Amid the eager anticipation of enthusiastic players.
Lucas's official blog, along with Nebula Games and NetDragon's official websites, all shared details about experiencing Rainbow Six: Siege.
But it's not just that players can download the official VR version from the Nebula Games platform and NetDragon's gaming platform.
There's also an offline event.
A preview play session at VR internet cafes in major cities across the country.
For the online side, players need to buy the game in advance to get early access. Offline, the VR internet cafes provide a special version just for their spots. Players can log in with their NetDragon and Nebula Games accounts to play directly and save their progress.
Compared to typical VR games, though, the price of Rainbow Six: Siege is a bit lower.
After all, the game has in-app purchases like skins, and it's purely an online multiplayer game with no single-player mode.
It's priced at 99 dollars.
As for overseas, there are no similar offline cafe events, since the setup doesn't allow it.
......
Soon, the date reached February 1st. This year, the New Year felt a bit late, with still half a month to go.
For players who had long been looking forward to Rainbow Six: Siege, they couldn't wait to jump into the game the moment it unlocked that day.
Zack and Hannah, already on their winter break, met up and headed to a VR internet cafe.
They actually had VR gear at home, but only one set.
Who got to play it became a big issue, especially since their old friend Ben had been busy before but was free now with the holidays approaching.
So everyone took the chance to meet up offline. They could enjoy the game during the day and grab dinner in the evening.
"So many people! Looks like most are here for Rainbow Six: Siege!" After paying and registering at the front desk, Zack and the others got a private five-person room. In the main hall, right in the center, there was a huge screen showing a match from Warcraft. It was clearly a high-level game from the PC section of the cafe. But Zack also noticed a small window nearby with a countdown to Rainbow Six: Siege unlocking. Once it went live, it would replace Warcraft as the featured game.
"Well, with New Year's coming up, and this being the only big release lately," Ben said without surprise.
"Enough chit-chat, let's get to the machines, log in, and wait for launch. Hey, did you all buy the game?" Hannah asked.
"Of course we did! How could we skip Boss Lucas's game?" Ben replied.
Wells and Joey nodded in agreement.
As they talked, the group settled into the VR pods, waiting for the game to unlock.
Right on time, they all rushed into the game with quick reactions.
Earlier, Lucas and the NetDragon team had talked with Game Division about whether the tactical version could be released to players, but in the end, they couldn't make it happen.
That said, the tactical and player versions differ mostly in small details.
For example, in hostage rounds, defenders can force the hostage to a better spot for them, which is already set up that way.
Beyond that, the game has no hints at all. There's no scan warning that says your position is exposed.
The heartbeat sensor doesn't make obvious beeping sounds, and the effects of breaching rounds and other gear cause different levels of destruction compared to what players experience.
If Lucas added these to the player version, he figured players might be interested at first.
But they'd quickly lose interest. It would just be a gimmick.
After all, it would be too unbalanced, putting attackers at a huge disadvantage.
But that's the real situation.
"The game forces a beginner tutorial!" Zack said in the voice chat.
"Same here. It's just a tutorial, right? It'll be over soon," Ben replied.
"I've already started mine!"
Compared to the original Rainbow Six: Siege from his past life, Lucas put a lot of effort into the game's guidance.
At its core, Rainbow Six: Siege isn't a simple casual game.
The maps are more complex than in most shooter games. First-time players without map guides will get lost all the time.
Plus, each operator's skills make it tricky to pick up.
On top of that, the game has a built-in info system.
It includes videos showing operator skills, layered maps, and camera locations.
This helps players learn all that in-game.
Ben got into the tutorial first.
There were eleven operators, but only one new recruit was available right now.
So there wasn't much to choose from.
He jumped into the tutorial.
"Shoot, run, crouch, go prone, lean, rappel... You can even breach a window like that!"
Ben watched as his character kicked off the wall, swung back on the rope, and smashed through the wooden boards. He sounded excited.
This kind of scene you'd only see in movies, combined with VR feedback, was just too cool.
The other controls were no problem.
The only thing was that in this game, running and walking felt a bit slow.
But thinking about it, that made sense. With all that anti-terror gear weighing ten or twenty pounds, of course it'd slow you down.
"For attackers, it starts with a little drone to scout the building and gather info."
"Hey, does scanning get noticed? So if someone scans me, I'll get a warning too."
Watching the drone slip under the door, scan enemies, then get destroyed by AI with a warning pop-up, Ben got it.
The whole tutorial didn't go too deep. It covered basic stuff.
Controls, how attackers and defenders gather and share info, what gear does, how to use operator skills, and how to win in the three modes.
There were five tutorial levels in total. Ben wasn't new to shooter games, so he finished quickly.
Then he unlocked ten operators: five attackers and five defenders.
"Anyway, he didn't know which ones were good. Besides setting Flores on Attack and Lesion on Defense as his must-picks, he just chose the rest randomly."
"Like Blackbeard, Ash, and Sledge, who left a deep impression on him from the earlier trailers. For the last slot, he didn't really like the shield-wielding types, so he finally set his sights on a Russian operator."
Fuze's description said he used explosives, with skills and gear all about bombs. He looked like a heavy firepower guy, perfect for Ben's style.
"You guys still in the tutorial?" After picking his operators, the voice chat went quiet, and Ben asked, a bit annoyed.
"Not yet, I'm on level three!"
"Just hit level four! This game feels so immersive! And wrecking the rooms is super fun!"
"Yeah! I demolished everything I could in the room!"
Hearing them, Ben felt frustrated.
"Fine, I'll jump into Terrorist Hunt to test things out. Call me when you're done!" Ben said.
Waiting around was boring, so he decided to try Terrorist Hunt mode.
From the description, it seemed like the game's PvE mode, and you could play solo—perfect for passing time while waiting for friends.
He never bothered with intros when gaming!
"Normal, hard, realistic? Let's try realistic for this one."
Looking at the options, Ben thought it over and picked the realistic difficulty for Lone Wolf Terrorist Hunt.
He wanted to see just how real it got.
(End of chapter)
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---