Operation Chimera brings 2 new operators and zombie co-op to Rainbow Six Siege
Siege 3 Dead
In Adam's review of Rainbow Six Siege, he mentioned how he'd love to see Left 4 Dead 3 take place in Siege's impressively destructible buildings. Three years on, he's about to (sorta) get his wish. Outbreak mode is a co-op event that'll run until April 3rd, in which three players have to help each other survive against zombie hordes.
The new mode is live now, and it's just one head of the Operation Chimera update which also adds 2 new operators, weapon skins and balance changes. Read on to get acquainted with Lion and his scanning drone, plus Finka and her healing nanites.
First though, let's get you up to speed on Outbreak mode. Those zombies have a pleasantly sci-fi origin story, being the result of a crashed space capsule stuffed with an infections alien parasite. As you might expect, that parasite has twisted some boring old humans into exciting zombies with special abilities. Breachers can blow holes in what Ubisoft paradoxically describe as indestructible walls, while Rooters "send out coral spikes from the ground to injure and immobilize their targets". Filling in for Left 4 Dead's Tank is the Apex, which will send waves of hostiles at you and chuck blinding projectiles at you when you try to hunt it down.
It'll take place on three new co-op only maps. There's the "ageing resort" of, um, Resort, the "grim and narrow hallways" of Hospital, and the sparsely described "outdoor setting" of Junkyard.
It all sounds splendid to me: I like the idea of using co-ordination to vanquish monsters rather than human players. We'll be checking out the mode next week. Brendy has already promised he'll "help me die", so look forward to that.
Onto the operators. Lion is an attack operator who's all about "Anger", "Regret" and "Sacrifice", according to his bio page. He's also about a flying drone that can scan the whole map three times each round, providing his team with a temporary wall-hack. Finka is also an attack operator, and she can use her nanobots to provide everyone on her team with a short HP boost and steadied aim, as well as revive anyone who's been knocked down.
You can find their full loadout details on Ubisoft's Chimera update page, where you'll also find their list of balance changes and quality of life improvements.
It's a good time to get into Siege. From today, Ubisoft have removed the Renown costs to unlock the games original 20 operators in the game's Standard, Advanced, Gold, and Complete Editions. They're removing Renown costs for attachments too. Alas you will not have Renown refunded for things you have already unlocked, "due to a technical limitation" Ubisoft say.
Speaking of unlocks, with Year 3 starting today, Ubisoft have launched a new paid pass to instantly unlock all 8 of the operators due to arrive over the next 12 months.
It might be a good time to get into Siege, though maybe not exactly this moment - a tweet from the Rainbow Six Siege account suggests that the Chimera update is having a few launch issues. Chance trying to get into the game this evening, or wait until tomorrow: the choice is yours.