Rainbow Six Extraction's Nightmare Fog Crisis Event dials up the scares

Rainbow Six Extraction continues to flesh out its post-apocalyptic universe with Crisis Events, timed events that introduce new modes and gameplay elements to the survival game. The latest R6 Extraction Crisis Event is Nightmare fog, which sees players fighting to survive and destroy the source of a deadly toxin. I had the chance to play a few rounds of Nightmare Fog before it officially goes live in the game.

In the Nightmare Fog Crisis Event, players spawn into maps as usual, though the area is clouded in a thick purple fog. This fog is a deadly neurotoxin that will slowly work its way into your system, and can have deadly effects if allowed to linger. You’re tasked with exploring the map to find and destroy the Toxic Tree, the source of the neurotoxin fog.

The clock is constantly ticking as players search to find the tree before the deadly fog overtakes them. A meter in the HUD indicates your current toxic levels on a scale of 1-100. Once it maxes out, players will slowly start to take damage. However, the psychological effects of the toxin are present far before your levels max out.

The neurotoxin also causes players to experience visual hallucinations. Several of the enemies that attack you aren’t actually real, vanishing in a cloud of dust-like particles after being shot. Not only does this cause you to waste a lot of ammo, it also means you’re constantly giving up your stealth to the actual enemies as you fire away at nothing.

The Nightmare Fog Crisis Event is easily the scariest content in Rainbow Six Extraction. The purple fog harshly limits your visibility, and you’re constantly questioning your own senses. There was a moment during my preview where a massively powerful enemy came rumbling toward my group, which we all wrote off as another illusion, only for it to nearly kill one of my allies in a single hit. The sudden realization of “oh no, this one is real” was genuine shock and fear.

There are also Neurostims planted around the map that players can consume in order to lower their toxin levels. Similar to medkits and ammo crates, these were a limited resource that we had to strategically ration whenever we came across them.

The Nightmare Fog Crisis Event is the latest batch of limited-time content in Rainbow Six Extraction, adding a creepy new mode for players to dive into. It’ll be interesting to see if the developers take any of the new ideas here and implement them into the game permanently somewhere down the road.

These impressions are based on a preview build of Rainbow Six Extraction provided by the publisher. Ubisoft will soon reveal new details about the game's Nightmare Fog Crisis Event.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_