For years, I wrote off tactics games without ever giving them a fair shot. Then I played Marvel’s Midnight Suns in 2022, and it turns out I’d been wrong the whole time.
Worms and Hogs of War, both of which I played a lot as a kid, were as close as I’d ever gotten to the genre. I’d heard great things about the XCOM series and still didn’t bite. Most of my teenage years went to first-person shooters, sports games and action RPGs, the fast, reflex-driven stuff. Setting up units turn by turn, planning every move and then watching it play out sounded like homework.
It isn’t. And right now the genre is going through a full renaissance, one that’s been building for a while, with a stacked lineup already out and more on the way.
The back catalog is already deep
Look at the last few years alone: Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Blood Bowl 3, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, Gears Tactics, Jagged Alliance 3, Wargroove, Mewgenics and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. That’s a strong run for a genre that people still treat as niche.
But if you play only one, make it Star Wars Zero Company. For Star Wars fans, it’s a no-brainer.
Zero Company is the Andor of tactics games
Zero Company doesn’t rewrite the rules of tactics games. It comes close to perfecting them, though, and the Star Wars setting gives it room to excel.
You play Hawks, an ex-soldier who now runs an independent mercenary group and owes the Hutts a hell of a lot of money. Republic Intelligence turns up with a way to clear the debt. The catch is that you have to work for them.
Much like Andor, this is a grittier Star Wars story that keeps its distance from all the Skywalker shenanigans happening on a bigger scale. Every character has their own personality, charm and special abilities. You can recruit new soldiers to your crew, and all of them are fully voice acted.
There are plenty of systems for upgrades and buffs. If someone on your crew dies, though, they’re gone permanently. (Get attached at your own risk.) The first couple of levels work as a tutorial, and once you’re past them you’ll find it hard to put the controller down.
Worms is finally going full tactics
If you’re brand new and want something even easier to get into, Worms Galactic Tactics arrives in 2027. It’s the series’ first step into the tactics genre proper, and it keeps the classic Worms appeal: easy to pick up, hard to master.
It has something in common with Star Wars: Galactic Racer (two things, if you count the word “galactic” in both names). Each one mixes its main genre, tactics in one case and racing in the other, with roguelite structure.
Your squad enters the Galactic Gauntlet, a tournament where the rounds keep getting harder and you take down enemy worm squads across different environments. The terrain is destructible, loads of classic Worms weapons and gadgets are back and the series’ signature humor is intact. Think Worms, but in 3D and with more tactical depth.
I went hands-on at Gamescom earlier this year and came away impatient. It felt great to play, and the roguelite elements add what seems like endless replayability.
Rainbow Six Tactics plays like chess with breaching charges
Worms wasn’t the only tactics game that impressed me at Gamescom. I also saw Ubisoft’s upcoming Rainbow Six Tactics, though only in a hands-off demo. In tone it’s about as far from Worms as you can get: a military tactics game where Rainbow Six Siege fans will recognize plenty of operators.
What sets it apart is the “breach planning phase.” Most encounters open with your squad breaching and entering an area full of enemies, and you can plan several steps ahead, a bit like a game of chess. Give your operators as many orders as you like, then watch them carry those orders out in real time.
Play it well and you can clear entire rooms of enemies in the blink of an eye, before any of them has a chance to react.
Where to start
There are plenty more tactics games worth your time, both out now and coming soon, a lot of them from indie developers. If the genre hasn’t hooked you yet, start with Star Wars Zero Company, Worms Galactic Tactics or Rainbow Six Tactics. It took me until Midnight Suns to learn that watching a plan come together one turn at a time is the fun part.
