Commandos: Origins is finally here, and we believe you might need some help getting through its incredibly tense missions without losing a single team member. Here are some beginner tips that should make your first few hours with the game easier.
Kalypso Media and Claymore Game Studios’ prequel takes no prisoners from what we’ve been able to experience. If you were thinking a modernized take on the WWII-set strategy series was going to feel softer or not as punishing, you’re mistaken. From Nazi-infested camps to countryside maps that offer plenty of possible routes, you’ll have to make good use of every soldier and tool at your disposal to complete the mission without rage-quitting halfway through.
Below you’ll find quick tips, tricks, and recommendations that should be useful for both Commandos veterans and all the newcomers jumping into the prequel revival via Xbox Game Pass (also on PC). Whether you’re on console on PC, you’ll need the extra help.
Take your time and plan ahead
While certain moments will require you to think on your feet, Commandos: Origins should be played carefully and slowly. Take your time to go over each map’s (fully revealed outside of interiors) possible routes and noticeably weaker points and plan a route. Figure out who’s doing what and regularly make stops to rewrite the plan or try to discover new opportunities.
Don’t be scared of using up ammo
You needn’t worry about running out of ammo too often if you want to go lethal on the Nazis. Ammo pickups are abundant in most scenarios and every ranged opportunity to neutralize a guard or patrol you come across is probably a good time to make use of your guns (as long as they’re quiet). Every pawn you take off the board is one less thing to think about and will give you extra space to sneak around without worrying about alarms.
The Sniper is extremely powerful
The Sniper, Francis Woolridge, might be the most powerful soldier in the game… in the right hands. You’ll need to make each sniper shot count, but his bullets can pierce through a target and kill a second one, so take advantage of long and straight lines of sight. You’ll regularly find sniper bullets as you traverse the busier levels too.
Take a moment to analyze enemy types
Unfortunately for the commandos, not every Nazi soldier is the same. Much of the later levels’ difficulty comes from the fact there are different enemy classes posted around the map. Regular soldiers might be tricked easily, but officers, snipers, and stationary gun crews are harder to deal with.
Under normal circumstances, a good way to approach busy areas is to lure regular Wehrmacht goons away from the more advanced enemy types before dealing with them. Try to avoid them altogether if you can’t figure out a complex maneuver.
Sometimes, it’s good to trigger the alarm
While you’re encouraged to avoid direct confrontation and leave no trace of your soldiers’ presence behind, triggering area alarms on purpose can be a good idea if you know what you’re doing.
Some of the most protected objectives can be made easier to access if the Nazis’ attention is elsewhere. A sound strategy is to slowly make your way to a good hiding spot and causing a ruckus away from the area with tools, explosive charges, or even other squad members. If the whole base is on alert and you can move around the commandos between hiding spots quick enough as the enemies scramble, that might be the key to hitting that well-defended objective.
Hide the bodies
This might seem like stupid advice, but once you’ve gone through half a base’s worth of Wehrmacht soldiers, you’re bound to forget about them at some point.
Whether you’re going lethal or non-lethal, make sure to put away bodies and throw them into hiding spots like bushes. This is especially important after non-lethal takedowns, as enemies will eventually wake up unless they’re hidden away.
Look for environmental hazards
Commandos: Origins is no Hitman game, but you can make use of certain environmental opportunities to create notable distractions or straight-up kill soldiers without raising suspicion that Allies are sneaking around the base.
We briefly talked about this in our pre-launch preview, and the full game doesn’t forget about this mechanic as the levels get more and more complex. Quite the opposite.
You want to quick-save often
We also mentioned the developers at Claymore underlined the importance of making regular saves as you progressed through each level, and they weren’t joking. Each major play that might risk an instant mission failure should come with a quick save before going out of hiding. Trust us. This is pretty much a mechanic.
Take on some side objectives
Some side objectives and mini-missions might take you away from the main targets for too long or be too risky during a first playthrough, but others don’t require much thinking and are in your main path anyway, so we recommend taking on them if you’re comfortable with the mission so far.
Of course, completing them leads to getting extra ammo, new opportunities, and whatnot. Again, these aren’t must-dos in a first run of a level, but it doesn’t hurt to try from time to time.
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