Rainbow Six Tactics Features Optional Permadeath, Ironman Mode

Ubisoft just announced Rainbow Six Tactics, a single-player turn-based tactics game starring 15 fan-favorite Operators from the popular long-running multiplayer first-person shooter Rainbow Six Siege. I had the chance to talk to Tactics game director Martial Potron about creating the first single-player Rainbow Six game since Rainbow Six Vegas 2 in 2008, including his thoughts on other franchises that have successfully pivoted genres, the importance of being a tactics game first, and more.

First, on that tactics-genre staple of permadeath, Potron said, "We know it’s a must-have for tactical fans. R6T features optional permadeath, as well as an Ironman mode. In practical terms, Operators who are too severely injured can be permanently unavailable for the rest of the campaign. Players can enable it at any difficulty level, so they can experience the added tension of risking to lose an operator on an easier setting. It dramatically changes the way you play, because operators are unique and not replaceable. Losing a favourite or highly progressed Operator forces players to adapt their strategy and rethink squad composition."

I reference Gears Tactics as another big action franchise that made a pretty successful pivot to tactics, and Potron didn't do the usual move of not mentioning anyone else's game by name, and offered this when I asked about lessons learned from other games that have dipped their toes in the tactics waters: "The key lesson is that the game must first succeed on its own terms," he said. "Tactical-game fans have very high expectations, so R6 Tactics has to stand as a strong tactics game before it can succeed as a Rainbow Six game. Our franchise competitors that ventured into the tactics genre succeeded because they combined strong franchises with excellent design, canon storytelling, and production values.

"The second lesson is that a genre shift works best when it translates the franchise identity rather than simply reskinning another formula. Gears Tactics, for example, adapted executions and emergence holes to recreate the pace and aggression of Gears. Despite being turn-based, the game still felt unmistakably like Gears.

"Regarding Rainbow Six, one might think it’ll be a challenge to adapt a shooter, where much of the fun comes from aiming, reacting, and executing. But the Rainbow Franchise fortunately already have this ideal of being the Smart Shooter, where thinking before acting is paramount. Our job is not to impose tactics on Rainbow Six, but to express the tactical thinking that has always defined it through a new genre. So for us, the transition was smooth as all the elements were already there. Shooting, reconnaissance, breaching, gadgets, and coordination cannot feel like generic tactics mechanics; each decision must feel specifically like Rainbow Six."

Potron also told me that there are lots of references to the entire series in Tactics. "The planning phase of the original Rainbow Six was a key inspiration for one of our main features: the Breach. Players can coordinate an assault on a heavily defended location by choosing entry points (doors, windows, or any destructible wall); assigning operators to them, and synchronizing explosives, grenades, and shots to neutralize as many enemies as possible before turn-based combat resumes. It’s our modern take on this feature of the early games.

"There are other nods throughout Tactics as well. At the start of missions, players choose insertion points that shape their approach and the risks they take. On the narrative side, rebuilding Rainbow after its destruction in Siege’s Year 10 also allowed us to reconnect with the wider story of the franchise, including Paul Bishop from Rainbow Six Vegas 2. We worked closely with the Rainbow team in Montreal to make sure everything was properly tied together. So yes, we drew from the entire history of Rainbow Six, from the earliest games to Vegas and Siege, to create both gameplay and narrative touchstones."

Finally, I asked Potron what from Siege translated well to a tactics game and what required clever reintrpretation. He went right to one of Siege's signature features for the former: destruction. "In most tactical games, players must flank, cover and work with existing lines of sight. Here, they can create new paths and firing angles by destroying walls and covers. But enemies can do the same, which means no position is completely safe. This fundamentally changes how players approach the battlefield.

"Breach planning, an iconic feature of classic Rainbow Six, was also at the heart of our reflection. Players select entry points, coordinate four operators, assign grenades and abilities, and prioritize dangerous targets. A single plan can contain up to twelve decisions before the player presses “Execute.” Balancing that depth with accessibility—and then turning all those synchronized actions into one clear, cinematic sequence—required considerable iteration.

"The biggest reinterpretation was translating Siege’s uncertainty into a turn-based format. In Siege, danger often comes from not knowing what is behind a wall, a corner, or a barricade. In R6 Tactics, our precise & dynamic fog-of-war system recreates that tension. Careful scouting and drones become essential before breaching. The key was balancing tension with fairness, so hidden threats remain dangerous without becoming frustrating."

Rainbow Six Tactics is due out next year for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.