How Rainbow Six Extraction’s MIA System Works

Fighting against the Chimera Parasite is a dangerous undertaking in Rainbow Six Extraction, and players run the risk of having their Operators go Missing In Action during a failed incursion. Now that many have gotten their hands on the game, including those playing Rainbow Six Extraction day one on Game Pass, many REACT Operators have likely fallen victim to the Archæans and will have to be rescued. On a macro level, the game operates on an MIA system, which players will have to navigate as they advance through missions, researching and containing the Chimera Parasite.

The Parasite, first encountered in Rainbow Six Siege‘s limited-time Outbreak game mode, has resurfaced, taking over areas in New York, San Fransisco, and Alaska – alongside Truth or Consequences, New Mexico where the outbreak began. Rainbow Exogenous Analysis & Containment Team (REACT) is an international special operations unit dedicated to learning about the virus and preventing its further spread. Rainbow Six Siege Operators return for Extraction, recruited into REACT to stage incursions into the Containment Zones where the Parasite is established and mutating.

These incursions make up the primary gameplay loop of the cooperative shooter. Teams of up to three REACT Operators enter a Containment Zone and are assigned three objectives across three areas separated by airlocks. Each area has an extraction point, where players can safely leave the game with their accumulated experience points at any time, but falling to the Archæans will result in an Operator becoming MIA in Rainbow Six Extraction. Players won’t be able to use that Operator until they’ve been rescued, a situation that creates a dedicated objective within a certain Containment Zone and encourages the player to spend time upgrading multiple characters.

Rescuing An MIA Operator In Rainbow Six Extraction

The MIA system affects Rainbow Six Extraction‘s Operators, maps, and objectives, with protecting REACT’s personnel a primary concern for the player. An Operator will become MIA if they are KO’d during an incursion. If playing with a team, or equipped with a Revive Kit, the first time a player’s health reaches zero, they’ll enter a down but not out (DBNO) state. If assisted by a teammate, or self-revived with the Revive Kit, that player will return to the action with minimal health. Being grievously injured by the Archæans a second time will result in a KO, which triggers a prophylactic serum that engulfs the Operator’s body in a bright yellow foam, protecting them from the Parasite and putting them in stasis until they can be rescued.

If teammates are still standing when an Operator goes into stasis, there’s a chance to extract them and avoid an MIA designation – a major benefit of playing Rainbow Six Extraction in co-op multiplayer. A KO’d teammate can be carried to that area’s extraction, where they can be placed inside an extraction pod and evacuated from the Containment Zone. This will ensure that the person playing that Operator won’t have to stage a rescue mission during a later incursion, but the Operator will be labeled Inactive and become unplayable until they’ve fully recovered from their injuries. With a KO’d Operator safely evacuated, the remaining players can choose to either cut their losses and extract as well, or continue on with their objectives in the Containment Zone.

If a KO’d Operator can’t be saved, they’ll have to be rescued during a subsequent incursion to that specific Containment Zone, where an MIA Rescue will be one of the three objectives. By the time a rescue effort can be mounted, the Parasite will have placed the foam-covered MIA Operator in an Archæan Tree, a unique Carapace structure created by Rainbow Six Extraction‘s Symbiote-like Parasites. Players will have to locate the Tree and manually remove the MIA Operator. The Tree will attempt to fight back and solidify its hold on the rescue target, forcing players to find and destroy connected Arch Cells to weaken the Tree. Once the MIA Operator has been extricated from the Archæan Tree, they can be carried to extraction and placed in the pod. Once safely returned to REACT’s ranks, that Operator will need time to recover their health before being cleared for another incursion.

Progressing Through Rainbow Six Extraction With The MIA System

The MIA system in Rainbow Six Extraction ensures players will have to utilize multiple Operators to progress through the game, rather than just playing as one or two. One Operator can carefully be taken through many incursions to level up far beyond the others, but if that Operator goes MIA, they may be out of commission for a while until others can be properly leveled. Each Operator can reach a maximum level of 10, with the different incursion difficulties suggesting a recommended level range. Players will likely need to get plenty of Operators to max level in order to participate in endgame content and Rainbow Six Extraction‘s challenge modes, like launch week’s Maelstrom Protocol incursion. Having an Operator go MIA isn’t really a big deal gameplay-wise, but needing to take another Operator through multiple incursions prior to a rescue mission only increases the danger.

The MIA system also helps bolster Extraction‘s replayability and contributes to its meta-narrative. REACT knows very little about the Chimera Parasite, and every incursion – even those in Containment Zones that have been cleared before – is done for the sake of aiding the organization’s research. The randomly generated objectives and enemy placements help each incursion have some distinction, and going back to easier missions for the sake of gaining levels on a new Operator builds on the idea that REACT is learning as it goes along. There’s no dedicated single-play campaign, so the co-op mission gameplay loop is used as a vehicle for Rainbow Six Extraction‘s parasite story. The MIA system adds a sort of urgency and desperation to the game; the Archæans feel like a real threat because they can actively take something away from the player, not just give them a game over screen. Rainbow Six Extraction proclaims the dangers of the Chimera Parasite and uses its MIA system to reinforce that conjecture organically through a core gameplay mechanic.

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