It’s been a very long time since Rainbow Six was mainly a single-player game. Siege completely changed the series and has dominated Rainbow Six for more than a decade now, so seeing Ubisoft return to a standalone solo experience immediately got my attention. Rainbow Six Tactics takes things in a very different direction, with turn-based combat, a squad of familiar Siege Operators and Paul Bishop returning as Six. I saw the game in action at Gamescom, and the longer the presentation went on, the more I could see how much of Siege has actually made the jump with it.
The presentation spent a surprising amount of time on everything that happens before you start shooting. We scouted locations, looked for different ways inside, decided how aggressively the squad should approach a situation and eventually planned complete Breaches where every Operator received their own instructions. Once combat started, those familiar Siege abilities became another part of the tactical puzzle. After watching an entire mission play out, I really wanted to get behind the controls myself.
First, find out what is waiting inside
Every mission starts before the shooting begins. During the presentation, we first had to decide how we wanted to approach the situation and which Operators suited that plan. There are 15 familiar faces from Siege in the game, each with their own abilities and skill trees, and you take four of them into a mission. Ash was the obvious choice when speed and aggression were needed. Nøkk offered something completely different, with her cloaking ability allowing her to disappear for a turn and move around much more carefully. Glaz gave us another option at range, while Montagne was basically a giant piece of moving cover. Put him in the right position and the rest of the squad can work around that shield.
Once inside, combat switches to turns, but shooting is surprisingly hands-on. Selecting an enemy doesn’t mean your Operator automatically takes a shot based on some percentage sitting above their head. You aim using a cone and decide where you want to fire yourself. Positioning still decides what you can see and where you can safely stand, but pulling the trigger remains your decision. It looked very intuitive during the presentation and still gives you plenty of freedom to decide exactly where you want those bullets to go.
The camera also gets much closer during certain attacks. We regularly saw the action from the Operator’s perspective when somebody opened fire, which gave the fights a lot more impact than constantly watching everything from above. It also works particularly well with Operators you already know from Siege. Seeing Glaz take his shot from that closer perspective is simply cooler than watching a little character model fire from the other side of the room. And yes, bullets can still go through walls. Spot somebody hiding behind the wrong surface and penetrating rounds can reach them without your Operator having a direct line of sight.
Now blow up the wall
The second location we saw gave us much more preparation before entering. We sent in a drone first and moved it around the area to scout enemy positions and possible entry points. Its movement was limited, so we couldn’t reveal the entire map before starting, but the information we did gather immediately influenced how the squad was positioned. Then came the Breach. You don’t need to use whatever door happens to be nearby. Walls can be destroyed and new entry points created, and every Operator can receive a sequence of instructions before the attack begins. Ash could blow open a wall, move towards cover and immediately fire at a target. Another Operator could enter somewhere else and deal with a completely different enemy. Once everyone had their instructions, the Breach was activated and we watched the entire squad perform those actions together before regular turn-based combat continued.
Our demonstration used three different entry points at the same time, which looked pretty cool once everything kicked off. It was also clearly the riskier option. Splitting the Operators across three locations means they aren’t necessarily close enough to help each other when something goes wrong, so I can already imagine spending quite some time staring at a building and changing my plans before finally committing to a Breach. I especially liked being able to combine the Operators this way. You’re not simply choosing four characters because you like them in Siege. Their abilities can be worked into the plan from the beginning, and a good combination can give you an immediate advantage once the shooting starts.
You don’t have to shoot everyone
Rainbow Six Tactics also gives you other options once you’re inside. Hostiles can be arrested, which rewards additional Intel. That means an enemy doesn’t automatically become another target to eliminate. If you can safely get close enough, bringing them in alive can give you something useful afterwards. Missions can also change after the initial objective is completed. During the presentation, the squad suddenly had to extract within seven turns. We had spent most of the mission carefully moving through the environment and dealing with enemies, and now everybody needed to get out. Seven turns isn’t a lot when your Operators are spread across the map.
This is also where HQ can step in. As Six, you have access to Directives through a deck of bonus actions. One of the examples we saw allowed the squad to move further, which suddenly becomes extremely useful when there’s an extraction point several turns away. Enemies have their own Directives as well, so I had to keep an eye on what they were capable of doing and not just concentrate on my own squad. The mission eventually finished with another story cutscene, and that side of Tactics seems to be much more important than I initially expected. You’re playing as Paul Bishop, who returns from Rainbow Six Vegas and now takes the position of Six. You’re responsible for Rainbow, managing your team and making decisions throughout the campaign. The story takes place between Year 10 and Year 11 of Siege, with the development team working alongside the Siege team to make sure everything fits within the existing timeline.
Rainbow Six has a singleplayer game again
And I really like being able to write that. Rainbow Six Tactics is being built as a standalone singleplayer game, without microtransactions or a competitive multiplayer mode hanging over it. There are 15 Operators, dozens of missions and locations spread around the world. We saw environments ranging from jungles to Venice during the presentation, so this isn’t going to be a campaign where you’re constantly breaching another variation of the same office building.
The development team also has experience with Mario + Rabbids and Ghost Recon, which makes a lot of sense after seeing Tactics in action. There are plenty of tactical systems to play with, but I could always understand what was happening and why the developers were making certain decisions. More importantly for me, they haven’t forgotten the Rainbow Six part. Scouting, positioning, specialist equipment, destructible walls and planning how you’re going to enter a building are all here.
Early conclusion
I wasn’t expecting Rainbow Six to return to singleplayer as a turn-based tactical game, but I’m definitely interested after seeing Tactics in action. Planning the Breach was easily the part I wanted to try myself, especially with all the different Operator combinations available. And after so many years of Siege, I’m simply happy Rainbow Six is getting a proper solo campaign again.