The tactical RPG genre is incredibly diverse and includes games ranging from JRPGs like Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics to roguelites like Mewgenics and Into the Breach, and everything in between. Some of the crown jewels of tactical RPGs are the XCOM and Jagged Alliance franchises, which the upcoming game Warhounds aims to replicate. Slated for a 2026 release, Warhounds could be the tactical RPG that XCOM fans have been waiting for, as it boasts some impressive features that would elevate the formula established by its inspirations.
The XCOM franchise seems to be lying dormant at the moment, having last released a new entry back in 2021 with XCOM: Legends, a free-to-play mobile game that was shut down in 2024. Firaxis and 2K haven’t given any updates about the future of the XCOM franchise, leaving its status in limbo for the time being. For XCOM fans looking for a new tactical RPG experience on the same scale as 2016’s XCOM 2, Warhounds might be right up their alley.
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Warhounds Features at a Glance
- A campaign inspired by old-school action movies set in an alternate-future Africa
- Decision-making and strategizing based on physics and lines of sight, not RNG
- Customization of hired fighters with a broad selection of class options
- Upgrade the base and manage units between missions
Warhounds Wears Its Inspirations on Its Sleeve
Upfront, Warhounds makes it clear that XCOM and Jagged Alliance are the primary inspirations behind the game. Like XCOM and Jagged Alliance, Warhounds lets players take control of a squad of mercenaries and engage in tactical, turn-based combat, where the success or failure of a mission shapes the story’s outcome. Warhounds wants to give tactical RPG veterans and newcomers alike control over their experience, offering the ability to set the pace and challenge of missions depending on whether players want to tackle a mission in a short play session or settle in for an extended battle.
The Warhounds team is also listening to fan feedback throughout the game’s development, recently removing AI-generated character portraits following fan backlash and replacing them with shots of the characters’ in-game models.
The Story and Setting of Warhounds
In Warhounds, society is collapsing, and new militant factions are growing in power globally. Players will oversee the Warhounds mercenaries that have been hired to combat these factions through covert operations and contract missions. At the heart of this conflict is an alternate future version of Africa in the year 2035, where players will have to brave environments like savannas, jungles, and deserts alongside slums, business districts, military bases, and ancient cities to accomplish their objectives.
The Gameplay of Warhounds
The biggest attraction for Warhounds is its gameplay, which looks to put a unique twist on the traditional tactical RPG formula. Like most games in the genre, building an army of powerful combat units is the first layer of strategy players will need to consider. When developing their squad of mercenaries, Warhounds players have five primary classes to choose from, including:
- Assault
- Specialist
- Sniper
- Machine Gunner
- Grenadier
Like the best classes in XCOM, each of these classes comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, requiring players to strategize and bring along the right classes for the right missions. Thankfully, Warhounds also lets players manage the various aspects of their mercenary army in between missions, ensuring that they are prepared to face any type of future threat.
Back at their base, Warhounds lets players recruit new mercenaries to fill their army’s ranks, similar to Jagged Alliance 3‘s mercenary system, as well as upgrade their units, purchase new equipment, and heal wounded units. Player choice is the name of the game, and actions taken back at the base can have consequences on the outcomes of future missions and the larger story as a whole. Warhounds gives players the option to align with different factions or build relationships between units to strengthen the bonds of war and give them a better chance at success.
Warhounds Aims to Solve XCOM’s Biggest Problem
One of the most frustrating aspects of the XCOM series that has become infamous among fans is the tactical RPG’s RNG system for calculating whether a shot hits an enemy. XCOM will give players a cue saying that their shot has something like an 89% chance of hitting an enemy at point-blank range, only for it to miss due to that slim RNG-dependent dice roll. Warhounds wants to break free from this issue and empower players to make decisions based on elements they can control, rather than annoying RNG mechanics.
Drag weapons to fill the grid
Drag weapons to fill the grid
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Instead, Warhounds uses aspects like lines of sight, high ground, and weapon and environmental physics to calculate how much damage attacks will do and how far players can hit enemies from. With access to this information, players can carefully plan their turns around factors they can control without running into the situation where a point-blank shot misses a unit. This is an ambitious approach to the tactical RPG formula, but if done successfully, it could inspire future indie tactical RPG games as well as AAA franchises to follow in Warhounds‘s footsteps.
There is no word yet on when Warhounds will be released beyond the 2026 window. However, interested tactical RPG fans can give the game’s demo a try on Steam to see if these RNG-less mechanics live up to their expectations. Until a new XCOM game is officially unveiled, Warhounds may be the tactical RPG of choice for the foreseeable future if it can pull together all of its promised mechanics in a clean and cohesive way.
