Rainbow 6 Siege: X didn’t get a new operator last season–though it might as well have considering how in-depth Ubisoft’s rework of Thatcher was–but the upcoming Operation Silent Hunt more than makes up for that. Often considered one of the main progenitors of the contemporary stealth genre, the Metal Gear series has been lauded the world over for its influence on the industry, unique world, and memorable characters. And first among them, none other than Solid Snake from MGS1 is coming to R6 as an attacking operator on March 3rd, thanks to a collaboration between Ubisoft and Konami.
Sam Fisher, Ubisoft’s own stealth super-star from the Splinter Cell games, was already introduced several years ago, but he seems more than happy to welcome Snake to the team. As seen in the teaser trailer for the new season, Sam Fisher and Solid Snake replicate that thunderous handshake from the beginning of Predator, marking for a rather unexpected reunion of characters that haven’t received a new entry in their series in nearly a decade. And speaking of which, the beloved original voice actor for Snake, David Hayter, has reprised his role–much to the glee of the community.
Snake’s role in Siege looks to be recon, as he’s equipped with the very same Soliton Radar gadget that commanded the gameplay in Metal Gear Solid. And it indeed is used very similarly; displaying a top-down schematic view of the map you’re currently on and providing intel about the enemy. Passively, it will tell you if there is an enemy or a watched camera in the vicinity, though when activated with one of its limited charges, it will show the live positioning and orientation of defenders on the map. Before you shout “wall-hacks,” rest assured that defenders can negate its effects like any other attacker’s scanning gadget with operators like Mute, Vigil, and Alibi, and you’ll be alerted when the device spots you. Snake’s kit consists of a primary of either the F2 or the PMR90A2 DMR , a unique secondary silenced pistol called the TACIT .45, and… all of the gadgets. Yes, Snake has a trick up his sleeve: he can loot the bodies of friend or foe for his choice of attacking gadget. You only start off with one of any gadget, but you can accumulate one of all them for a total of five throughout the round.
Additionally, Ubisoft is introducing a MGS themed 4v4 [REDACTED] event (not censored) and skins featuring other famous characters from the game series, like Meryl, Gray Fox, and who looks to be Revolver Ocelot. There’s no new map this season, but the Coastal, Villa, and Oregon maps have apparently all been “modernized,” which presumably means some possible tweaks to their layouts and more of the somewhat new environmental hazards. Lastly, there’s a laundry list of balances that go as follows according to the Ubisoft page for Operation Silent Hunt:
- Skopós is accelerating to a 3-speed, with faster shell transitions and less cooldown time; plus, her shells will now have the soft destruction power of the Aruni punch.
- Ela’s Grzmot mines will now concuss victims for longer.
- Amaru will gain an extra charge for her Garra Hook.
- Alibi’s Prisma decoys will now ping an extra time and the final ping will linger longer.
- Observation Blockers will deploy more speedily.
- Flores can equip the T-95 LSW LMG.
- Shield users will no longer be able to bash through full-health barricades (with the exception of Blackbeard’s breaching ability).