Rainbow Six Tactics Preview

I’ve had a complicated relationship with the Rainbow Six franchise. My first exposure to the series was an old PC demo of the very first Rainbow Six that I used to play constantly when I was only about seven years old. Naturally, I didn’t really have a clue what was going on, but it stuck with me enough that by the time Rainbow Six: Vegas came around I knew vaguely what I was getting into. I enjoyed my time with Rainbow Six: Vegas and its sequel, so much so that I bought Rainbow Six Siege on launch day. I think I put around 200 hours into Siege during high school, but fell off during my university years. I tried playing Siege again last year and honestly, I’ve never felt more overwhelmed in my life. All that to say, Rainbow Six is a franchise I used to love, but it isn’t one that really resonates with me today.

But Rainbow Six Tactics could change all that. Announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live, Rainbow Six Tactics is a single-player turn-based tactics game that sees players commanding a group of well-known Rainbow Six Siege Operators in a series of globe-trotting missions. During Gamescom 2026, I observed a 30-minute live play session that gave an overview of Rainbow Six Tactics‘ moment-to-moment gameplay. And while a 30-minute hands-off session isn’t nearly enough to inform a full opinion on a game, it was enough for Rainbow Six Tactics to convince me I at least need to give it a try when it launches next year.

A Surprisingly Thorough Translation of the Rainbow Six Formula

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Tactics Press Image 8

My hands-off Rainbow Six Tactics Gamescom preview began with the Ubisoft devs choosing four Operators to take on a story mission. There will be a total of 15 Operators to choose from in the full game, all of whom have been taken from Rainbow Six Siege. Interestingly, the developers did state that while these Operators come from Siege, their designs here are more inspired by hero shooter archetypes, with each Operator having a set of unique abilities and weapons that aren’t necessarily tied to the same Defender and Attacker roles they hold in Rainbow Six Siege. For my Gamescom demo, the devs chose Glaz, Ash, Nokk, and Montagne.

With the four Operators selected, the mission began. The general goal of the mission was to infiltrate a warehouse, secure an asset, and extract the team. As the camera panned to a top-down view, a very familiar gameplay loop began. Similar to turn-based contemporaries like XCOM and the newly released Star Wars Zero Company, Rainbow Six Tactics‘ core gameplay loop sees players moving their Operators, shooting enemies, and using special abilities, all of which cost a certain number of Action Points. The real joy of these turn-based tactics games comes from the player being able to think strategically and execute a careful plan that synergizes their team’s abilities. This initial combat encounter played out exactly how I expected a Rainbow Six tactics game would, with each Operator taking up a flanking position and swiftly eliminating each enemy with basic fire.

But then came Rainbow Six Tactics‘ ace up the sleeve, and what I think immediately sets it apart from its contemporaries. Each mission in Rainbow Six Tactics contains multiple phases of gameplay. After clearing the entrance to the warehouse, the player was then prompted to begin the ‘Preparation Phase’. Just like in Rainbow Six Siege, the player needed to use a small drone to scout out the location ahead, pinging enemy positions once inside.

Rainbow Six Tactics Isn’t Resting on its Laurels

Then began the ‘Assault Phase’. Arguably the most important — and perhaps the most satisfying — part of Rainbow Six Tactics‘ gameplay loop, the Assault Phase pauses time completely to allow the player to set up an ambush that will resolve instantly. The developer selected Glaz first and planned out the route the sniper would take, telling him to climb to the balcony overlooking the warehouse floor and use his special ability to pierce two enemies with one shot. Another defining feature of Rainbow Six Tactics was seen here, as unlike in XCOM where players simply target an enemy and fire, Rainbow Six Tactics requires players to manually aim the weapon’s line of fire, providing an extra layer of strategy regarding Operator positioning.

Ash was then chosen to breach the wall of the warehouse with C4 and use her remaining Action Points to run forward and fire a rocket through the wall in front of her and into a group of enemies waiting on the other side. Nokk was told to flank a different group of enemies and blast them away with a shotgun, with her passive ability letting her stay in stealth if she eliminates at least one enemy every turn. Finally, Montagne was told to walk in front of Ash and Nokk, where his shield would block any overwatch fire from enemies not immediately defeated.

Once all Operators had their movements and actions planned out, the assault was initiated. All actions played out simultaneously while the camera swapped to a much more cinematic third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective. This moment was my highlight of the entire Rainbow Six Tactics preview session. While I wasn’t the one planning out each step and feeling it come to fruition, it still looked incredibly rewarding, and to see it all play out in real-time with a camera angle that emphasized the fast-paced, dramatic action of the sequence felt like a surprising evolution of the usual turn-based tactics formula.

Image via Ubisoft
Image by Ubisoft

With the warehouse cleared, the team found its VIP asset and was given new orders to extract via the docks outside. Another set of phases then began, with the player sending out a drone to scout the docks, planning a simultaneous assault on the enemy forces blocking their path to extraction, and finishing off the rest of the opposition via traditional turn-based gameplay.

In the concluding moments of the Rainbow Six Tactics demo, the Ubisoft devs detailed the game’s Directives system. By completing mission objectives, players can unlock special temporary abilities called Directives. The first Directive obtained in the preview session gave all Rainbow Six Tactics Operators an additional Action Point, which allowed Glaz to eliminate an enemy sniper pinning the team down and allowed Ash to blow up a group of enemies hiding behind a shipping container. Another Directive was then unlocked, giving all Operators additional movement, allowing them all to extract in the same turn to avoid facing the incoming enemy reinforcements.