Ubisoft has taken the wraps off Season 1 of Year 8 of the Rainbow Six siege, Operation Commanding Force, which introduces new features, a new operator, and “further anti-toxicity measures.”
The new season also introduces the game’s all-new Mousetrap feature, meaning players who jump to the console when using a mouse and keyboard will “trigger a penalty that adds delay to their inputs.”
“The goal of this penalty is to encourage fair play by removing the unfair advantage mouse and keyboard players have on consoles,” Ubisoft explains. “When active, constant use of the 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.”
The new Brava operator is described as an “invaluable new attacker equipped with the Kludge Drone gadget”. This drone disrupts enemy surveillance and provides counter-tactics such as technology reuse for her team, and carries a PARA-308 or a CAMRS as a primary weapon and a USP40 or a Super Shorty as a secondary weapon.
Command Force also brings a balance update to Zero, “Play Section UI improvements, a balance change to weapon attachments, and a new immersive reload system: stopping the animation will leave the player without a magazine, but weapons with closed bolts they will have a single round for the player to use at any point during the reload.” the latter is also there to help new players learn the “various operator specialties”.
As for those anti-toxic measures?
“Further anti-toxicity measures include a new reputation penalty for abusive voice chat,” Ubisoft explains. “When 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 .”
From tomorrow (February 20) until March 20, players can purchase the limited-time Year 8 Pass that unlocks four seasonal Battle Passes, 14 days early access to new operators, “exclusive” Exotic skins, and 10% off items in the shop . Get the Premium Year Pass, however, and you’ll get all of the above plus 20 extra “Battle tokens that players can use to unlock rewards faster.”
The Season 1 Battle Pass also introduces the Bravo Pack Ticket, “a rare item that allows you to choose an exclusive reward from the latest Bravo Collection” once you reach level 100 in this season’s Battle Pass.
Rainbow Six Siege is out now on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and last-gen consoles.
Rainbow Six Siege hackers recently took advantage of the ban stream – which notifies players when someone has committed a banned offense – to display images on other players’ screens.
The images displayed by hackers range from polite to very unsafe for work. The latter has been particularly problematic for streamers because displaying such content can lead to a channel ban.