From Mario to machine guns: how Ubisoft Paris made Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Tactics

It’s a question the team at Ubisoft Paris found itself pondering three years ago after wrapping up work on the charming turn-based tactics adventure, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, sequel to its unexpected crossover hit, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. By melding a rather specialist genre with video gaming’s biggest household name, the developer introduced chin-stroking strategic play to a whole new audience. Where Mario and Rabbids saw squishy creatures bounce harmlessly across levels as Mario encased foes in honey, Rainbow Six Tactics, a turn-based tactical spin-off from Rainbow Six Siege, sees balaclava-clad insurgents take shrapnel rounds to the chest.

A seamless tonal shift, then. One of the most popular and testosterone-fuelled online shooters around, on paper Rainbow Six: Siege and turn-based strategy have little in common. Where Siege’s tight team play and ferocious first-person firefights sell out arenas at esports competitions in São Paulo and Atlanta, even the biggest brand in the tactical sim genre, X-Com, is unlikely to win energy-drink sponsorships or adorn a team jersey.

Yet for Ubisoft Paris creative director Elie Benhamou, a veteran of the Ghost Recon series, the precision planning you need to be good at Siege is a natural fit for turn-based strategy. Every decision matters because there are strong consequences. That is the exact recipe for a tactics game.” My demo kicks off with a night-time operation in Nigeria.

As I witness a team of four helmet-clad operators surveil their targets with drones and plant explosives during the prep phase – their synchronised teamwork soon breaches a heavily guarded warehouse. While smoke grenades blind their unsuspecting foes and sniper shots crackle through the air, the Rainbow Unit’s tight pincer formation makes short work of the remaining hostiles. It’s here that Benhamou’s words begin to ring true.

Even with the bird’s eye view and pauses between gunfire, Tactics still oozes the tense thrills of its real-time brethren. Benhamou says he knew they were on to something after they invited sceptical first-person shooter stalwarts in to play test. Sitting alongside fans of real-time tactics, the hardcore FPS players swiftly used their Siege knowledge to execute a similar precision assault in Tactics, advising the tactics genre players next to them on how best to command Siege’s operators.

The demo concludes with Rainbow Unit extracting a key hostage by racing towards a speedboat. Here, you can take a non-lethal approach with enemies, arresting combatants to gather intelligence points, which enhance your squad and improve gear for future missions. We have 15 unique operators, so the same problem can be solved or approached in many different ways.” Story wise, Rainbow Six Tactics promises to be your classic Tom Clancy fare, with shady government organisations and a globe-spanning conflict.