It will be a big week for gaming enthusiasts as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction releases on January 20. The series of tactical military shooters takes you to a new territory, pitting you and your teammates against alien parasites rather than terrorists

Set for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, the background to the game has enough hooks. The Chimera parasite that caused an Outbreak in New Mexico not long ago has suddenly reappeared in multiple sites across the US, deadlier than ever and spreading rapidly. To monitor the parasite and prepare for any future threat, the Rainbow Exogenous Analysis & Containment Team (REACT), a highly specialised and outfitted organisation was created. Your mission is to confront mysterious creatures, known as the Archæans, who are now more lethal than ever before.

The game’s original title was Rainbow Six Quarantine because it was planned in the pre-pandemic era. During the pandemic Ubisoft Montreal decided to change the title and rightly so. Marc-Andre Clermont, level design director on Rainbow Six Extraction, has told USA Today: “Roguelikes were definitely a strong inspiration for us during development. We thought there wouldn’t be any need for tactics if there without any risk or tension. The concept of characters going missing in action or losing your operator, putting everything on the line, was there from the very beginning. We’re not saying it’s a full-on roguelike compared to other titles, but similar to that genre, every time you put everything on the line. It creates interesting moments between teammates where everyone goes, ‘Do we go a few more rooms, or stop here?’ This ties into Rainbow Six Extraction’s name; it all comes together for a risk-versus-reward concept.”

Get set to fight Archaeans like Sower, Tormentor, Lurker, Bloater and Apex.