A Striking New Mode: Rainbow Six Siege: Outbreak Review
- Ben Stembridge
- Feb 22, 2018
- 3 min read
When I first reviewed Rainbow Six Siege, I was taken by surprise. The game presented a somewhat nuanced and very unique approach to online multiplayer, as well as how to manage a first-person shooter. I was less surprised by the game’s release making less than a noticeable splash. While fun, I’m not kidding when I say that it’s nuanced - being well-versed in other FPSs will not prepare you for Siege. Matches move fast, death is oh so permanent, and objectives and the strategies around them are uniquely difficult. With Siege, players had to get used to it, and some weren’t prepared to wait.
With Siege within its third year of activity, and with several “operations” DLCs under its belt, the folks with Ubisoft are testing a sharp new game mode, thankfully with no serious limits. It’s called Outbreak and debuts for all players on March 6th for a limited time run during the Operation Chimera Season. Outbreak introduces a paranormal enemy and a new objective to the mix. Reminiscent of Call of Duty’s Zombies, Outbreak pits players against a mysterious and wretched alien pathogen. Taking place in urban New Mexico, enemies take the form of afflicted civilians who are transformed into zombie-like beasts.
Following the crash of a mysterious satellite, the people in the vicinity fall victim to the fast-spreading infection driven by some alien force. Results include more than just infected humans, as the pathogen creates other monsters to challenge you. The objectives surrounding the new mode differ greatly from the base game’s as well. Rather than moving into an occupied area to disarm an explosive, one objective has the team plant one. It’s a welcome change from the many classic Terrorist Hunt modes involving a number of explosives to dispatch.
Outbreak also gives Siege a chance to shine a bit more light on their character design. Siege has never focused much on narrative or thematic elements, aside from background on each Operator’s life. This new DLC gives us context around a narrative (shoot bad aliens) and it’s very refreshing. Some cutscenes here and there also draw you into the mode far easier than a simple objective. And, like I mentioned, character design is given some serious attention. Aside from just our favorite Operators decked out in new hazmat suits and the context around them, the designs for the infected people are excellent, especially for the game’s first crack at it. Alien growths protruding from shoulders and arms, wails of rage all cultivate a genuinely threatening vibe.
The pathogen-afflicted enemies function very similarly to the cordycep brain infected enemies in The Last of Us. Grunts, the first level of the alien infection, act like crazy people, less like zombies. In fact, they similarly don’t attack until they are made aware of you, or are confronted directly .They rush and crowd players, flailing around with their disturbing contusions and spikey growths. The other levels of infection include Breachers, a human mutated into an animal-like attacker, that explodes with nasty toxins when destroyed. Others range from equally disturbing mutations, to frighteningly humanoid monsters. On the subject of character, these baddies provide Siege with a much needed boost to their catalog. A masked jerk with a gun seems meaningless compared to these howling creatures. We also get two new operators with Outbreak: Lion from France, and Finka from Russia. They feature some new gadgets and abilities including a surveillance drone and some fancy healing nanobots. Interestingly, only a select number of Siege’s many Operators will be playable during this mode.
The environments and levels featured in Outbreak cover a range of civic and public areas. An overrun hospital, housing a surviving doctor with mission critical info is one being tested with the ongoing limited test. Others include the streets and city blocks and other buildings of note, all running rampant with monsters. With the objective of planting bombs comes a new and improved gameplay feature: waves. Siege has always featured a swarm of enemies that attack once an objective has been started (disarming a bomb, rescuing a hostage, etc.). However, Outbreak provides the first genuine wave system in the game, as planting a firebomb on an alien growth prompts scores of monsters to attack. It’s a well-established game trop, but works wonderfully and thrillingly in this new mode.
All in all, Siege’s new Outbreak mode is a welcome shot in the arm to a game that is on an upward climb to more mainstream success. While the mode will only be available as a limited event from March 6th to April 3rd as part of Operation Chimera Season, we expect it will return. It’s a solid addition to solid game.
Ben Stembridge, Editor-in-Chief
Ben leads the reviews and news coverage for Game Chop. He also offers opinions on games and the industry, covering a wide range of genres and platforms. Ben especially enjoys discussions on game narratives, design styles, and independent titles.
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