GOTY 2022 NOMINATION - Rainbow Six: Extraction

It’s cool to be a carapace.

By Jonathan Garrett
21/12/22

Although it started life as a limited time Siege event, Rainbow Six: Extraction turned out to be significantly more nuanced and addicting than it has any right to be. On paper, it’s quite unremarkable; complete a series of randomised objectives, get out of dodge, and repeat. But it has consistently offered up some of the most fraught last second escapes and memorable moments of our multiplayer gaming from this year.

The gradual ramp up of difficulty, which ties in with impressive enemy variation, gameplay modifiers, and the aforementioned lottery of possible mission types, truly delivers on the “no two runs are the same” back of the box quote so often touted but rarely achieved. Just when you think you’ve settled in to some kind of groove, Extraction pulls the rug out from under you without ever forgetting to keep it fun.

Case in point: the game launched into Xbox Game Pass in January. And we’re still playing to this day. As a budget price release, it’s also a very generous package; plenty of maps, unlockable characters / equipment, and the randomised elements will keep you coming back for more. It’s therefore a worthy contender in our GOTY 2022 discussion.