Xbox One owners can play 'Rainbow Six: Siege' for free through the weekend

By Gabe Gurwin July 28, 2016

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Burnt out on killing demons and knights in Dark Souls III or catching Pokémon at your local park? With new games only coming sporadically during the summer, it can seem like you have to continue playing what you’ve been playing for months. If you have an Xbox One, however, and haven’t tried out the fast-paced shooter Rainbow Six: Siege, you’ll be able to do so for free through the weekend.

Beginning Thursday, all Xbox One owners with an Xbox Live Gold subscription will be able to take part in “Free Play Days.” This means unlimited access to Rainbow: Six Siege until midnight Sunday. While the game doesn’t feature a traditional campaign — instead, its “story” missions essentially serve as tutorials for the multiplayer component — four days is plenty of time to try out the quick, destruction-heavy competitive mode or the cooperative Terrorist Hunt.

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Should you like what you’ve played enough to purchase Rainbow Six: Siege, you can purchase the game from the Xbox store at a discounted rate all through the week, and any progress you made and achievements you earned during the trial period will be carried over.

The decision to offer the game for free at this time is no accident. The second season final for the Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League will be broadcast on Saturday, and the game’s latest content update, “Operation Skull Rain,” is scheduled to launch in early August. The DLC, which will be available a week early to season pass owners, introduces two new operators from Brazil, as well as a new map that Ubisoft calls its “most destructible map to date.” As with other content updates for the game, it will be available for free.

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The best Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction

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Based on the very popular Outbreak mode that appeared for a limited time in Rainbow Six Siege, Rainbow Six Extraction expands on the co-op-focused gameplay as opposed to the pure round-based PvP style of the main game. However, this title retains nearly every element from Siege, including the high tension gameplay, dynamic destruction, emphasis on snap reflexes, and teamwork. This game is so targeted at fans of the long-supported tactical shooter that they even carried over the same Operators from that game, although with some small changes, into Rainbow Six Extraction. However, facing the Archaean monsters is very different than human opponents.

Just like in Rainbow Six Siege, the Operators that made it into Rainbow Six Extraction are very well balanced for the most part. Most will have the same general kits, including weapons, gadgets, and gear, while others have had tweaks to fit the new style of game better. At launch, we have a roster of 18 Operators to pick for every mission, though only nine available right from the start. Even if your favorite made the cut, you'll want to have at least a backup or two ready for when they get injured or captured and you're forced to swap. To help you form the best team, here are the best Operators in Rainbow Six Extraction.

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Rainbow Six Extraction turns the formula established by Rainbow Six Siege on its head, pitting you and and group of teammates against a horde of zombie-like enemies instead of against another team. The game comes with Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) built-in, but even with a supported graphics card, I've been using the in-engine dynamic resolution setting.

With this setting, I was able to double my frame rate, all with a surprisingly low impact on image quality. Those with the best graphics cards can use DLSS; for the rest of us, Rainbow Six Extraction's dynamic resolution is a dream come true.