Ubisoft revealed Operation Vector Glare, the second season of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 7, will arrive on June 7. This season introduces Sens, a new Belgian Operator, a new Team Deathmatch map, Phase 1 of the new Reputation System bringing Privacy Mode and other updates, a narrative change, and more gameplay improvements.
Operation Vector Glare puts strategy at the forefront with the new Attacker Sens, a brilliant tactician from Belgium with military experience and training in psychology. Their R.O.U. Projector System gadget deploys a wheel that travels in a straight line to leave behind small projectors and self-destructs after a set amount of time. The projectors construct a wall of light that blocks players’ line of sight, so making a versatile approach fits right into Sens’ wheelhouse. They are a low speed, high health Operator, carrying a new weapon, the POF-9 or a 417 as a primary weapon and an SDP 9MM or a GONNE-6 as a secondary weapon.
Alongside Sens, an exclusive new map for Team Deathmatch mode arrives at the season launch. Set in Greece, Close Quarter is the first dedicated Team Deathmatch map that focuses on movement rather than defence setups. With a circular flow and a good mix of different lines of sight, this facility will be a unique experience for players to try.
As part of the Year 7 roadmap, Phase 1 of the Reputation System arrives this season to continue addressing player behaviour improvements. In this update, Reverse Friendly Fire will be activated by default for those who injure too many teammates. Players will receive two warnings before the penalty is activated, and sanctions expire after playing multiple matches without injuring teammates. Further updates address those who misuse the match cancellation system by bringing more control to players throughout the process, from the initial request to the match cancellation itself. In addition, Privacy options are now available to all players in the Options menu.
Two onboarding tools will be added this season: Shooting Range, a playable space to practice, train, and experiment with weapon damage, attachments, and recoils without the pressure of a match to find the best loadout; and Operator Guide, which informs players about each Operator, their unique abilities, gadgets, and any tips for Attacker or Defender strategies. Further updates include a third slot for secondary weapons for certain Operators; and an option to adjust screen shake intensity.
As announced at the Six Invitational 2022, a narrative change will be coming to the Siege universe: the Rainbow Six Operators will now be split into specialized units. These squads will work together to fulfil Rainbow’s mandate of global protection. Operation Vector Glare introduces the Wolfguard squad, the world’s foremost humanitarian military unit known for its compassionate and careful approach. Most of Wolfguard’s members are trained in field medicine and specialize in the protection of some kind: Lion, Montagne, Nomad, Twitch, Ying, Sens, Clash, Melusi, Bandit, Frost, Thunderbird, Castle, and their team leader, Doc.
Ubisoft is partnering with SEGA and its Yakuza franchise to create two exclusive skin bundles for Rainbow Six Siege. A bundle inspired by Kaoru Sayama will be available for Hibana, and a bundle inspired by Kiryu Kazuma will be available for Echo. Additionally, a new elite skin for Echo inspired by another iconic character from the Yakuza games will be coming soon.
Also coming with Operation Vector Glare is the Squad Up Reactivation Program: players will be able to invite up to four former teammates who have not played during Year 7. After playing five matches together, in any PVP game mode, both players will earn big rewards. Players inviting their former teammates will earn rewards for each of their four friends completing the program: from new Year 6 Operators, a new exotic weapon skin or other fallback rewards including Battle Pass points if they already own those Operators. Each returning invited player, after playing five matches, will unlock a Year 4 or Year 5 Operator or other fallback rewards.