Six gives the orders
Rainbow Six has spent decades talking about intelligence, planning and clean entries, even if its biggest game turned that formula into a competitive first-person shootout. Rainbow Six Tactics makes the name literal. Ubisoft's new single-player, turn-based game casts us not as the Operator climbing through a window but as Six, the person commanding the whole unit.
Its campaign runs alongside the Rainbow Six Siege timeline. Players choose an assignment from headquarters, study the available intelligence and build a squad of up to four agents. Every action in the field takes a turn, while walls, cover and sightlines remain as important as they are in Siege.
It is one of the surprises missing from our Gamescom 2026 preview, and a sensible answer to live-service fatigue. Ubisoft has announced no multiplayer component for this release.
Fifteen Operators
The roster contains 15 Operators drawn from Siege, including Ash, Sledge, Nøkk and Montagne. Each retains signature equipment, gains an individual skill tree and can be combined with others to create squad synergies. Only four deploy at once, so deciding who stays behind becomes part of every assignment.
Ubisoft lists hostage rescue, bomb disposal and target elimination missions across more than 45 locations. Between operations, players can train agents, review collected intelligence and improve headquarters. That layer is not far removed from the turn-based structure of Expeditions: Samurai, although Rainbow Six lives or dies on making the room itself a weapon.
Walls can be opened, enemy cover destroyed and entirely new entrances created. Creative director Elie Benhamou describes the series' core as 'intel, planning, high-stakes decision-making, and elite Operators with distinct roles'. The Breach translates that idea by briefly interrupting turn order so every active Operator moves together in a synchronised assault. It stops the project looking like XCOM wearing a Rainbow Six uniform.
Platforms, no date
Rainbow Six Tactics is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC through Ubisoft Connect, Steam and the Epic Games Store. It will also be available through GeForce Now and Blacknut. Wishlists are open, but Ubisoft has not announced a release date, price or editions.
The genre switch makes more sense than it first appears because Siege already asks players where to look, which wall to break and what utility to spend before pulling a trigger. Tactics can expose that reasoning instead of hiding it behind reflexes. The remaining question is whether its missions can carry a full campaign.
Otherwise, this becomes one very expensive demolition tutorial.
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