Year 10 and Siege X are now behind us. Year 11 looks like it'll be a bit of a return to form for Rainbow Six Siege, starting with Season 1, Operation Silent Hunt, which brought us a new operator, three more modernized maps, and some other tweaks here and there to improve balancing and quality of life. This season is a bit light on the content side, but after the turbulent Year 10 we had, I'm actually all for a little quiet to get this year rolling. I took a little extra time after having a rocky start to the season, but I'm ready now to give you my impressions of Year 11, Season 1.
On the Silent Hunt we shall go! It's not just the name of the operation, but also a hint as to what was in store for the newest attacking operator. Solid Snake joins Team Rainbow, the first operator to be introduced from outside the UbiVerse. Not much is known about our newest ally (unless you've played Metal Gear, but pretend you haven't) except that he briefly served in the CIA alongside Sam "Zero" Fisher before disappearing. His profile is heavily redacted.
Solid Snake is a 3-speed, 1-health attacker who specializes in infiltration and recon. He uses the Soliton Radar MKIII, a handheld device with a minimap display that indicates the threat level of the immediate area. If the device shows green, the area is clear. Yellow means there is an active defender camera close by, which appears on the map as a yellow dot. If the device shows red, a defender is close by. A Precision Scan can be activated that will then show the location and field of view of any defenders within range on the display.
The gadget has another feature that may have flown under the radar (pun intended) for many players. While looking at the minimap, you'll see the usual walls, doorways, and default cameras, but it also shows you which floors are soft and which floors are not. Soft floors are indicated by lines on the display, which are also reflective of the direction of the floor joists. If you see those lines, you know that floor can be damaged by breach charges or Ram's BU-GI, and Fuze's cluster charges can be placed. This is particularly handy for newer players who are learning floor layouts and points of vulnerability, of course after they've unlocked Solid Snake via the battle pass or with Renown.
His weapon kit is built for close quarters and quick reactions, with the F2 assault rifle and PMR90A2 DMR as primaries and the newly introduced Tacit .45 handgun as his secondary, which has both an integrated reflex sight and suppressor. The F2, also used by attacking operator Twitch, has a high rate-of-fire, but can now be equipped with the vertical grip, which significantly reduces the weapon's vertical recoil. It will still have a good kick if you're not ready for it, but it's much easier to reel it back in and maintain that control.
His options for a secondary gadget are interesting. Solid Snake can actually choose between five different options: breach charge, smoke grenade, impact EMP grenade, stun grenade, or frag grenade. He'll spawn with one in the pocket, but then he has an ability that allows him to pick up dropped secondary gadgets from fallen teammates and enemies. He can only carry one of each, but this means he can potentially have up to five secondary gadgets on his person at any given time, adding even more to his versatility.
Dropped secondary gadget icons. Solid Snake can add these to his arsenal.
The combination of the gadget and Solid Snake's loadout makes him one of the strongest attackers on the roster. For a well-coordinated team, the intel he provides can help protect the flank, determine whether a site is clear, or isolate and eliminate roamers. As a solo operator, I've found Solid Snake invaluable particularly when I can't depend on teammates for callouts or cooperation. Being able to secure my own surroundings and catch strays as they try to flank my teammates has won me more than a few close rounds.
We also got a few long-overdue updates to Skopos. The V10 Pantheon Shells have been adjusted to 1 health and 3 speed, making them move quicker, but also die quicker. They are also now able to punch holes in soft walls the same way Aruni can with her prosthetic arm. It's surprising that this wasn't a passive feature of the Shells from the start; they're robots with incredible combat capabilities, so they should be able to put a good hole in a wall. With these changes, Skopos has been seen more this season than I've seen in any previous seasons since they were introduced in Operation Twin Shells (Y9S3).
I mentioned that the season started off kind of rocky. From the offset, we were plagued with massive stuttering issues, freezing players in place and even causing rubberbanding. As you can imagine, this heavily affected the game's competitive integrity and drew a lot of criticism from players, especially after how well the game performed throughout Year 10, Season 4. However, these stutters were addressed fairly quickly and aren't nearly as problematic, though I still get hit with them occasionally.
The mid-season patch just dropped as well, which brought some big changes, some anticipated and some not. One of the biggest updates is to Rauora's D.O.M. Panel, which can now be deployed from an insane 25 meters (up from 15 meters). Panels also take only one second to open for attackers and six seconds to open and close for defenders. Rauora was already a decently strong operator to begin with, but with these changes, especially the launcher distance increase, means that she'll be better able to cut off defender sight lines for the attacking team, allowing for better rushes and secure plants. Now imagine a good Rauora on the attacking team while you've also got a not-so-good Castle on defense blocking off site doors; defenders are in for a wild ride.
Stuttering issues aside, I've been having a lot of fun this season. My friends and I have been able to queue for even more matches than before, and we're vibing and having a good time. It's also exciting to see how well Siege is performing in the charts compared to where we were 5 months ago, when the game was at its lowest concurrent playerbase since launching in 2015. I'm also excited to see what goes down at the Salt Lake City Major next month, which I will actually be attending, so keep your eyes peeled from some Rainbow 6 esports action here at GamingTrend!
