REVIEW: ‘Rainbow Six: SMOL’ Brings Roguelite Action To Netflix Mobile

The team members of Rainbow continue their pursuit of terrorism. But when a mission to take down the dastardly villain Deimos sees the group sucked through a wormhole, they find themselves in the strange land of SMOL. Now, the group must reunite with their missing teammates, upgrade their tech, and learn how to utilize the Books of Power to free the people of SMOL in the top-down roguelite action game Rainbow Six: SMOL, developed by Ubisoft and published by Netflix.

Goofy fun is not a term I ever thought I would apply to a Rainbow Six game. Known for realistic action and unforgiving difficulty, the franchise had made a name for itself among hardcore shooter fans. So when I learned about this new roguelite entry in the genre I was curious. With its charming visuals and oddball sound effects I was thoroughly surprised. Almost as much as discovering the fun gameplay loop that Rainbow Six: SMOL holds at its core.  The gameplay was so addictive it made me want to keep playing long after my mobile device needed a charge.

The central gameplay in Rainbow Six: SMOL tasks the player with guiding their Rainbow recruits through a series of levels that make up an operation. With several different objectives available, the player must fight their way through numerous enemies to save hostages, disarm bombs, and take out key enemy targets. Moving is done via a virtual thumbstick on the mobile device’s touch screen. Shooting is done by a virtual button press, with the game automatically targeting the nearest enemy.  While this core loop is simple, the game builds upon the action in several ways.

The battlefields that make up each level in Rainbow Six: SMOL provide a lot of gameplay challenges in and of themselves. Indoor and outdoor areas are combined, forcing the player to adapt to larger open exterior firefights, as well as close-quarters engagements within narrow hallways. This blend of terrain keeps the action interesting throughout each mission.

Another thing that helps the environment provide depth to the gameplay is how interactive it is. Any window can be seen through and shot through. What areas are currently being seen are clearly defined thanks to sharp colorization. Enemies will spot the player through these windows as well, forcing them to be constantly aware of their surroundings.

The structures that make up every level are also completely destructible. Explosive attacks will knock out walls, allowing new paths to be made. Trapped doorways often incentivize these sorts of approaches. While other entries in the franchise have often prized the stealthy approach, Rainbow Six: SMOL fully embraces battlefield chaos.

Further adding to the bedlam of battle is a plethora of enemy types. From grunts with basic guns to bosses with unique attacks, the game delivers numerous styles of enemies for the player to contend with. Many of these enemies require different approaches to defeat. Mixing up how you approach these various enemies is key.

To overcome the legions of enemies and perilous traps they will encounter on the battlefield, Rainbow Six: SMOL provides many upgrade types that will empower the player to overcome any obstacle.

Like all roguelite games, some upgrades are linked to a particular character. Once this character dies, the upgrade is lost. Others remain with the player for the duration of the game. However, there is also a third type of upgrade in Rainbow Six: SMOL. These upgrades are linked to specific operations.

Rather than task the player to attempt to liberate the entire world of SMOL without dying, the game challenges players to complete operations. Each operation liberates a region of the world. Once the player completes an operation, they return to their home base to heal, resupply, and spend resources.

Before each mission in an operation, the player will get to choose a tactical patch. These patches provide stat bonuses or special abilities that will be active for the duration of the operation. Once the operation is completed or the player fails/retreats, the bonuses are lost. With 92 different patches players can eventually unlock, these bonuses provide a lot of randomness to each play session.

The other upgrade that Rainbow Six: SMOL links to operations are your squadmates. While the player begins the game alone, they can rescue additional members through special missions. Once unlocked, these members can appear as selectable upgrades before future missions. These additional squad members provide their own attacks, special abilities for the player, and passive skills to aid in the mission. They gain experience through use, allowing them to grow even more effectively in their roles. These characters are easily the best upgrades in the game and are always worth taking. However, they also come with a drawback for the larger gameplay loop.

Each operation in Rainbow Six: SMOL is usually anywhere from three to seven missions long. Once the player unlocks new teammates, the variety of the game diminishes a bit, as squadmates always feel like the right choice to take.

Beyond these operation-specific upgrades, the player can also upgrade their character via a leveling system. Whenever a player’s recruit levels up, they can spend the points in one of two ways. They can either level up one of that recruit’s stats or they can spend the points to improve that recruit’s class. As one would guess, character stats reset whenever a character is lost. Class upgrades, however, persist. So, the upgrades will remain whenever the player chooses a character with that class again. This creates an interesting give-and-take between how to spend points. While class upgrades have the benefit of never going away, upgrading individual characters is necessary, as class bonuses don’t affect stats. So, characters need them to survive.

Even with all the above, Rainbow Six: SMOL provides players with another path to upgrading their characters. The Books of Power. During each mission, players can collect chips that can be spent back at the base to purchase Books of Power. These upgrades are permanent and can affect stats, unlock gameplay elements, and reward players with bonuses like revivals.

When all these upgrades, fun combat, and silly visual presentation come together, they can deliver an addictive gameplay loop that can hook a player for hours. However, the game does have a few hiccups along the way.

The biggest struggle is a lack of clarity on upgrade purchases. Many upgrades do not explain their effect whatsoever. This leaves players potentially feeling like they’ve wasted their hard-earned chips on upgrades that ultimately don’t do much. And there are even occasions where an upgrade seems good but falls flat due to its lack of clarity.

For example, unlocking the librarian for the player’s base gives the player access to a bestiary. This seems great, as one would assume it will give information about enemies, allowing the player to better understand why they died. But it doesn’t. Rather, it just gives a name, image, and a bit of flavor text about the character. Since the upgrade provides no real benefit to the player, it feels like a waste to unlock.

The other significant fault in Rainbow Six: SMOL comes in the randomness of the levels. Some missions play out with too much ease due to poor level layout. For example, when diffusing a bomb, enemies will drop into the map near you to stop you. However, there are times when the bomb will be generated so close to walls that the enemies will drop outside the room. This leaves them with no chance to threaten you before the timer runs out. These sorts of glitches are not super frequent, but they do take the thrill out of the game when they pop up.

Taken all together, Rainbow Six: SMOL delivers a fun, frantic roguelite experience. Offering an addictive gameplay loop that can occupy hours of time while providing bite-sized operations that take less than ten minutes, there is little reason not to give the game a try if you have Netflix on a compatible mobile drive. Whether to fill in a quick break or a few hours, Rainbow Six: SMOL offers a unique and charming challenge.

Rainbow Six: SMOL is available now on iOS and Android devices with a Netflix membership.