With fewer operators on the horizon in Rainbow Six Siege Year 5 (2020) and Year 6 (2021), Ubisoft is hoping to keep players entertained with more events, battle passes, and modes. One of these sideshows is the Arcade, a new playlist for small, experimental game types launching sometime during Operation Void Edge. The first mode coming to Arcade revives a classic versus mode dating all the way back to 1997’s GoldenEye 007 on the N64.
That’s right baby, Siege is getting a Golden Gun mode.
For those of you who—like me—were a single year old when GoldenEye was the hottest FPS flying off the shelves of Blockbuster, the rules of the Golden Gun are simple: everyone’s gun is a one-hit kill, but it has to be reloaded after every shot. In Siege, the gun receiving a golden treatment is the D-50 Deagle.
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It sounds like a ton of fun, especially because Ubi is doing more than just tweaking damage values. From the brief glimpse of Golden Gun that Ubi showed, I spotted a fancy new reload animation for the Deagle and shiny golden skins. Arcade modes are smaller in scale than proper seasonal events, so we probably shouldn’t expect custom maps on the scale of 2019’s Doktor’s Curse. Arcade modes will likely utilize standard Siege maps.
Siege art director Alex Karpazis described Arcade modes to me as “super short events” with a smaller scope than big seasonal updates. “They're usually just about changing one or two game design elements to make something fresh that you can jump in as a palate cleanser on a weekend.” While there will only be one mode per season for now, Karpazis said the goal is to release multiple per season. And don’t worry: larger seasonal events are still happening too.
I love the idea of Arcade. Siege is a serious game with the potential to get goofy, and I’m glad there will soon be a dedicated corner for Ubisoft to try weird ideas. I asked Karpazis what other Arcade modes are in the works, but his lips are sealed.
Here Ubi, I’ll give you this one for free: Drone Hide and Seek. Every player exclusively controls drones on a normal Siege map. The match is divided into hider and seekers. Both teams can find power ups that help drones hide or be hunted, like the Yokai’s cloaking or IQ’s electronic scanner. Make it happen!
