Commandos: Origins Review

The real-time tactics genre isn’t super active right now. That much anyone can tell. It’s one of the main reasons why Commandos: Origins’ initial announcement was met with genuine excitement. Years later, extensive previews gave us many reasons to believe the legendary strategy series, brought back from the dead by Kalypso Media and Claymore Game Studios, had something worthy of applause to add to the genre.

For the most part, Claymore’s revival of the WWII-set series nails its targets and brings back unfiltered levels of brutality to the table. Commandos: Origins isn’t a game for the faint of heart, and as we’ve explained in our guide for beginners, players need to make the most of every mechanic and system while resisting the urge to rush ahead with thin infiltration and combat plans.

Veterans might read this and go “of course, that’s what the originals were all about.” Indeed, that’s what I’m trying to say here: Commandos: Origins isn’t a dialled-down modern refresh that removes too much friction in favour of accommodating a greater number of potential recruits. The process of moving the commandos around, killing Nazis, and executing complex manoeuvres is smoother thanks to smart QoL changes, reworked mechanics, and the up-to-date technology powering it all, yet every level is built and laid out in a way that makes every mission as tense as Pyro Studios’ finest works.

With this prequel also came the challenge of developing a new experience for consoles and PC at the same time. Some might argue the Commandos 2 & 3 ports were less than impressive, and much of the mixed result simply came down to the original games just being too PC-specific in their overarching design, user interface, and so on. Claymore was seemingly aware of such limitations and thus took this opportunity to ‘rebuild’ the whole thing for a new generation while honouring the past. Beyond the story, gameplay, and atmosphere, this evolution of the guiding philosophy also applies to how the game handles and behaves. The result? A much better and satisfying experience on consoles… even if the optimal way to experience a Commandos game continues to be a desktop PC up to the task.

After a 30-minute-ish introductory level following an in-media-res intro, Jack O’Hara ‘the Green Beret’ and Thomas ‘the Sapper’ Hancock are thrown a much colder locale and told to take down a Nazi base by themselves. Clear that mission and you’ll get to meet the (overpowered) Sniper, followed by a stressful stroll through a dense area that seems well-guarded from all angles and introduces a vehicle mechanic that adds some variety to the whole but is optional in most scenarios. You get the idea. Up to a certain point of the 14-level campaign, you’ll be meeting new members of the iconic squad of silent Allied soldiers without much explanation as you go from one striking location to the next.

Narrative prowess was never Commando’s biggest strength, and that hasn’t changed in Origins. The characters are well-defined and charismatic enough, but remain archetypes borrowed from pulp magazines and old war movies, with a few witty remarks and funny banter moments breaking the monotony from time to time. That’s alright though. We’re not playing Commandos for the plot.

There were two key elements that Claymore needed to nail in order to make Origins a new instalment worthy of the Commandos title: A fun moment-to-moment gameplay loop and sprawling, layered levels that were fun to explore and exploit. Thankfully, the full game doesn’t disappoint on those fronts. If you can stand how brutal it can often be (we really encourage quick-saving as often as possible), this is a captivating adventure which must be figured out with patience and using every tool at your disposal. Many paths to each objective are always available, and I was hugely surprised by how open-ended some of the latter, more sprawling maps were even after my positive thoughts on the matter after the pre-launch event. After the tutorial level, I rarely felt forced to take a route or use an optimal set of skills. Experimentation is encouraged at every turn.

Whereas far too many real-time strategy games fail to justify the existence of many of its units and systems, with some being solid jacks-of-all-trades that can make too many encounters trivial, Commandos: Origins’ approach to character/class design seems tight and thoughtful. The Green Beret, as awesome as he can be, no longer feels ridiculously overpowered versus his comrades, and the Marine is flexible without being able to cut through an entire base by himself. Those are just some examples. This is a story about teamwork under difficult circumstances, and the actual playable experience reflects that as well as the thin scripts justifying all the sneaking and (optional) killing. No place for tacky heroism here.

By and large, the new-but-also-nostalgic approach to both level and overall game design works, but Commandos: Origins isn’t as polished as we’d have liked it to be, at least not in its current state. The Command Mode (a way to execute actions simultaneously), for example, while pretty great on paper, often likes to delay one member’s movement just enough to ruin the manoeuvre and result in the commandos’ awkward death or a base-wide alarm. Likewise, a fair number of multi-storey buildings are difficult to navigate with precision, especially as your soldiers are sent up and down stairs. In the moments of chaos which can be saved with quick reactions and moving to safety, this can be the difference between life and death.

Other less-than-desirable moments include enemies noticing commandos beyond their supposed view range or telepathically figuring out exactly where the killers are based on just a single corpse left behind. When coupled with the aforementioned roughness or the odd glitch that makes ‘view cones’ not show up or an item impossible to pick up, some degree of frustration takes over and dampens much of the enjoyment to be found in this game. Most of these flaws should be fixable, but perhaps Commandos: Origins needed extra time in the oven to avoid annoying the least patient players and most demanding diehards.

During the past previews, I also praised the decision to go for a far more saturated look than in other WWII-set games. The lighting and overall art direction helps separate this game from not just the previous entries of the series, but also many other titles dealing with some of the darkest days in human history. It simply isn’t common to see this war through a more colourful lens (which doesn’t diminish the grim tone in any way), and moving the presentation closer to that of an old, blockbuster-y war movie pays off big time in my humble opinion. Dynamedion’s respectful but distinct original soundtrack lands a critical hit too.

Not as pretty is the bumpy (to say the least) performance across consoles (whether you are on XSX/PS5 or the weaker Series S) and PC, which suggests optimization was a bit rushed as well. We’re not talking about last-gen hardware here, and the game is neither a cutting-edge looker nor a profoundly complex stack of simulations, so here’s hoping for big improvements in the coming weeks through patches. Regardless, I had a blast on Xbox against all expectations thanks to approachable controls (once you got used to the switch from PC) and making good use of the split-screen co-op option with my partner for a couple of missions. It works exactly as you’d expect, and you have to wonder why the industry at large has dumped this sort of local multiplayer option aside from specific games built around the mode. Don’t worry though; online multiplayer is a thing too.

All things considered, I can’t deny Commandos: Origins is a success. It simply isn’t a resounding one. Rough edges, uneven performance, and annoying oddities brought my excitement down constantly, and while I can look past its flaws to celebrate that one of my childhood favourites is back, this is a mission I’d only recommend to the bravest of soldiers… at least for now. Just give it a go on Game Pass if you’re on the fence.