Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Rainbow Six Siege: Operation Skull Rain revealed

Are Zippy and Bungle OK?

Rainbow Six Siege Season 3 begins 2nd August with the release of Brazilian themed expansion Operation Skull Rain.

Operation Skull Rain packs a free new map for everyone, set in an overcrowded Brazilian favela, and adds two paid-for characters called Caveira and Capitão.

Capitão is an attacker whose nifty special weapon is a crossbow that fires bolts that burn oxygen in small areas, making it hard to breathe. Whereas defensive Caveira has a sneaky Silent Step ability for getting close to targets for interrogations and immobilisations.

In addition there will be changes made to the game. Chief among them, a new Tactical Realism custom game mode, which prevents player-marking, restricts what your HUD shows and removes kill confirmations. You'll need to talk more with team-mates, in other words.

The game's combat should also speed up with the addition of an angled grip, which quickens the transition from hip-fire to aiming down sights. There's a new surrender mechanic for ranked matches too.

Cover image for YouTube videoRainbow Six Siege: Operation Black Ice - Live PS4 gameplay

Operation Skull Rain is the third Rainbow Six Siege add-on, following Operation Black Ice and Operation Dust Line. They're all included in Rainbow Six Siege's ~£20 season pass.

If you don't have the season pass then you can unlock new operators/characters by spending in-game renown points, or by spending 600 Rainbow Six Siege credits, which is about £3.30. Ubisoft has already roughly detailed the entire year of Rainbow Six Siege DLC.