Operation Phantom Sight introduced the concept of sharing weaponry between countries in Rainbow Six Siege. Operation Ember Rise continues the trend but along with this new norm comes one burning question—why do the Russian operators still have to use their garbage optics?
Upon booting up Siege for the first time, most players who opt for a Spetsnaz attacker or defender will notice that they do not have access to the same optics as the other operators.
The difference in comfort here is a huge deal. Many players have found the Russian Spetsnaz optics to be uncomfortable and pointless when considering they’re the only unit that doesn’t have access to widely available optics.
For those who may be unaware, optics are a massive part of Siege. A player’s choice in optic dictates playstyle and, in most cases, their ability to win gunfights. Each optic obstructs the player’s field of vision in some way or another, but there are some weapon sights that are more guilty of this than others. The Russian optics, aside from the Reflex, has some issues in this department.
While some fans will point out that the rail systems for mounting attachments are seemingly different for Russian weaponry, Siege has since left the world of tactical realism for footstep tracking eyewear and nanoboosting teammates like it’s a Metal Gear game.
It seems like a layover from the Siege of years past when the game actually attempted to care about realism. Since the game’s identity has shifted greatly since launch, it seems odd that the Spetsnaz unit would be unable to share optics, especially since all of the units are a part of Team Rainbow.
The new trend for Ubisoft seems to be recycling loadouts and sharing weaponry between units. While this topic is a controversy in itself, it becomes even more contentious when considering that despite operators from different countries sharing the same weaponry, Spetsnaz is still locked into using their oddball sights.
One of the best arguments would be that the rail systems don’t match NATO standards but again, this argument would acknowledge a sense of realism that hasn’t been a part of Siege for some time now. This would lead to another argument that it could take considerable effort to make the optic change in-game. Seeing as Ubisoft is implementing a paid Battle Pass, there should be enough room in the budget.
It’s time to forgo the idea that Siege is based in any sense of realism and just embrace the insanity of operators who can revive downed players with nanomachines or invisible poison mines.
If Ubisoft is leaning into this new recycled and shared loadout system, the least they could do is provide players with the option of using the optics they’re accustomed to using with every other operator. It isn’t a unique quality for the Spetsnaz like Ela and Zofia’s handguns, it’s just plain weird.
