Rainbow Six Siege
Ubisoft Montreal · Shooter, Action
Overview
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is an elite, tactical team-based shooter where superior planning and execution triumph.
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Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is the undisputed reference in tactical team shooters, where elite strategy and execution triumph.
Enjoy free access to Quick Match and Unranked game modes with a selection of operators.
Certain features like Ranked playlists, Siege Cup, additional operators, and cosmetics require payment to unlock.
HIGH STAKES 5v5 ATTACK VS. DEFENSE
Alternate between attack and defense, adapting your approach to each operator and map. Feel the thrill and intensity of the action as you leverage next-level destruction and gadgetry to outsmart and outplay your opponents in every round.
On defense, transform your surroundings into fortified strongholds. Reinforce walls, set up barricades, and deploy traps to control enemy movement. Use surveillance tools to gather intel and anticipate their approach. Hold your ground, adapt to their tactics, and outplay the attackers at every turn.
On attack, gather intel on enemy positions and the bomb site using your observation drones. Coordinate with your team to breach reinforced defenses, bypass traps, and create unexpected openings. Take your enemies by surprise with vertical plays – striking from above, below, or making a daring entry through windows by rappel. Plan your assault, execute, and defuse every situation.
TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION
Destruction is more than chaos: it is a key tool for your success. Use the environment to your advantage – turn walls into windows of opportunity. Use state-of-the-art technology to track enemy movements, shatter walls to create new lines of sight, and manipulate your surroundings to secure the tactical advantage.
FROM RECRUIT TO ELITE
A solid onboarding journey for new players, including a new clearance level path that helps you learn the basics progressively and build the skills and confidence you need before jumping into tactical action.
CONSTANTLY EVOLVING
Every season brings major updates, with new content and features for renewed tactics and gameplay.
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE
Join a massive online community of over 80 million players. Watch top-tier pro teams battle for supremacy in the prestigious Rainbow Six Siege Esport Competition.
Access to the game is free; certain features, including competitive game modes, operators, and cosmetics require payment to unlock.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,999 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Reviewers still describe Siege's core as one of a kind: destructible walls and floors, droning and cameras, gadgets with counters, one-shot headshots and sound you can play by ear. One player says it "ruins other shooters." The free-to-play relaunch has brought in a wave of new players who find it hard but thrilling, especially with a group of friends. Many reviews are love-hate jokes. Hundreds call the game hell, torture or a toxic ex and still leave a thumbs-up, and some thumbs-down reviews concede the game itself is great.
The complaints are mostly about what surrounds the matches. Solo-queue teammates (17% of substantive negative reviews), cheaters and distrusted anti-cheat (13%), crashes, disconnects and the abandon penalties that follow them (11%), monetization (8%), slow launches and Ubisoft Connect account trouble (7%), Ranked 3.0 matchmaking and smurfs (6%) and false bans with unhelpful support (6%) come up again and again. Players past 50 hours write most of these. Launch and account trouble is the exception, since it hits brand-new players hardest.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Tactical depth: destruction, gadgets and soundHigh
Newcomers with a few hours and veterans with thousands praise the same thing: nothing else plays like Siege. Walls and floors can be opened, reinforced or turned into murder holes, every operator's gadget has a counter, droning and cameras decide rounds, and one-shot headshots make every peek risky. One veteran's review sums it up: "the map is a puzzle you can rewrite," "information matters more than aim" and "you can play half the game with your ears." The sound gets praise in other reviews too, often with advice to buy a good headset, and players reach for chess comparisons ("chess with guns," "chess with C4"). Comparisons with Counter-Strike, Valorant and Call of Duty cut both ways: some newcomers find Siege a refreshing change, while some veterans say it has drifted toward Call of Duty's run-and-gun. Some negative reviews open by conceding the core design is excellent before turning to what surrounds it.
Best played with friendsHigh
Many recommendations come with a condition, often some version of "fun with friends." Custom games with the group chat, five-stacks on voice, and laughing at a friend who blew up the team with a Fuze charge are what the fond stories are about. The condition often comes with a warning about playing alone ("Only play with friends do not solo que"), and some reviewers say they would only suggest the game to people who have a group.
Free to try, and it runs well on modest PCsMedium
Newer players like that it costs nothing to try, and a few note that operators can be earned with Renown and that the game is not pay-to-win. Reviews report high frame rates on old laptops and budget GPUs (GTX 1650-class cards, an 8-year-old gaming laptop), and one sums it up as "good optimization." Others report crashes and frame drops after recent updates (see the stability section).
Operator variety and a high skill ceilingLow
Some players credit the roster of 70-plus operators for keeping rounds different, and several long-time players say reworks have kept older operators relevant. Others praise the skill ceiling: improvement is real and noticeable, and for one newer player "every single match is a challenge."
