By Joseph Luster

The vaunted Commandos series is going back to the beginning in the latest entry, appropriately titled Commandos: Origins. This one takes players back to the days where Green Beret Jack O’Hara first met his five teammates to form the squad we know today, taking on some of the most daring missions in a vivid World War II setting.

While we’re going back further into the history of these characters, the unique skills of the Green Beret, the Sapper (Thomas Hancock), the Sniper (Francis T. Woolridge), the Marine (James Blackwood) and the Spy (Rene Duchamp) are more vital than ever before. Players will need to put both their stealth and sabotage skills to the test if they want to succeed across a variety of missions that take them through the Arctic to the African desert and everywhere in between.

There are more than 10 missions in all, each offering a harrowing trip through these historically authentic World War II locales. At the time of this writing, Origins is still just set for a broad 2024 release window, but we recently got a closer look at what it has to offer in a showcase from Microsoft and IGN. In addition to showing off more gameplay, the showcase took the opportunity to highlight summer 2024 launch plans for a Closed Beta Test.

The new Beta Test—which may be live by the time you’re reading this—follows an early alpha playtest. Developer Claymore Game Studios has already taken feedback from that test and started implementing it into the work in progress, and they’re hoping to get more valuable information from the Closed Beta.

The key elements that make the Commandos series special appear to be nicely intact in Origins, which homes in on the real-time tactical stealth we’ve come to expect. Everything from the makeup of your team to the environments themselves makes for a handful of ways to go about each mission. You can opt to sneak and focus on the stealth mechanics, or come up with other clever ways to go around or through the many fortified targets you’ll be tasked with overcoming. If any of the missions seem particularly imposing, you can always enlist a friend to team up in two-player cooperative play, either locally via split-screen or online.

Hopefully by the time you have this issue we’ve learned exactly when to expect Commandos: Origins. When it does launch, you’ll be able to play it on PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, including a day one launch on Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC.

Publisher: Kalypso Media
Genre: Strategy
System: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
Available: 2024

Back to the issue this appears in