I'll be honest with you – I didn't expect Rainbow Six Siege to still surprise me in 2026. We just got off the back of that mind-blowing new Rainbow Six title everyone's been obsessing over, and yet here I am, diving headfirst into another frosty holiday brawl. Ubisoft rolled out the Freeze For All Permafrost event right on cue, and let me tell you, it's like they bottled up last year’s chaos, sprinkled on some fresh ice, and handed it back to us with a wink.
This time around, the event runs until January 6, 2027 – giving you just under a month to get your mitts on everything. The marquee mode is an 8-player free-for-all where kills are only half the story. When an enemy drops, they leave behind a Frozen Soul. Scooping those up nets you bonus points, so you'll see players zipping around like headless penguins, greedily snatching souls mid-gunfight. It’s absolute mayhem, and I love it.
Unlike the more cautious vibes of past winter brawls, you get unlimited respawns here. That means you can play as aggressively as you want – no penalty for dying, no awkward wait in the spectator screen. First to 40 points wins, or if the eight-minute timer runs out, the top scorer takes the crown. I've had rounds where I led by 15 points only to get soul-stolen at the last second. No kidding, it stings.
The battlefield is the Arctic Workshop, a reimagined Hereford Base given a festive, industrial-overhaul facelift. Think twinkling lights draped across frozen shipping containers, snowdrifts where corners used to be, and a skybox that makes you want to sit down with a hot cocoa. If maps could talk, this one would whisper, "Come get your presents," before blowing you up with a breach charge.
Now, the real reason we're all here: the loot. Just logging in during the event period drops a free cosmetic collection pack into your inventory – no grinding required. That’s Ubisoft’s way of saying, “Hey, thanks for stopping by.” Weekly challenges unlock an enhanced Variant bundle for Frost, her ice traps suddenly looking like they belong in a holiday action movie. And Twitch drops? You can snag a similar bundle for Grim by just watching streams. I let a stream run on my second monitor while I snacked, and bam – Grim showed up hotter than a fireplace.
If you're willing to crack open the wallet, the premium Freeze For All Permafrost collection offers bundles for seven operators. Mika, Finka, and Thermite get brand-new sets, while Thorn, Ash, Vigil, and Dokkaebi receive enhanced Variant bundles. Dokkaebi in a winter coat calling you mid-snowball fight? It’s as absurd and delightful as it sounds. And yes, you guessed it – skins overfloweth. A drone skin that looks like a tiny roaming snowglobe, a universal weapon skin that frosts over glossy black steel, an animated skin with glittering ice particles… It’s a collector’s paradise wrapped in tinsel.
But you know the drill with these live-service holiday events – jump in, clear the challenges, and log off with a full backpack. The Freeze For All mode itself feels like a chill remix of the classic Deathmatch. No gadgets, no complicated team strats, just eight operators, a cramped frosty arena, and that addicting loop of kill, collect, repeat. The unlimited respawns dial the pacing up to eleven. One moment you're frantically reloading behind a snowbank, the next you're sprinting through a hail of gunfire to hoover up a soul before someone else does. It's pure, unadulterated fun – the kind where you forget you're playing Siege and just enjoy the chaos.
What really gets me is how the event leans into its own absurdity. Operators who usually bark tactical callouts now slide around like kids on a frozen pond. Thermite in a puffy winter jacket blowing open a reinforced wall in a snow-covered workshop? It’s ridiculous, in the best way. Sometimes I just stop and watch the lights flicker on the icy crates. It’s a nice reminder that even in a game built around tension and teamwork, there's room for a goofy snowball brawl.
All things considered, the 2026 edition of Freeze For All Permafrost is remarkably chill. Get in, grab your rewards, maybe let out a few evil laughs when you steal souls inches from an opponent, and rest easy. With the new Rainbow Six game still fresh in our minds, it’s heartwarming to see Siege refusing to grow up. More events are undoubtedly on the way, but for now I’m perfectly content freezing my butt off in the Arctic Workshop. If you haven't joined yet, what are you waiting for? The souls aren’t gonna collect themselves.