A new year is upon us, and that means a new year of Rainbow Six Siege content is also on the way. Rainbow Six Siege Year 8 (yes, we’re all the way up to Year 8) will offer up four new Operators, one new map, a rework of Frost and the Consulate map, and more. Developer Ubisoft Montreal is also promising new efforts to combat toxicity and a number of new features that should make the game more approachable for new players. You can get a rundown of the Rainbow Six Siege Year 8 plans, below.
And here’s the full Year 8 roadmap for your perusal (click the image for full resolution).
We already have details on Rainbow Six Siege Year 8 Season 1, entitled Operation Commanding Force, which adds the new Brazilian attacker Brava. In what’s sure to be a heavily debated move, Ubisoft is also rolling out a new “Mousetrap” system, that will penalize those who try to use mouse and keyboard controls against console players. You can get more info on everything included in Operation Commanding Force, below.
New Operator
Brava (Attacker)
- Primary Weapons – PARA-308, CAMRS
- Secondary Weapons – USP40, Super Shorty
- Gadgets – Smoke Grenade, Claymore
Unique Abilities And Playstyle
- Kludge Drone – Brava’s Kludge Drone is a sabotage tool capable of taking over opponents’ devices. If the device can’t be controlled, it’s destroyed instead.
Operator Specialties & Challenges (Onboarding)
- Operator Specialties – Operator Specialties identify an Operator’s playstyle in-game. All Operators have one to two specialties which can be checked during the Planning Phase, in the Operators section, and in Operator Guides.
- Specialty Challenges – Specialty Challenges aim to help beginner players learn the various Operator specialties and what they contribute to a match. By completing challenges, players can earn a variety of rewards, including an Operator after finishing all challenges for a single specialty. If the Operator is already owned, players will earn their value in renown instead. All players can be complete the challenges and earn all rewards, not just beginners.
Seasonal Weapon Skin
“Travel to the luscious and vibrant landscapes of Brazil with the seasonal skin collection included in the Lush Foliage Bundle. It comes with the Tropical Underbush weapon and attachment skins, the Flowery Relaxation charm, as well as the Thunderous Nature operator card background! The seasonal weapon skin will be released at season launch and available for purchase throughout the season. Once unlocked, it remains in your inventory indefinitely and can be applied to all available weapons.”
Mousetrap (Mouse & Keyboard Penalty On Console)
“Coming in the middle of Operation Commanding Force, players who use mouse and keyboard on consoles will activate a penalty that adds lag to their inputs. The goal of this penalty is to encourage fair gameplay by removing the unfair advantage that mouse and keyboard players have on consoles. While active, continued use of mouse and keyboard gradually increases the lag over several matches, making it harder to aim and shoot. Completing matches with a controller will gradually reduce the lag back to normal.”
Player Protection
New Reputation Penalty: Abusive Voice Chat
“This season introduces a new Reputation Penalty for abusive voice chat. While active, this penalty mutes repeat offenders by default to prevent hateful and disruptive content in voice chat. Muted players can still use voice chat but will only be heard by players who unmute them.”
Balancing
- Reload Rework – Reloading has been reworked so that interrupting the animation will leave the player without a magazine, but closed bolt weapons will have a single round for the player to use at any point during the reload.
- Zero Update – Zero’s Argus camera has some new behaviors. Zero can command his cameras to pierce through surfaces while controlling the Observation Tool. Once the camera has pierced a surface, teammates and Zero can swap to survey either side at will unless they’re eliminated.
Rainbow Six Siege Year 8 Season 1 will also include the usual array of fixes and balance tweaks. You can check out the full, unabridged patch notes for the season, right here.
Rainbow Six Siege can be played on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. Operation Commanding Force kicks off on March 7. While you wait, you can still jump into the current season, Operation Solar Raid.
