Rainbow Six Siege X vs CS2 in 2025: Which tactical shooter is right for you?

Ten years after its arrival, Rainbow Six Siege has welcomed a new era that delivers a large slice of the type of gameplay we’d expect from CS2. So with the Rainbow Six Siege X release date now passed, it’s time to do more than a fly-by on the similarities and differences between the two. While CS2 is a darling of Steam charts, R6 Siege is popular… but could it be the Siege X update that boosts it to the next level?

Possibly. Below, we’ll look at an overview of the update before a dive into Rainbow Six Siege X gameplay and its specific elements when compared to CS2. If you’re not sure which is for you, we hope to help you whether you’re choosing between the two for the first time or considering a temporary (or permanent) switch. 

At 10 years old, Rainbow Six Siege was given a new update delivering ‘Siege X’, which shifts the title to a free-to-access model and adds a new mode to the title. The Siege X release date delivered what Ubisoft calls a “unique, permanent 6v6 game mode” named ‘Dual Front’, in which six teams can battle across a map, seeking to control their own and the enemy team’s sectors across a larger play area. This differs from the regular ‘attack or defend’ R6 Siege gameplay dynamic, and in more ways than just the ability to do both, with several key additions layering the tactics required to win.

As part of this new ‘Dual Front’ mode, the Siege X update adds respawns, combining attack and defend operatives in a single team for the first time, and adds a ‘Dual Front Neutral Sector’ to the Dual Front mode. This sector focuses on dynamic objectives known as ‘Assignments’, which will change every season and, when secured by a team, will deliver gameplay rewards. 

But Siege X is a bit more than Dual Front, as the R6 Siege X update adds the following:

One of the most obvious reference points for the newly added Siege X gameplay is CS2, not just because it’s a tactical shooter. That new Siege X game mode, ‘Dual Front’, is intended to be more accessible to players of map-control-focused shooters, so players of CS2 or…let’s say, VALORANT, may feel more comfortable checking it out.

To this end, though, the larger Siege X map in Dual Front will offer a more layered gameplay experience compared to CS2, with Siege X’s added verticality, dynamic objectives, and map interactivity (destruction). However, a 6v6 game mode with a huge focus on tactical elements and securing sectors is just honestly a different proposition from a 5v5 single-objective fast-paced and more single-level tactical shooter. 

Look at it this way, without the new Dual Front mode, if you think of a ‘tactical shooter’, Siege X feels far more emphasised on the ‘tactical’, with CS2 more on the ‘shooter’. Even comparing CS2 gameplay directly to the Dual Front mode, the pace and action will land on the side of CS2, while the more tactical map approach belongs to Siege X. 

This is a tricky comparison element. While technically, there are 13 official CS2 maps and 27 maps for R6 Siege X (officially listed by Ubisoft), not all of those maps are available across all game modes. But in terms of pure variety, if that’s important to you, Siege X takes this area with double the maps…with one fairly big caveat. 

The problem is that the new Dual Front mode currently only has one map, District, which makes the comparison between this more ‘CS2-like’ mode and CS2 itself completely lop-sided. The replayability and additional vertical and tactical elements of District may make replayability a big factor here, though, and that could well even the playing field.

Following our earlier suggestion that Rainbow Six Siege X emphasises ‘tactical’ and CS2  ‘shooter’ in the tactical shooter genre, weapon selection reinforces this. The 50+ CS2 weapons focus on pistols, SMGs, heavy (shotguns, MGs), rifles, and a whole lot of knife varieties. 

Meanwhile, Rainbow Six Siege X’s weapons include around 100 guns across similar classifications, even before including the generic attack (eg, breach charge, drone, stun grenade) and defence (barbed wire, nitro cell, bullet-proof camera) gadgets. On top of these, there are 20 unique gadgets, making preparing for a round in Siege X a far more considered decision.

As you would expect, this all plays into the gameplay of each title. It’s almost impossible to pick a winner in terms of required skill level. However, CS2 prioritises gunplay, precision, and elements like recoil and time-to-kill, whereas successfully climbing Rainbow Six Siege ranks is more related to pre-planning, quick-thinking, on-point tactical manoeuvres, and your operators’ abilities. 

Rainbow Six Siege’s 75 operators and your team’s ability to maximise their skills and gadgets during a match will have a huge impact on who ultimately wins any round. As we’ve stated, attackers and defenders have access to specific gadgets, but there are unique abilities too, making your selection of an operator whose loadout gels (or doesn’t gel) with your playstyle important. Learning the positive and… less positive points of each operator is key to progression. 

If that’s the type of tactical and personalised gameplay you enjoy, meshing your preferred operator with your team’s operator preferences, then R6 Siege X will offer you more depth and enjoyment. For all its fast-paced, precision-rewarding gameplay, CS2’s operators (technically, ‘agents’) offer no unique abilities and are essentially cosmetic skins. So your ability to climb the CS2 ranks is based on your skills and ability to provide value to your team in both map knowledge and PVP nous.

While both CS2 and (now) R6 Siege X are free to access, there are a few considerations for each title’s accessibility – and we mean that in several senses. Firstly, with the Rainbow Six Siege X crossplay feature in mind (this can be disabled), you can play the game on PC or console against players…on PC or console. Not so for CS2, which is bound to Windows PCs (or Linux). CS2’s focus on precision and fast-paced gameplay makes sense because mouse and keyboard deliver better control in intense PVP.

For actual difficulty, there’s no clear ‘easier option’. While CS2 does offer ‘unranked’ in its Casual ‘10v10’ mode, and R6 Siege X returns its previously removed unranked mode, you can jump into either and work out which is for you. This is useful in potentially lowering or randomising the level of competition as you learn either game, but neither game has a clear lead here. We should also remember that while CS2 may demand more of your PVP skills, R6 Siege X will demand more from your tactical and operator-handling abilities. 

Where things are a bit more specific are in accessibility features. If these are important to you, both games do offer such features. For R6 Siege X, there is a clear commitment to accessibility features, including those that already exist in game: eg, customisable colours and visual intensity settings. While we cannot find an official list of CS2 accessibility features, you can certainly enable or disable visual elements like head bob, camera shake, and object highlights, as well as muting player pings and the enemy team. 

It’s great to have two viable tactical shooters available in 2025. But, as we’ve alluded to a few times, Rainbow 6 Siege X and CS2 are different enough that it’s not necessarily a one or the other choice. If you prefer tactical planning, then Siege X may be best for you, and if you prefer fast-paced and more precise gunplay gaming, then CS2 may be. As both are free to access, you can try each and see which fits. Or you can install both and appreciate them for their individual focuses.