Rainbow Six Siege Y7S1 has at long last been unveiled by Ubisoft, and it's stacked with new features to kick off another year of content. As already teased, the next operation is called 'Demon Veil', and as you might have seen from prior leaks, it's adding a new operator by the name of Azami.
This new defender joining the Siege team hails from Japan, and is a medium speed, medium health Operator equipped with a 9X19SVN submachine gun or an ACS12 shotgun as a primary weapon; as well as a D-50 handgun as a secondary weapon. However, the really nifty new feature is Azami's new gadget that will shake up the gameplay in a big way.
Azami uses a Kiba Barrier gadget, which is a throwable canister that deploys an expandable material that solidifies into a bulletproof surface, providing fast cover.
Whilst the obvious go-to for Azami’s gadget will allow her to quickly repair holes in walls or block sightlines, her ability also means that for the first time ever, players have an operator who can fix holes in floors and ceilings. A big change to how players will have to approach vertical play moving forward. Don't worry though, whilst these barriers will certainly create more complications for attackers, they can be destroyed with explosives or three melee hits.
Away from the new operator, Y7S1 is also adding a new map for the first time in Rainbow Six Siege in three years: Emerald Plains. This Old castle in Ireland has been transformed into a modern day country club, with lots of verticle sightlines and a mishmash of old and modern-day styles that should hopefully set the map apart.
Away from the new content coming to the game, Year 7 Season 1 is also adding plenty of new features for players to get to grips with. One of the most key is Attacker Repick, which allows Attackers to change their Operator and loadout during the Preparation Phase.
"The change aims to bring more impact during the Preparation Phase by allowing Attackers to use the intel gathered and adjust their strategy," Ubisoft explained in our pre-briefing. "In addition, the match header has been updated to help make informed decisions when changing their Operator or loadout."
Players will be able to utilise the new attacker repick feature in all game modes in the Quick Match, Unranked, Ranked, and Pro League playlists.
Just to round out the new season, Demon Veil is also bringing further important gameplay updates. For starters, Team Deathmatch is getting added to the game permanently, providing a welcome and more casual mode for fans to enjoy outside the core gameplay experience. Or, as Ubisoft suggests, "the perfect environment for players to warm up and practice their aim before competitive matches".
For those who haven't played TD on Siege before, it's a very stripped back game mode, with no unique abilities available, no shield ops, no drones and plenty more tweaks that make this a fun and friendly quickfire outing that's capped at either 5 minutes or 75 eliminations. So perfect as Ubisoft say for anyone wanting a quick warm-up before the real thing.
Lastly, Year 7 Season 1 is also adding Match Replay for console players, a spectator mode that has been available on PC since 2020; Operator balancing updates for Goyo and Valkyrie; and an exclusive Elite skin for Nomad.