Commandos: Origins

Commandos: Origins makes you slow down, look at a guarded position from three angles, and accept that the cleanest solution usually comes from patience rather than speed. That deliberate rhythm is the point. With six specialists whose talents must be combined, each operation becomes a compact problem box where timing, sightlines, distractions, and positioning matter more than brute force.

The Command Mode planning tool gives the old-school stealth-tactics formula a welcome modern convenience, letting you queue coordinated moves and spring them together. It is a strong fit for anyone who misses methodical Commandos missions and enjoys picking apart a difficult map, though the genre’s stop-start pace and repeated trial of a plan will still test your tolerance for failure.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Commandos: Origins gets its hooks into you when a seemingly impossible patrol route turns into a workable plan. You study enemy vision cones, spot a useful distraction or a climbable route, then put the right commando in the right place. It asks for calm observation before action, and the tension comes from knowing that one mistimed move can spoil a carefully arranged setup.

The six-person squad gives the missions their texture. Jack O’Hara, the Green Beret, works alongside the Sapper, Sniper, Driver, Marine, and Spy, and their distinct specialties push you to think in combinations rather than rely on one all-purpose hero. Vehicles, environmental interactions, and alternate routes keep the larger levels from feeling like single-answer puzzles. Optional challenges are a welcome incentive to revisit a mission with a sharper plan.

Command Mode is the feature that makes the demanding style easier to live with. Pausing to line up several actions, then watching them unfold at once, supports the satisfying multi-character maneuvers the series is built for. The game still wants your attention and your patience. If you prefer stealth that can be improvised at a sprint, its slow, exacting pace may feel restrictive. If you enjoy solving a hostile space piece by piece, that friction is part of the reward.

Graphics

The fully 3D mission spaces are built like detailed wartime dioramas, with a movable camera looking down on Arctic territory, European coastlines, North African deserts, and the Eastern Front. Seamless movement between interiors and exteriors gives these spaces a more connected feel than a string of isolated tactical rooms.

The perspective serves the strategy well: you can examine layered routes through buildings and across outdoor terrain while planning where each commando should go. The environments sound more focused on dense, usable layouts than on decorative excess, which suits a game where every corner may offer another way through a guarded area.

Story

This is an origin story for the Commandos team, centered on the formation of the elite World War II unit led by Jack O’Hara. That setup is a sensible match for a squad tactics game because it gives the expanding roster a clear reason to learn to operate together across the campaign.

The missions carry the group from frozen Arctic regions to European coastal operations, North African deserts, and the Eastern Front. That geographic spread gives the war setting more range than a campaign locked to one front, while keeping the focus on covert operations rather than broad battlefield spectacle.

Do not come to Origins expecting the story to replace the tactical puzzle-solving as the main draw. Its promise is the opportunity to see how these specialists become a team, with the missions doing much of the work of moving that premise forward. For a Commandos prequel, that is the right priority.

Overall Experience

Commandos: Origins succeeds when it trusts the player to be methodical. Its best moments should be the ones where a plan that initially looked fussy suddenly clicks: a distraction pulls attention away, two commandos act in sequence, and a route that seemed sealed opens without raising alarm. That kind of victory feels earned because you built it yourself.

There is thoughtful modernization here without abandoning the series’ core identity. Command Mode helps organize complicated synchronized actions, while the absence of item pickup and inventory management trims away some extra busywork. Two-player co-op, both online and local split-screen, also gives you a natural way to divide the squad’s responsibilities with a friend.

At 7.2, this is a good, targeted return for tactical stealth fans rather than a broad crowd-pleaser. Give it a chance if you like pausing over a map, testing routes, and refining a plan until it works. Skip it if you need constant momentum or want a war game driven by action first, because Origins is most satisfying when you are willing to take your time.