YouTuber Rogue-9 details a very different R6 Siege from early dev footage

A YouTuber has released a mini-documentary centering on early Siege mechanics while treating fans to a rare look at some of the most in-depth early development footage seen so far. In the midst of the debate surrounding the one-shot headshot mechanic in Rainbow Six Siege, fans will be surely be divided on which mechanics made the cut and which ones were left behind.

Nixed early mechanics detailed in Rogue-9’s video range from a respawn mechanic to the absence of a hero-based gameplay system. It’s almost impossible to imagine Siege without its iconic operators at this point. What’s even harder to imagine is Siege shipping with a respawn mechanic. No respawn and a hero-based gameplay system are crucial to the core appeal of Siege. Without these mechanics, it’s difficult to envision a version of Siege that is as popular as the game is right now.

While Rogue-9 mentions that CS:GO became a successful esport, he also entertains the idea that Siege may not have found the same luck with its more traditional influences. Without operators, Siege would lack the same soul that fans have come to know and love. The YouTuber touches on the class-based system that was originally in place of the hero-based system and it’s quite dull in comparison to the operators fans have grown fond of over the past four years.

With an abundance of early development footage, Rogue-9 both informs fans of the way Siege could have been while also inadvertently highlighting what makes the game special. Some of the ideas shown in the video are absolutely ridiculous, that is until the viewer realizes that those ideas made their way into the game in more subtle ways.

Related: Removing one-shot headshots in Rainbow Six Siege is a bad idea with good intentions

The idea of giving every attacker weaponized drones can be seen in Twitch’s Shock Drone, while Lion’s EE-ONE-D drone is the spiritual successor to the “Scan Eagle,” which was an outdoor video surveillance drone. It appears that the devs were even shaping the future release of Dokkaebi’s defender cams takeover all the way back before pre-alpha.

Maybe the most absurd mechanic present in early development allowed shield players to breach through soft walls when accompanied by another player. At least that idea stayed on the original box art and not the final version of the game.

Rogue-9’s work is informative, if not eye-opening in terms of how games change over their development cycle. While most fans are aware of how the now-canceled Rainbow Six Patriots helped give Siege its legs, this is some of the most in-depth footage seen from the early development of Siege.Rogue9’s video is definitely worth fans’ time.