Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction's sizeable post-launch free content roadmap detailed

We've only just heard about Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction's January 20 release date and cross-play Buddy Pass trial system, and already Ubisoft is ladling out more information about the game.

This time, the French publisher has announced that its experimental extra-terrestrial shooting Tom Clancy project will launch with an evolving endgame, and the post-launch content detailed to date will also be completely free of charge.

The first challenge detailed by the company in a new press release revolves around the limited-time "game-changing" Crisis Events that either introduce a new Operator for you to shoot at alien threats with, or introduce you to a new Protean enemy.

The first event – Spillover – will have you battling it out with a more evolved, dangerous version of the enemy Sprawl. If you come out on top in these engagements, you can net exclusive REACT Tech, new cosmetics, and new lore.

If that doesn't sound like enough for you, weekly assignments that sound quite a lot like Destiny's Nightfalls will be added to the game, too; these weekly challenges "put players' skills to the test" by enabling various modifiers (limited ammo, no HUD, friendly fire etc) to make existing content appear in a newer, harder light.

Finally, there's Maelstrom Protocol. This endgame mode will be available at launch and offers "a thrilling weekly challenge mode with tiered ranks".

"Players must navigate a series of nine subzones with increasing difficulty, tougher enemies, quickly depleting resources, and allotted time getting shorter at each stage," says a press release.

"At each checkpoint, squads must choose to either extract to bank their points or attempt to push to the end. Earning points will secure a place for challengers in up to five classes, from Bronze to Silver to Gold, Platinum and even Diamond Class, each rewarding players with special headgear and REACT Credits."

Crisis Events will be available sometime after launch, whilst Maelstrom Protocol and the assignments will be available at launch.

Rainbow Six Extraction will release on January 20, 2022 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PC via Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store.

We can get excited about all this free content, but let's not forget that Ubisoft is currently embroiled in a cloud of abuse allegations that it is reportedly dragging its heels about responding to properly.