Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (to drop its seldom-used full name) really has come from strength to strength. Once an also-ran, now a genuine esports phenomenon. For those fashionably late to the party and confused as to what’s going on, imagine Counter-Strike, but where all but the sturdiest of walls, floors and ceilings can be shot to ribbons, and where every single player has a bag full of fancy gadgets and traps to flummox their opposition.
It’s best played with friends on voice-comms, but hugely popular nonetheless. This weekend is a fine time to give it a try for yourself. From now until Sunday evening, the game is completely free to try on Steam, and discounted for those who decide they’ll be sticking around.
Ubisoft has revealed a new teaser and background information for Maestro, the second Italian operator coming to Rainbow Six Siege in Operation Para Bellum. The oldest of eight children, Maestro—real name Adriano Martello—joined the Carabinieri at 18 and earned a spot in the 1st Paratrooper Regiment, then moved to the Gruppo di Intervento Speciale (G.I.S.) and took part in joint operations in Iraq.
Following that experience, he retired and went into business for himself, training special forces troops and PMC mercenaries. He eventually decided to re-enlist, first to help train a Tuscania unit to a Tier 2 classification, and then as a member of the Rainbow team. None of which tells us what he's going to do when the bullets start flying, although the intro hints at it.
"His expertise lies in blocking access to key locations, and his blunt style allows him to see through smoke and mirrors, for which he has no patience," it says. "He shines when joined by his long-time G.I.S. teammate, Alibi."
In the video, Maestro appears to control a remote weapon system—a turret, perhaps, or maybe a mine—from his phone, triggering it when some unlucky soul ventures too close. I'm not sure what the deal with the lighter is: The cigar we've seen in earlier images isn't present, so maybe it's a symbol of a life snuffed out—a reminder that life is fleeting, and no matter how brightly we burn, our light can be extinguished as quickly and easily as snapping a finger.
Or maybe he just likes fire, I don't know. We'll find out during the Rainbow Six Siege Pro League finals, running May 19-20, when Maestro, Alibi, and all of Operation Para Bellum will be fully revealed.
The Italians are coming to Rainbow Six Siege, and so is a free weekend—this coming weekend, in fact. Ubisoft announced today that interested but uncommitted gamers will be given full access to all maps, modes, and Operators at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on May 17.
Preloading is slated to begin sometime today, so you can jump in and shoot at people as soon as the free-to-play period starts, rather than having to wait for a download to finish first. Any progress you make during the free period will carry over to the full game, should you opt to purchase it.
It's all fairly standard stuff for a free weekend, but you can dive into the details if you like at ubisoft.com. The freebie will come to an end at 1 pm PT/4 pm ET on May 20. Ubisoft also said that Rainbow Six Siege is on sale for up to half-price, but for the moment it's going for full bang on Steam, Humble, and Ubisoft's own store—it's possible that the price will drop once the free weekend is live, but be aware that for now, no discount applies.
Ubisoft has pulled back the curtain ever so slightly on the new Rainbow Six Siege defender Alibi, one of two new Italian operators coming to the game in Operation Para Bellum.
Alibi, real name Aria de Luca, was born in Libya and emigrated to Italy with her parents when she was three. After winning gold in two divisions in a European shooting competition, she was recruited by the Carabinieri, where she served with the Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale before earning a spot in the Gruppo Intervento Speciale. She then worked undercover for several years as part of an operation that brought down the Vinciguerra crime family.
The update doesn't say anything about how Alibi will actually play, but the teaser video suggests she'll be able to deploy holographic decoys and will wield a Beretta Mx4 Storm carbine—which we (probably) already knew, thanks to previous leaks and analysis.
Ubisoft also showed off the new Villa map coming in Operation Para Bellum over the weekend, and we'll no doubt be getting a tease of the second operator, the Pavarotti-with-a-gun guy bearing the on-the-nose codename Maestro, in the near future. The full reveal of Operation Para Bellum will be livestreamed on Twitch during the Rainbow Six Siege Pro League finals, running May 19-20.
Tom Clancy just keeps churning out excellent video games. Despite, you know, the obvious. Both TC’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Rainbow Six: Siege are experiencing the sort of lifespan that I thought, for sure, would have been comparable to say… Evolve? Jokes on me: both titles are going strong and only getting better. TCR6S is entering the second season of its third year, which is just gosh dang commendable in this cluttered multiplayer market. The Para Bellum update comes with two new operators and an impressive map. Today, we get our first look at it, and it is genuinely a thing of beauty.
Ahead of the full reveal of Rainbow Six Siege's Operation Para Bellum, the Italian-themed update that will herald the start of a new season in the shooter, Ubisoft has shown off its new map, Villa, in full for the first time.
It looks stunning, if you ask me. Previously we only saw faraway shots of the villa as two new operators crept through a field of wheat, but now we get a full run-through to the backdrop of a sunset in the Italian hills. The map is full of marble statues, ornate fountains (look out for the Assassin's Creed logo) and cosy wine cellars. It's a shame it's all going to be riddled with bullets in a month's time.
The house is three stories tall, and although the video shows what looks like an underground portion—with a garage and those massive wine barrels—I think that's actually just the ground floor that you can see from the outside. The floor above is fairly open, with a huge kitchen in the middle, while the top floor is a lot tighter, and includes a hidden passageway behind a bookcase. The layout should call for completely different strategies depending on where the objective is placed.
In designer's notes ahead of the update, Ubisoft also said that the fastest operators will be slightly slower after the update, while the slowest characters will be given a small speed boost. "We have seen that speed was stronger than armor in almost all situations," it said. "To refine that balance, we will bring both ends of the spectrum closer to the middle. The intention of this change to the speeds is to make high armor Operators more viable."
Ubisoft is revealing all the details of Operation Para Bellum on May 19th and 20th during the Pro League Finals in Atlantic City, which will be livestreamed on Twitch. Judging by previous time scales, it should be live in early June.
What do you think of the new map?