Ubisoft surprised Gamescom 2026 attendees during Opening Night Live with the reveal of Rainbow Six Tactics, a single-player turn-based tactics spin-off. Developed by Ubisoft Paris, staffed by veterans behind Mario + Rabbids and Ghost Recon, the game moves away from the fast paced FPS mechanics of games like Siege in favour of isometric, grid-and-cover gameplay reminiscent of XCOM. After indulging in a very weird but very nice strawberry espresso tonic inside the Ubisoft area, myself and 3 others were treated to a full hands-off gameplay demonstration showcasing how Siege’s trademark breach mechanics translate into a turn-based tactics experience.
Recon and Pre-Assault Planning
The presentation highlighted that battles begin long before the first gunshot. Stepping into the shoes of commander “Six” (marking the return of Paul Bishop from Rainbow Six Vegas), players operate from an overarching HQ, managing squad upgrades, global intel, and mission briefings.
Before the mission starts players field a four-operator fireteam selected from a roster of 15 Siege veterans, including Ash, Nøkk, Glaz, Sledge, Doc, and Montagne. The live demo opened with an outdoor area, where we got an idea of the team and their abilities (that a lot of Siege players will recognise) as a full building site of enemies were swiftly dispatched. Turns out having a moveable wall and essentially a ghost with a shotgun makes groups of unaware mooks pretty lightwork.
Quickly forming up, the developer playing for us showed off the recon mechanics. There’s no fog of war in outside areas in Tactics, but inside buildings are another matter. Operatives can utilise small drones that enter through vents to get eyes on what’s inside structures, this helps for assessing the threat, but also sets up for the incredibly well implemented Breach system.
Synchronized Breaching and Destruction
The standout mechanic shown was The Breach. While typical turns progress sequentially, Breach Planning allows players to assign coordinated entry instructions to all four operators at once.
In the demo, the developers set up a multi-angle raid:
- Montagne prepped to shoulder-charge a barricaded doorway to draw primary aggro.
- Ash aimed a breaching round at a soft exterior wall.
- Nøkk engaged cloaking gear to flank via a blind hallway.
- Glaz posted up through a grated window with a thermal scope.
Upon triggering the sequence, the game transitioned from the standard turn-based tactics into a synchronized assault, shown off in a dynamic cutscene that shows your expertly set up Breach procedure: walls blasted inward, sightlines opened instantly, and flashbangs detonated in tandem, disabling the enemy squad before normal turn order resumed.
Ditching the RNG: Aim Cones and Arrests
Combat in Tactics diverges noticeably from standard tactical RPGs by eschewing traditional overhead hit percentages (such as the infamous 95% point-blank miss). Instead, attacks utilise manual aiming cones and projectile trajectory windows, putting bullet placement directly in player hands while cover dictates damage mitigation.
Playing well also means strategic use of Order Points, that you’ll accumulate throughout the level. These can be used to increase movement, or to buff your operators to make the prime objective and any optional ones in the level easier to achieve.
HQ Directives and Permadeath
To mirror commander-level oversight, players can deploy Directives, bonus strategic actions played from a command deck to provide temporary squad buffs, extra movement ranges, or smoke screens. Enemies, however, possess their own counter-directives. To cement the high-stakes military realism, Ubisoft confirmed that careless play carries severe consequences: fallen operators face extended recovery times that can derail a campaign run. Unlike games like XCOM though, permadeath isn’t implemented as a default. When I asked, one of the team assured me that that Ubisoft cares a lot about their Siege operators, and given the placement of the campaign in the Rainbow Six timeline it does make sense that they’ll stick around, even after a botched mission.
Ubisoft confirmed that Rainbow Six Tactics will launch in 2027 as a standalone, purely single-player title with zero microtransactions or live-service stores, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