Where players are split
The love-hate addiction loopHigh
Hundreds of reviewers describe Siege as hell, torture, a drug, crack, nicotine or "a toxic ex I keep coming back to," then recommend it anyway, now and then signing off with "See you tomorrow." Others use the same framing to vote no: they say it damaged their mood, their sleep or their friendships, and they warn newcomers off because it is so hard to quit. The thumb on these reviews says little, since the same joke can come with either one. Where they differ is whether the pull is worth it.
The steep learning curveHigh
Reviewers describe the onboarding as brutal. Maps, operators, gadgets, reinforcement, callouts and sound cues take 100 hours or more to learn by some reviewers' estimates, and the first stretch is mostly spectating. Whether that is a feature is where they part ways. Players who stuck with it call it the point ("Hard to learn, but very rewarding once you get the hang of it"). Others, especially newer players and those coming from other shooters, say the tutorial explains too little, quick match throws them against veterans and smurfs, and true beginners have nowhere to learn. Some suggest a newcomer-only playlist.
Ranked access: the level 50 gate and paying for rankedMedium
The free-to-play model locks ranked behind clearance level 50 and a purchase, plus two-factor authentication. Some players accept it ("only have to pay for ranked," "worth it," it keeps cheaters out), and several newcomers say they are excited to unlock it. Others object that it takes a long grind to reach (one reviewer puts it at 80 hours), that paying for a competitive mode in a free game is greedy, and that players who bought Siege before the relaunch got little for it. A running joke turns the gate around: "stop at level 49," because ranked is where the misery starts.
Veterans versus newcomers on what Siege has becomeMedium
Long-time players, including many in the older edited reviews, say the game has changed for the worse, and one calls it "a shell of its former self." Their list: sci-fi gadgets and Fortnite-style skins over a once-grounded counter-terror setting, removed maps and ACOGs, balance tuned for pro play, and the loss of Terrorist Hunt and the marketplace. Newcomers and some returning players see a different game. One says Siege has "come back to life," and others say their friend groups returned and the game is in a good place after the recent seasons.
Operator balance: shields, Solid Snake, Noor and the nerf cycleMedium
Reviewers argue about balance in both directions. Shield operators (Blitz, Montagne, Clash) draw steady complaints, and the Solid Snake collaboration operator draws repeated calls for a nerf or removal from ranked. Noor, the new shield counter, is described as either the answer shield players deserved or too situational to matter. A second thread argues Ubisoft nerfs whatever becomes fun (SMG-12, DMRs, scopes, Doc, Dokkaebi) instead of buffing weak options, while a few reviewers call the current balance the best it has been.
What frustrates players
Solo-queue teammates, toxicity and teamkillsHigh
Teammates are the most common complaint, raised in 17% of substantive negative reviews and in plenty of the joking ones: random teammates who do not drone, reinforce, plant or talk, who "sell" rank-up games, and who flame or teamkill. Reviewers describe losing ranked games they top-fragged, teammates leaving in the first round with no relief on rank points, and griefers teamkilling over a reinforced wall. Toxic voice chat and slurs come up often, and some players say they simply mute everyone. Most of this is about solo queue, and the usual advice is to "find a stack." About four in five reviews that mention teammates come from players with 50 or more hours.
Cheaters and an anti-cheat players don't trustHigh
Cheating appears in 13% of substantive negative reviews. Players describe wallhackers and aimbotters in high-ranked lobbies (some say every other match has one, from Emerald up), recoil scripts, and XIM or Cronus devices on console crossplay. Each new anti-cheat update is described as bypassed within days of a season launch, reporting is said to do nothing, and players resent losing rank points to cheaters with no rollback. A few reviewers say the anti-cheat is good or better than before; far more call it a facade or say it was bypassed right away. Most of these reviews come from players with 50 or more hours.
Crashes, disconnects and penalties for the game's own failuresMedium
Stability complaints appear in 11% of substantive negative reviews, and much of the anger is about punishment. The game crashes or drops a player mid-ranked, refuses to reconnect ("connection failure" loops), and then issues an abandon sanction, a rank-point loss and a reputation hit. Players also report bugs that return every season (the voice-chat bug, invites that never arrive, parties that will not form, cosmetics resetting), lobbies that stop loading after a couple of rounds, ping spikes into the thousands, being routed to distant servers, and memory leaks and frame drops after updates. One player says the new anti-cheat released in early September crashes the game constantly. Several veterans say every season launch arrives broken.
Monetization: packs, pricing and paywalled operatorsMedium
Monetization comes up in 8% of substantive negative reviews. Complaints center on Alpha pack duplicates and low odds of a Black Ice, expensive Elite and collab skins, new operators going into the premium battle pass, battle passes that return fewer credits than they cost, skins removed from the shop after players saved Renown for them, and the loss of the player marketplace. A few players report paid bundles and starter packs never delivering credits. On the other side, several reviewers point out that Renown is earnable and that cosmetics do not affect play.
