Rainbow Six Siege is going free-to-play and getting a massive overhaul after 10 years

Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege has been around for nearly 10 years, and now, its developer is setting up a “new era” with Siege X. The game is getting a tremendous visual overhaul and finally going free-to-play, Ubisoft confirmed at a press event last week.

A box price may have been an obstacle for anyone trying to get into (or drag friends to) Siege, even despite frequent sales. With Siege X, however, anyone can try out most of the game, including the new mode, Dual Front.

The new model brings a couple of small caveats. Free-access players, as Ubisoft calls them, can only access the casual modes, while Competitive play and the Siege Cup are locked behind a purchase of Siege. This can help deter cheaters from creating multiple alt accounts and interfere with the ranked experience. Those who don’t purchase the game will also have access to fewer operators at first.

If you already bought Siege, you’ll keep all your progress, including account progression, skins, operators, and access to ranked modes. You’ll also receive a special badge signaling when you started playing the game, so veterans can showcase their loyalty to Siege.

The badge is hardly the only surprise for veterans, though. Siege X also brings a major visual overhaul of multiple maps, with more on the way. Bank, Border, Clubhouse, Chalet, and Kafe are the first five “modernized maps,” as Ubisoft calls them, but the developer promised more overhauled maps each season.

The massive renovations on those maps bring noticeable improvements to a myriad of aspects. Textures are the easiest to see, with bigger and better textures across all platforms (and PC players can download them in 4K resolution). New interactables like metal detectors, gas pipes, and fire hydrants can also change up the gameplay, and both materials and lighting will also see major tweaks. Just try not to get too enraptured by the new marble details on Kafe and get picked off.

Ubisoft didn’t reveal a date for Siege X, though eager players can try out the Dual Front closed beta starting today.