then Ubisoft will provide you with two buddy passes. Through this, they can download the game for free to play with you. However, keeping in mind that they will be able to play the game for free for only 14 days. After that, they will need to purchase the game. I guess Ubisoft just wants your friends to try out the game and see if its worth any money or not. Or maybe they’re hoping that your friends get hooked to the game during their free trial and end up purchasing it.

Furthermore, the game lets players choose from a total of four difficulties. These include:

Moderate
Cautious
Severe
Critical

Moderate is the lowest difficultly level and you can complete a match in it with your eyes closed. However, in the highest difficulty level, that is Critical, things get intense as there’s a 100% chance of parasite mutations. I will suggest you try the lower difficulties only to understand the mechanics of the game. Once you’ve got the hang of things, shift to a higher difficulty without wasting a single second. This is because the game is fun only when the aliens pose a big challenge. On the lower difficulties, it feels like a walk in the park. I tried the game both solo and with a full squad. And without a single doubt, playing with a full squad is more fun compared to launching into the mission solo as you can have a more tactical approach towards the game when you’re with your teammates.

The Zones

There are a total of twelve maps available in the game, with all of them having three different sub-zones. Each sub-zone is going to have a different objective that you will need to complete. As mentioned before, you will have 15 minutes for it. You will be given three random objectives out of the total 12 the game has. Some of them include capturing an elite alien, placing explosives on alien nests, and so on. And if one of your operators is taken down while completing the mission, then the game will provide you with an objective in which you will need to save that operator. And until you save them, you won’t be able to use that operator.

Stealth Is The Key To Victory

As mentioned before, the game focuses heavily on stealth and it even rewards those who implement this approach. It is an absolute must to have a silencer on at least one of your weapons, as you just can’t survive without it. This is because if you use a loud weapon, you’ll instantly attract enemies. While this may not be a problem when you’re playing at a low difficulty level, it can get you instantly killed at a higher difficulty level. Therefore, either you can use a weapon equipped with a silencer to take down your target, or you can silently approach them from behind to perform a takedown with your knife. Both methods will prevent surrounding enemies from hearing your sound.

Performance

I tested the game on the Asus Zephyrus G15, which has the following specs:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB
Ram: 16 GB
SSD: 1 TB
Display: 165hz 1440p

I didn’t face any major performance issues while playing the game. There were some times when the FPS did drop, but these moments were few. Other than that, everything was smooth and I had no problems whatsoever. With everything set to Ultra, I was able to get 60-70 FPS at 2K resolution. At 1080p, you can expect this number to be much higher. You can check out our Rainbow Six Extraction best PC settings guide for high FPS.

There was one issue where the game wouldn’t launch if I didn’t have my AMD drivers updated. I was constantly getting the error “Compatible Hardware not Found.” This is something that I haven’t faced with any other games.

Final Verdict

Overall, Rainbow Six Extraction is a fun game, especially if you’re a big fan of tactical shooters. The only problem I found with the game is that things can often get repetitive, something that might make you lose your interest in the game. Other than that, if you have two friends who are willing to play with you, then it’s definitely worth getting it. Compared to the other games where you can fight against aliens, Extraction is pretty different. It lets you have a tactical approach towards taking them down, instead of creating havoc. In the coming months, we can expect Ubisoft to add new content to the game, such as new maps, zones, and missions, something that might make the game less repetitive.