Rainbow Six Siege Dual Fronts mode preview: an all-new Siege experience

As a fan of Ubisoft’s first-person shooter, Rainbow Six Siege, since its early days I must say I’m surprised to see the game is still doing so well.

No shade to the game at all, like I say I love a bit of Rainbow Six Siege every now and then but I know my days of squad-wiping the enemy team and consistently getting MVP are long behind me, but others those days are just getting started. That’s why it’s incredible to me that 10 years after launch the game is getting a brand-new mode, Dual Front, and while it wasn’t quite my cup of tea I can objectively say it’s a fine addition to the game.

Speaking of Ubisoft titles, Assassin's Creed Shadows launches later this month, and it's look spectacular so far

Dual Front is a mode that takes the basics of Siege but jumbles it around as well as bringing something new to the table. For example, rather than your team being formed of attackers or defenders as usual, you can actually choose from either specialisation with a few restrictions. Only around half of the game’s operators are available, with that pool changing and expanding as the mode evolves.

Your team is also composed of six players rather than five, and the map you play on is much bigger, with three objectives to attack/defend for each team, plus some bonus side objectives. Another major change is you’ll respawn when you die, you don’t have to sit and spectate the match as you would in the normal game.

Now my opinion is a little mixed on the whole thing, as there’s some stuff I like about it and some stuff I’m not too keen on.

What I do like is how the new mode encourages me to choose operators I wouldn’t normally try. For instance my favourite in the whole game is Kapkan, a defender who has an excellent area denial ability in the form of mines attached to doors/windows, and I like his choice in weaponry. When I’m in the objective I’m typically holding all the cards as I do a pretty good job of keeping people out of the building it’s in. Attacking the enemy’s objective though? That’s a tall order for Kapkan as his abilities just aren’t built around being aggressive, and his weapons don’t really have the range either. This encouraged me to switch characters between deaths to try different approaches, and that’s something I thought was neat.

It also works for those who just won't try operators they wouldn’t typically play as, without the pressure of performing in the base game, where death is permanent until the round is over. You don’t feel like you’re letting your side down trying something new when you can just respawn and try again. It’s going to be a great mode for newcomers who aren’t familiar with the game, as the skill floor will be much lower and it’ll do a good job of teaching you the basics as well encourage you to experiment with operators and their abilities.

Playing this mode with friends is going to be a blast too, as to win the game you need to somehow balance defending your objective while attacking the opposing teams’. Communication is going to be key and understanding how your operators could work together and what role they're best suited to is how I imagine you’ll get that victory screen. I think the only trouble you’d run into with this mode is if you find yourself solo-queing a lot, as if you have a team that isn’t playing cohesively and doing their own thing you’re going to struggle, though to be fair you could argue that about the base game too.

Personally I can’t see myself playing Dual Front all that often, but not because I didn’t enjoy my time with it. I just like the more finite rounds of the base game and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Having Dual Front as an option though feels good, and having a new mode that’s both enjoyable to play and so vastly different to the base game 10 years after Rainbow Six Siege first came out feels nothing short of extraordinary to me.

I’d highly recommend playing it for yourself when it launches as part of Year 10’s second season. Veteran players will get a kick out of it and newcomers will benefit from it, enough said.