Flores is equipped with four RCE-RATERO payloads, and while they work similarly to a reconnaissance drone, there are some differences. When deployed, they accelerate continuously and cannot be slowed down or stopped. They also have a 10 second timer so they have to be driven to the target quickly before it explodes. During travel time, the RCE is vulnerable to jammers, electricity and enemy fire, but when the fuse is activated – either after the timer expires or when manually started – the unit becomes bulletproof and remains in place for a few seconds before reaching explosion is coming. The blast won’t break through fortified walls, but it will destroy any defender gadget and kill operators, so it’s an effective clean-up tool. It can even jump, which means you can bypass bulletproof shields and reach higher-ranked gadgets.
On equipment, Flores can use the AR33 or the SR-25 rifles and has the GSH-18 pistol. For secondary gadgets, he can choose from anesthetic grenades or a claymore.
Speaking of equipment, Crimson Heist introduces a brand new attacker sidearm: the Gonne-6. This single shot pistol fires an explosive round that will destroy all bulletproof defender gadgets. You only get one bullet so it should be used wisely, but this can help overcome the obvious advantage defenders currently have.
The map that comes with Crimson Heist is a reworking of Border, the very first DLC map Siege ever owned. It’s not a major change, but is similar in approach to the rework that has been done on Clubhouse. Notable is the minor rearrangement of Armory Lockers and the expansion of Bathroom to give it a wider defense zone and provide a rotation capability to the second bomb site.
In smaller tweaks, a new pulsing proximity alert has been added to the HUD when attacking drones approach a Mozzie PEST device. The Newcomer Playlist has been updated with Border, Oregon, Clubhouse, Kafe, Coastline, and Bank in rotation, and their in-match timings have been changed to be the same as Ranked. There is also a new Streamer mode, designed to prevent stream sniping attacks by hiding important information and slowing down your matchmaking by any amount of time. This should make stream snipers less likely to be matched with a streamer they are targeting.
That’s all coming in Season 1, but there’s a lot more planned throughout the year. As always, new operators are the big draw, with one new operator coming every season this year. The big news here is that the Year Pass has been retired and new Operators are now the first tier of the premium Battle Pass. They can still be bought with fame, of course, but Battle Pass owners will have access two weeks earlier than non-pass owners.
After Flores, the next operator is a Nakoda Native American. Season 3 will introduce a Croatian operator and Season 4 will add an Irish operator.No new maps are planned for year 6 and revisions will remain the norm. After Border’s rework in Season 1, Season 2 will rework Favella, who will remain in the casual map pool and will not graduate to Ranked. Season 3 will not include a major rework of maps, but will instead feature smaller tweeks for a variety of maps. Season 4 reworked Outback.
As established in Year 5, all seasons will also feature a special event as well as new arcade modes and changes to major gameplay features. This year, the changes aim to empower attackers and combat the problematic ’20-second meta ‘at a high level. Rather than attacking defenders, attackers will make various changes to strengthen their position. This starts with the addition of the Gonne-6 sidearm in Season 1.
Major changes are also coming to what can be done in the planning and support phases, to ensure players always have something exciting to do at all stages of the match. Attackers can change their operator choice during the planning phase to respond to what they find during drone scouts. For example, if you see a lot of electronic devices, a player can be informed to switch to Thatcher. This will also encourage players to use the stage to explore the location rather than just driving their drone back to their operator.
During the post-death support phase, both defensive and attacking Operators can access and use their deployed gadgets. If an attacker still has a drone on the map, he can drive it around, while a defender like a Maestro can still use his Evil Eye laser. This helps keep players engaged after they die.
Operator statistics are revised to make them clearer. Each operator’s armor stat is changed to ‘health’ and this is represented by their HP instead of an invisible buff. Low health operators will have 100 health and medium and high health operators will be buffed with 20 and 40 HP respectively.There are some pretty big tweaks coming to three operators. Goyo has his bulletproof shields removed with booby traps; instead, it will place incendiary loads on floors or walls. This still provides the ability to deny the area without being too harsh on attacking operators. Mira and Maestro both get the same change; the glass in their gadgets can be shattered by attackers, obstructing their view. The Black Mirror / Evil Eye must be opened to regain sight lines.
There will be a new Elite Operator Skins Customization System that will allow you to mix and match headgear, uniforms and victory dances. Speaking of skins, seasoned ex-Capcom designer Ikumi Nakamura has designed eight new skins for a selection of operators, including creepier looks for Dokkaebi, Echo and Hibanna. There will also be a Resident Evil Jill Valentine skin for Zofia.
As for IP crossovers, Ubisoft has also teased something about Rick and Morty, but isn’t saying exactly what this will be.
Connectivity and DDoS defense improvements are also planned to ensure a smooth experience. The overall game install size is also reduced to ensure that Siege can be kept on hard drives without taking up too much space.
In addition to all this will be a visual overhaul of the game; a new logo, artwork, color palette and menu design refreshes the game feel and puts emphasis on operators.
All of these changes will be rolled out during the year. It should be noted that these will all reach the technical test server on the PC first and possibly stay there for a longer period of time, as Ubisoft wants to make sure that the changes are correct before implementing them in the main game. Some changes may not be propagated to the main servers.
For more Rainbow Six Siege, check out the game’s developers commenting on our Operators’ designs and our documentary on the making of Rainbow Six Siege.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.