The new season of Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Deadly Omen was revealed on Saturday, February 24, 2024. A 28-minute reveal panel video showed that the game includes a major shake-up to the franchise’s gameplay mechanism—particularly the revamped shield mechanic—that now favors defensive play.
“The hunt begins with Operation Deadly Omen,” read the video description on YouTube. “Become the villain with Deimos, an intimidating Attacker with the ability to pinpoint an enemy’s location and track them down. Get ready to duel your opponents like never before.”
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Speaking about the season, the game’s creative director Alexander Karpazis said players will see “huge meta shifts” in the new season called Operation Deadly Omen. He also spoke briefly about the revamped attachment systems, the addition of reloading behind the shield, and much more. He also introduced the next operator joining the ranks.
“The Locker system is being introduced, a new way to manage your inventory,” Karpazis said. “The next Operator joining our ranks is Deimos. Now that he’s captured by Team Rainbow, he won’t be joining them, but he will be playable.”
Ending the season overview, Karpazis mentioned that a new helmet will be added to the game. The gold patterned helmet with red sockets is reserved for “those who can climb the ladder and show it off,” Karpazis said.
Operation Deadly Omen will feature revamped shield mechanics
Available to talk about the revamped shield mechanics of Operation Deadly Omen was the game director Joshua Mills. According to Mills, the previous shield mechanics created a headshot lottery where a random headshot can catch the player.
“With this package, one of the big things was to make sure that every action a shield Operator can have follows a very simple principle,” Mills explained. “Be defensive. Be defensive 90% of the time. If you want to be offensive, then you’ve got to give something for that.”
While reloading behind the shield is now possible and safe, it is impossible to make a kill behind the shield. Players who want to go for the kill must make themselves vulnerable by momentarily removing their shield.
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The redesigned shield mechanics also allow players to complete a host of tasks while hiding behind the shield including activating triggerable objects and deploying throwables. Players can also use the shield to break down barriers or knock down opponents.
Players knocked down with the shield take damage and will be stunned for a few seconds which allows the Operator to deliver deadly shots. The knocked-down player also has a window of opportunity to react. Mills suggests using the window to shoot the leg of the shield operator.
Operation Deadly Omen will have updates targeting cheaters
One of the biggest challenges of online multiplayer games is the invasion by cheaters who use different means to gain an undue advantage over other players. Virtually every multiplayer game has had its share of cheating stories. Operation Deadly Omen will take measures to reduce the activities of cheaters.
Speaking about the new anti-cheat features, the game security director Emmanuel Larive spoke about Ban on Data. He described it as an amazing system that will better detect and act on cheaters who want to ruin the playing experience for everyone. Operation Deadly Omen is moving Ban on Data to a new model that is based on machine learning.
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“This is a key update for our anti-cheat strategy,” Larive said. “We will have a conservative threshold to make sure that we are not impacting fair and regular players. We only want to catch cheaters and the people that are ruining your game experience. Our long-term strategy toward cheating and ban on data will be exposed in the Year 9 overview.”
Karpazis believes Rainbow Six Siege can last forever
Rainbow Six Siege was originally launched in 2015. Since then it has continued to receive regular updates. However, while speaking at the Siege Invitational 2024 in Brazil, Karpazis spoke about the possibility of creating a sequel for the game, according to a PC Gamer transcription.
“The idea of switching engines to something that can be off-the-shelf ready simply doesn’t answer the needs of a really competitive and demanding game like Siege,” Karpazis said. “I’m not going to name names, but you see games that did go through sequels and just completely drop the ball because they have to remake every single thing that they did in that first game.”
“It can be really frustrating, really costly, and in the end, it doesn’t even give you anything that was a benefit. If you know what you have to begin with, and you build it up, that is where we see success. And that is where we know we can take Siege into the future. We really do know that this is a game that can last forever with the people and the talent and the tools that we have today.”