Slow launches and Ubisoft Connect account troubleMedium
This comes up in 7% of substantive negative reviews and weighs most on brand-new players: about a quarter of negative reviews under 2 hours are about never getting into a match. Players describe 5 to 15 minute launches, anti-cheat updates that force a restart, Ubisoft Connect failing to connect or sign in, new accounts suspended after a few wrong password attempts, Steam linking to an old Ubisoft account that cannot be changed, "authenticating ownership" errors, and 2FA prompts that will not complete. In early September, several players report that buying the battle pass bundle through Steam stopped the game launching entirely, and that support could not find their accounts.
Ranked 3.0 matchmaking and smurfsMedium
Six percent of substantive negative reviews target matchmaking. The recurring picture is Silver and Gold players facing former Diamonds and Champions after the rank reset, a lopsided mix of ranks on the same team, placement matches that did not count, and small point gains against large losses ("go up 10 elo on a win go down 95 elo on a loss"). Smurfs and bought accounts are blamed for lower lobbies, and some players ask for a solo or duo queue separated from five-stacks. At least one veteran reports the opposite: after Ranked 3.0, "I'm finally having a blast again," with friends coming back to the game.
False bans and support that closes ticketsMedium
Bans and support come up in another 6% of substantive negative reviews. Players describe permanent cheating bans on accounts idle for months or years, bans for "cheater association" after a friend shared an account, false flags from the new anti-recoil detection, and hijacked accounts banned for the hijacker's cheating. What these reviews share is the appeal process: canned replies, tickets closed within an hour, and no reason given. One warns others not to spend money on the game because of it.
Hit registration and netcodeLow
A smaller group complains about headshots that do not register, full magazines that "tickle," dying behind cover, and replays that do not match what the player saw. Players connect it to peeker's advantage and server tick rate, and it often appears alongside the stability complaints.
Reputation system and chat restrictionsLow
Some players say the reputation system punishes the wrong people (reputation drops from crashes, false teamkill reports from players who walked into fire), that AI text moderation flags harmless names, and that voice and text chat restrictions (including age verification in some regions) undercut a game that depends on communication.
Forced crossplay for PC playersLow
A small group of PC players objects that console players can disable crossplay while PC players cannot, and that console lobbies bring in XIM and Cronus users with no way to opt out.
No Linux or Steam Deck supportLow
Some reviewers dropped the game because the kernel-level anti-cheat blocks Linux and Steam Deck, and several recommend against it for that reason alone.
3. The player conversation
Gallows humor sets the tone. Half the reviews are a few words long ("peak," "hell," "balright," "we're in copper"), and many are exaggerated tales of suffering, broken monitors, ruined lives and nans who think they are Fuze, often with a thumbs-up attached. Thumbs and text frequently disagree, so the 69.5% positive figure probably understates how much players like the core game and overstates how satisfied they are with everything around it.
Playtime mostly shows who raises what. Many negative reviews from players under 2 hours come from people who never got past the launcher, account setup or a crash, plus console veterans starting over on a Steam account. Players in their first 50 hours write about learning the maps, playing quick match and customs with friends, and counting down to level 50. Past 50 hours the reviews turn to ranked: cheaters, smurfs, teammates and rank-point losses. Those players write most of the substantive complaints.
Week to week, the conversation is stable. Every week from the end of August through late September landed between 73% and 75% positive, with no sign of a shift in either direction. The older reviews that resurfaced through edits run far lower (47.8% positive) and read as a separate, long-running thread: veterans adding an edit year after year, usually "still bad," and once in a while to say the game is fun again.
4. What the developers could do
- Make cheating visibly costly in ranked. Cheating is the second most common complaint. Players ask for faster bans in high-ranked lobbies, rank-point restoration when a cheater is banned, and real action against XIM and Cronus devices.
- Protect solo players in ranked. Teammates are the top complaint. Some reviewers ask for a solo or duo queue kept apart from five-stacks, and others for heavier penalties for leavers and griefers and smaller rank-point losses when a teammate abandons.
- Stop punishing players for the game's own crashes. Stability reviews keep returning to abandon sanctions, rank losses and reputation hits after crashes or failed reconnects. Players want a reconnect that works and penalties that tell a crash apart from a rage-quit.
- Tighten Ranked 3.0 placement and rank spread. Players describe former Champions in Gold lobbies after resets, placements that did not count and lopsided point gains and losses, all of which make climbing feel arbitrary.
- Shorten the path from launch to a match and fix account friction. A quarter of the negative reviews from brand-new players are about never reaching a match, citing long launches, anti-cheat restarts, Ubisoft Connect sign-in failures, account suspensions and the Steam battle pass purchase that broke launching.
- Give ban appeals a human review. Reviewers banned on idle or hijacked accounts, or by new anti-recoil detection, say support closed their tickets with canned replies and no reason.
- Ship season updates with fewer returning bugs. Veterans say each season launch brings back the voice-chat bug, party and invite failures and cosmetic resets, and one blames a test server that ran for only a week.
- Let PC players opt out of crossplay, and make new operators playable without the battle pass. Both come from small groups: PC players who meet XIM and Cronus users in console lobbies, and players who object to new operators going into the premium battle pass.
