The XCOM series has been effectively on hiatus for many years now, and AAA turn-based-tactics games have been pretty hard to come by recently. That’s changing, however, starting with this week’s launch of Star Wars Zero Company. It’s effectively a marriage of classic XCOM gameplay and Clone Wars-era Star Wars storytelling, and within a few minutes of starting it, I got that same rush of excitement I got the first time I played an XCOM game.
Typically, I try to savor turn-based tactical experiences like this as much as possible, because I know it’s going to be at least a few years before something like it comes along again. The last XCOM-esque turn-based-tactics game I can even recall playing was Classified: France ’44, which released well over two years ago. I enjoyed that one so much that I considered just starting it over again, because there wasn’t really anything else like it releasing at the time.
But no longer! As part of Gamescom Opening Night Live, Ubisoft revealed Rainbow 6 Tactics. Ditching the first-person-shooter gameplay the series is famous for, Rainbow 6 Tactics is a single-player tactical experience that plays out like a turn-based version of Rainbow Six Siege. You scout enemy positions using drones and then launch your attack, breaching walls and taking down enemies with precision and force.
It makes use of the destructible environments Rainbow Six Siege is famous for, but it’s all wrapped up in a completely different genre. And just like Zero Company, Rainbow 6 Tactics will be available on Xbox and PS5 in addition to PC, giving it a wide audience when it arrives in 2027.
And if you don’t have an Xbox, a PS5, or PC, you’re still not being left out of the fun as of late. Sure, it’s also an RPG, but Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is certainly going to scratch that turn-based-strategy itch. Developer Intelligent Systems is arguably the king of the genre, and based on our hands-on preview of the game, it looks to be absolutely packed with content. There are four protagonists, each with their own stories, so this could be one you are playing for weeks or even months–hopefully just long enough for Rainbow 6 Tactics to be out.
Patiently waiting our turn for the next XCOM-like or Fire Emblem game to release used to feel like a futile exercise, but I’m very excited for the future of sort-of-but-not-really-chess games right now. If others feel the same, we just need to show up and buy them so the genre can keep thriving … and maybe convince Take-Two to greenlight an XCOM 3. Pretty please?