Rainbow Six Extraction is a spin-off in the long-running Rainbow Six series. It is a sequel to the events in Operation Chimera and Outbreak events in the critically acclaimed and competitive Rainbow Six Siege. The game came out a few days back, and sport several maps and missions to keep players engaged for hours. The gameplay is a lot different, and Extraction has a twist and an eerie setting to set it apart from what the series offered before. In total, there are four regions in the game, with 3 maps each, in Rainbow Six Extraction.
Every map is the size of a Rainbow Six Siege map and is further divided into 3 sub-zones. The sub-zones can be considered as levels, and players are assigned a task as they move forward in an operation. The tasks get harder and harder as players move up the game. They can request an extraction at any point during the game if they think they are not going to make it out alive. Death in a game can be quite serious in Rainbow Six Extraction. The operator becomes temporarily unavailable. They will only come back if the player goes on a rescue mission and saves the operator successfully.
Here are four regions featured in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction:
1. Rainbow Six Extraction: New York City
Rainbow Six Extraction focuses on Parasite extraction across several locations in the United States. These locations have been identified as hotspots by “REACT”, the rescue and research team, to find the roots of the Parasite. The regions are also filled with Archaeans, a form of aliens outgrowing and taking over human civilization. New York City is the first playable area we unlock in the game. The Parasite emerges in Liberty Island and spreads to a few more regions in NYC.
Liberty Island
In the opening cutscene of the game, it is shown that the Parasite emerges in Liberty Island, the home of the Statue of Liberty. It attacks innocent people who had gathered around the cultural landmark and takes over the place from the civilization. The Liberty Island is a playable map in the game. Players can go on several missions to fight the Archaeans, or collect intel on their weaknesses.
Monolith Gardens
Monolith Gardens is a high-rise residential complex in New York City. It has become overgrown and abandoned as the infestation has spread across it. Monolith Gardens is a very intense map for corner-to-corner combat. With several levels in the building, and hundreds of corners to take cover in, this is one of the most interesting maps in the game.
Police Station
The Police Station map is self-explanatory, but you can barely recognize it. The Archaean infestation is at its height in this map, and the strategic design of the map gives some nerve-wracking combat opportunities. This one feels like one of the Rainbow Six Siege maps and is yet another great addition to the New York City region.
2. Rainbow Six Extraction: San Francisco
The Achaeans have taken over the West Coast of the United States too. More specifically, these powerful alien creatures overran San Francisco, and we get to play in three different hotspots in the city. They are as follows:
- Tenderloin: Tenderloin is a neighborhood in San Francisco. Infestation of the Parasite has caused residents to flee, turning this once beautiful residential hub into an abandoned hotspot.
- Enterprise Space Foundation: This place was once upon a time an advanced company with headquarters in San Francisco. But, Archaeans have overrun the place, and now it is a hotspot.
- Apollo Casino and Resort: The third, Apollo Casino and Resort, used to be a great safe house from the alien Parasite. However, with Archaeans taking over, civilians ran away from this place fast. With several corners and the iconic setting of a resort, combat is a bit tricky on this map.
3. Rainbow Six Extraction: Alaska
Alaska was among the earliest to get filled with the Archaeans. The maps in this region unlock a bit later in the game, once you level up. Alaska has three maps, like the previous two regions:
- Eurydice Valley: It’s among the earliest locations the alien infestations targeted. This hit the unprepared community hard. It has three sub-zones named Eurydice Farm, Eurydice Commons, and the Missile Silo.
- The Orpheus Research Center: This one is undoubtedly among the most critical regions in the game. It is a real research center where important investigation on the Archaeans was in progress. But, infestation overtook the place, leading the research work to shift. Now, it functions as a combat ground for intel collection and rescue operations.
- Nome: Nome used to be a quiet farm. However, it seems to be one of the worst-hit regions with alien infestation presently. The safe and quiet environment of the farm let the aliens infest without much hindrance.
4. Rainbow Six Extraction: Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences is a map located in New Mexico. It is where the alien pestilence began, i.e., the place the first infestations surfaced. Rainbow sent a lot of their elite operators to contain threats, but the alien parasite spread out of control. The special operators required for missions on this map are, fortunately, plentiful. Also, Truth or Consequences provides the most challenging combat scenarios in the game. The first two maps are:
- Downtown: Infestations are crawling the downtown area of the city, hence it’s an Archaean sprawling ground these days.
- Dam: Alien infestations hit the Dam region of the city hard. It caused the entire hydroelectricity plant to go defunct, creating massive issues.
- Sierra County Hospital: The third map, Sierra County Hospital, is near the ground zero spot, i.e., the one that saw the first parasite infestations spread. It has been infested for quite some time, making combat on this map extremely challenging.
Final Words
Rainbow Six Extraction does involve visiting the same maps over and over again. At times, you need to revisit the exact spot where your operator went MIA in the last match to rescue him/her. However, the gameplay mechanics are extremely dynamic, and no two visits feel the same ever. The enemy sprawl reacts very differently at times, thus, the maps feel like a new adventure every time.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction is now available on Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows.